Goal
Aesculap USA is a leading healthcare company providing superior medical products including cardiovascular instruments, neurosurgery instruments, surgical sutures, vascular clips and much more. Their team was looking for an efficient way to provide collateral to its employees, distributors and customers so they could market their products. Aesculap was not previously tracking inventory levels causing their sales representatives to wait for materials longer when they were out of stock. This also led to higher shipping costs when materials needed to be rush shipped to the sales representatives after inventory was restocked.
Solution
The team at Aesculap wanted a way to consolidate and simplify their current process for fulfilling materials, reduce their costs, and improve the management of their inventory.
Reasons For Success
Pacesetter listened to the concerns and wish list items Aesculap had to build them a custom collateral management solution. This new online tool streamlined their collateral production and fulfillment, tracked inventory levels and implemented a simple ordering process for their sales representatives. With this new system, their fulfillment time for collateral went from weeks to days due to the real time inventory control. This process eliminated the need for backorder and ensured that materials ordered frequently had sufficient stock. Once an order was placed, whether static or versioned, they were printed and shipped within 24-48 hours making the ordering experience more enjoyable. Additionally, the system allows for administrative reports so managers can monitor the performance of their sales team in relation to the literature they are ordering from the system.
The site was designed to look exactly like their corporate website, so the user has a seamless experience whether they are an employee, sales representative, distributor or customer. Each user registers on the site to obtain and order literature or collateral from Aesculap. The registration process validates the users information, categorizes them into one of four user levels, and directs them to a webpage with specific information about their division. Each user level grants them access to specific information and materials. Based on the four user levels, there are over 1,000 pieces of collateral that can be ordered through the site.
Information like shopping history, shipping addresses and customer information can all be stored in an online directory. This feature allows users to create repeat orders and ship to specific lotions saved in their online address book. Once an order is shipped an email confirmation is sent to the user along with a tracking number. Pacesetter is responsible for fulfilling these orders by either pulling collateral from stock or printing versioned items.
Results
- Eliminated backorders with up to date inventory reports
- Inventory reports with alerts about low stock
- 24/7 access to all orders and view shipping costs
- Track which materials are being utilized
- “Through the creation of a literature ordering website, our sales force has been able to order materials easily and track the shipments,” says Mark Longenbach, Manager- Corporate Communications, Aesculap. “Feedback from our sales staff has been positive!”
