Vestra Inet's Solutions Revolutionize D&R Electronics' Emergency Services Gear
D & R equipment is one of the largest and most professional manufacturers of sound, lighting, and safety gear for clients in the emergency services including police, fire, and EMS. They have been in the business since 1976, and provide a wide range of products such as consoles, sirens, storage compartments, and lighting systems.
- Organized online catalogue
- Inventory control system
- Product compatibility advisor
- Automatic compatibility updates for new models
- Diverse online catalog of all available products organized by filters
- Advanced inventory control system with real-time updates
- Advices clients about product compatibility based on their vehicles
- Yearly automatic part compatibility updates as new models enter the market
Products weren’t categorized by their function, compatibility and style, so clients would have difficulty figuring out which products were made for their vehicles. In addition to this, they lacked any form of online ordering or product browsing, and there was no real-time inventory management in place. Clients would have no idea what to do or what products to choose.
Compatibility Advisor
- Multi-system integration capabilities
- Stage-to-stage item selection
- Automatic filter generation
Compatibility advisors display relevant results to users. During inventory searches or product assembly, predetermined filter parameters display relevant content based on the previous selection. The parameters for filters are updated either automatically upon product addition, or manually based on situational requirements. These tools were designed for multiple applications including:
Interactive product assembly and component selection: Users building products using online tools would only see content relevant to their current selection. The predefined parameters eliminate the possibility of errors in the product assembly process due to automatic filtering of incompatible items as product building progresses from one stage to the next. This ensures accuracy during the process by eliminating human involvement from item recommendations.
Inventory management and catalogue: The implementation of such advisors significantly improves the organization of products within an inventory or catalogue for added accessibility while browsing. In special circumstances (eg: North American Steel) these filters assisted in the classification of assemblies and components based on their compatibility with each other.
Online Catalogue
- Multi-system integration
- Complex item relationships
- Automatic SKU generation
Having large inventories consisting of thousands of items with different variants and combinations leads to organizational issues. One of the obstacles faced by clients is the presentation of these listings to customers. Appropriate relationships between items of different compatibility settings are critical to a smooth user experience when navigating the product listings. Additionally, identification of unique items and combinations is essential where products are modified with infinite combinations of components. Effective search functionality within such an inventory is crucial to ensure user satisfaction.
Based on individual requirements, online catalogues were implemented for various clients. These systems were implemented alongside multiple systems and databases. Integration was supported with existing systems such as inventory control, production management, e-commerce platforms, and more. Various complex relationships were defined between items and their components to ensure compatibility. Additionally, online product builders were designed and implemented as required. In these cases, every uniquely designed item variant could be automatically added to the existing catalogue with a unique automatically assigned SKU number, creating self-propagating catalogues. Other features such as table builders (one product - multiple SKUs) and compatibility filters were also designed.
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