December 17, 2003. Chicago, IL and Lacey, WA -
PUMP-FLO Solutions, the leading provider of pump sizing and
selection software, and BigMachines, a leader in providing
innovative IT solutions to manufacturers, today announced a
partnership to offer their integrated front-end solution to all
pump manufacturers. The two companies have successfully integrated
their software applications to deliver the most advanced, complete
front-end process automation solution available to the pump
industry today.
The joint solution streamlines all front-end processes for pump
manufacturers including selection, configuration, quoting, and
ordering for new pumps and aftermarket parts and services. In
addition the joint solution offers advanced sales management,
reporting, and analysis tools. Leading pump manufacturers,
including Crane Pumps & Systems, A.R. Wilfley, and Teikoku
Chempump, have already successfully implemented the integrated
PUMP-FLO/BigMachines solution and have benefited by streamlining
their inquiry-to-order processes. As a result, these
manufacturers have been able to reduce quoting and ordering cycle
times by over 50 percent, while eliminating application errors. In
addition, the pump manufacturers now have full visibility into
their selling processes and are able to better manage lengthy sales
cycles.
"BigMachines and PUMP-FLO have worked together successfully to
provide A.R. Wilfley with a powerful, web-based solution that
enables our manufacturer's reps and sales team to easily select,
configure, price, and quote pumps and parts using our secure web
tool," said Jim Osborne, Director of Engineering for A.R. Wilfley.
"Our reps and sales team are using the integrated tool more and
more. As a result, we are effectively streamlining our sales
processes and continuing to expand the web capabilities, which will
result in further direct cost savings and better visibility of our
sales processes. As a relatively small part of engineered pumps
serving a specific market niche, we realized that the joint
BigMachines/PUMP-FLO solution was the only affordable solution that
could handle our engineered pump products and automate our complex
front-end processes," Osborne concluded.
Partnership to Offer Proven, Integrated Solution to Entire Pump
Industry
PUMP-FLO Solutions and BigMachines will build on their joint
successes by offering their integrated solution as a package to
small, mid-sized, and large pump manufacturers who want to
accelerate their selling and customer service processes. As the
economy improves, many pump manufacturers may face a bottle-neck in
their quoting processes, which the integrated PUMP-FLO/BigMachines
solution can relieve. By digitizing the tribal knowledge trapped in
the heads of their sales and engineering teams and making it
broadly available, the pump manufacturers can make all of their
sales channels more effective.
"We have been working with BigMachines over the past three years
to develop this field-proven, tightly integrated solution," said
Justin Johnson, (title) of PUMP-FLO Solutions. We have successfully
merged PUMP-FLO Solutions' deep expertise and industry standard
software together with BigMachines' enterprise-scale Lean Front-End
(LFE) technology and business process expertise to deliver a
complete solution. It's a winning combination for current and
potential PUMP-FLO Solutions' customers who want to further improve
their overall selling processes."
"We're delighted to expand our relationship with PUMP-FLO
Solutions," adds Godard Abel, President of BigMachines. "As we have
shown with our joint customers, the two solutions work together
very well and can be implemented rapidly. PUMP-FLO is the standard
for sizing in pumps, so our customers in the pump industry see a
professional and very natural interface for selecting and
configuring products."
About PUMP-FLO Solutions
PUMP-FLO Solutions (An Engineered Software Business) is the
leading provider of Windows and Web-based pump sizing and selection
software. The PUMP-FLO software platform is used by pump
manufacturers, distributors, and buyers/users to streamline the
pump sizing and selection process. PUMP-FLO Solutions is supported
by 70 leading industrial pump manufacturers including Sulzer Pumps,
Inc., Goulds Pumps, The Pentair Pump Group, Gorman-Rupp Co., and
Crane Pumps & Systems to name a few. For more information visit
www.pump-flo.com/solutions or call 800-786-8545.
About BigMachines, Inc. and BigMachines AG
BigMachines (www.bigmachines.com) provides software and services
to help manufacturers of complex products streamline their selling
and customer service processes from inquiry-to-order.
BigMachines Lean Front-EndSM (LFE) solution digitizes selling
processes and captures an organization's tribal knowledge to
provide online product selection, configuration, quoting, and
ordering capabilities for new products and aftermarket parts and
services. BigMachines LFE easily integrates to existing business
systems and provides in-depth sales reporting capabilities.
Many leading manufacturers, including Crane Co., SPX Lightnin, and
Conair have implemented BigMachines' Lean Front-EndSM (LFE) to
substantially reduce selling costs and improve customer
service.
# # #
PUMP-FLO is a trademark of Engineered Software. All other
companies or products listed are trademarks of their respected
owners.
For further information, contact:
Natalie McCullough
press@pump-flo.com
Tel. 360-292-4073
Fax. 360-412-0672