Client Background
Intertape Polymer Group (IPG) is a recognized leader in the development and manufacture of specialized polyolefin plastic, paper based packaging products and complementary packaging systems for industrial and retail use. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec and Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida, the Company employs approximately 2,100 employees with operations in 17 locations, including 13 manufacturing facilities in North America and one in Europe.
Business Challenge
IPG earns their business in a very competitive industry characterized by lean procurement, manufacturing, and sales/distribution. Across IPG’s product line there are families of even lower margin (commodity) products that must be sold in very high volume, with a minimum of manual processing, and shipped in bulk for them to be profitable. IPG has invested heavily in streamlining their procurement and manufacturing processes, but needed to find a way to efficiently sell and distribute the commodity products.
The goal for IPG was to minimize the human resources utilized in the sales and distribution aspects of fulfilling these products, they needed an automated, self-serve system that their distributors could use for ordering; one that allowed for built-in incentives and freight discounting functionality to satisfy their profit goals.
Solution
IPG had previously partnered with MethodFactory to create a public internet site and custom distributor extranet for its distributors, as well as redesign their website, which significantly improved the online ordering and fulfillment processes. IPG approached MethodFactory again with this new initiative, and together they created VALUE VAULT™ - an online ordering platform accessible through B2B for select, high-volume, low margin bulk commodities.
VALUE VAULT™ was designed as a highly functional, easy-to-use, private online eCommerce application for select customers to be able to purchase commodity products in bulk for a great value. The system is fully automated and has built-in incentive functions. Customers are notified of the best possible price based on the quantities/weight and are prompted to add more product to the order to get the greatest volume and freight discounts. Volume-based discounts are automatically calculated for the customer, as certain products are only sold by pallet quantities. For example, a weight calculator advises the customer on how much to add to their order to get to the next price tier; reducing IPGs fulfillment cost – and therefore, the distributors’ price.
The VALUE VAULT™ purchasing portal features:
- Current pricing for program items displayed with an expiration clock
- Online ordering functionality available 24/7
- Build-a-truck feature to help customers achieve the best price
- Program communications and updates
- Participation business rules, terms and conditions
- Order status and order history through B2B
Based on the project success of VALUE VAULT™, IPG plans to use the knowledge and experience garnered as a springboard to their next generation solution, which will include and enterprise-wide web ordering portal available for all customers across all SKUs.
Solution Elements
- MethodFactory System Design
- .NET Application Development
- Custom authentication provider
- SQL
- SQL Reporting Services/Integration Services
- System Integration
- Application Support
“We contracted MethodFactory last year for assistance with the migration of our public facing website from Microsoft’s Content Management Server to SharePoint 2007. We were so impressed by their work, that we hired them to design and develop a B to B online ordering portal so that our customers could place orders faster and more frequently. The entire project took MethodFactory just under 90 days from start to finish, and within six months, we surpassed the amount of incremental revenue we projected to produce over a year!”
~Fred Bond, Chief Technology Officer, Intertape Polymer Group