The Internet has revolutionised the way we live and do business and for Morwell based Hydraulic & Pneumatic, the Internet has proved to be a real boon for business – thanks to Festo’s Online Shop.
Hydraulic & Pneumatic has been looking after the pneumatic and hydraulic needs of industry throughout the greater Gippsland area for over 30 years - providing system design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning, sales and in-shop or on-site servicing.
According to Hydraulic & Pneumatic’s Paul Needham, their client base is spread throughout the region and includes industries as diverse as paper mills, power generation, food manufacturing, logging and agriculture – which for the sales team meant a lot of travelling, until the arrival of Festo’s Online Shop.
“We’ve been partnering with Festo as a distributor for about 5 years now and with their support we’ve been able to grow our business substantially.
“We sell a diverse range of pneumatic and hydraulic equipment brands, however when it comes to pneumatics over 80% is Festo - as they have the range, their quality is excellent and their support is unmatched.
“And with Festo you know they’ll lead the way with innovative products, application solutions and time saving support through their website and digital catalogue on DVD which benefits both us and our customers.
“With the digital catalogue it has enabled us to load the Festo Product Catalogue onto our customers computers so we can review product selection and specifications over the phone as opposed to being there in person. Some of our clients are almost 2 hours away, so the digital catalogue saves us time, money and stress.
“But the biggest change to our business without doubt was the introduction of the Festo Online Shop into Australia about threeyears ago, as it really revolutionised the way we did business.
“From overnight we went from a phone and fax reliant ordering procedure to having 24 hour a day, seven day a week access toinformation like stock availability, specifications, pricing and delivery tracking.
“And the real advantage with the Festo Online Shop is that we can access it from anywhere, whether in the office, acustomer’s office, or at home. This translates to immediate answers on product specifications and delivery – which our
clients love.
“The ability to order online gives us a tremendous edge in sourcing and delivering parts and products quicker than ourcompetitors. As an example, I placed an order at the Festo Online Shop just before 5pm and the product was delivered thenext morning, whereas with other suppliers who receive orders by fax it would take 48 hours to process and ship.
“It really is an efficient system. We have access to Festo’s warehouse when needed, which means I can do quoting at night oron the weekend, or check on an order’s status without having to rely on others being there to answer the phone, which allcombine to give us more effective time for customers’ needs.
“Take shipping for example, once the ordered product leaves the Festo warehouse it’s linked to a freight company’s website sowe know exactly where it is at any given time – which assists customer relations.
“The benefits of being able to access the Online Shop are virtually limitless. We had a client recently that was having volumeissues with the manual dispensing of product on a packaging line, so we designed a proportional regulator to dispenseconsistent volumes. With the assistance of Festo’s Online Shop we were able to find an off-the-shelf regulator and order itonline. This eliminated time involved researching a solution and then finding the right part - enabling us to solve ourcustomer’s problem quickly.
“The Festo Online Shop also enables us to access technical information and send it to our customer’s engineers to enablethem to verify their requirements – which in many cases has saved days, if not weeks.
“We have 6 people utilising the Festo Online Shop and they all find it easy to use and great for business. Sure, some of theother suppliers have online ordering, but their systems don’t come close to Festo’s.
“It’s great not having to be constantly watching the clock as the Online Shop facilitates all our needs previously handled by phone or fax during business hours. With the Festo Online Shop Festo is always open for business, which means we are too.
“Festo’s partnership approach to it’s distributors and the Festo Online Shop have enabled us to take Hydraulic & Pneumatics business to the next level, so much so that I couldn’t envisage doing business any other way,” Paul said.