Project Background
Norgren, part of IMI, were looking to assist their customers with finding the right engineering component at the right time. When a replacement component is needed for a factory production line, it is often needed quickly. The customer needs to know:
- What the component is that needs replacing
- Where they can buy the component
- When they can have the component
Ideally, the customer should be able to move from needing a component to identifying a component to ordering a component as quickly as possible
The Challenge
Like many engineering companies, Norgren’s IT systems were built with internal efficiency and operations in mind, and in this they have been very successful. From the customers’ point of view, however, the right information and tools were not available at the right time. The challenge here was to utilise the excellent internal systems in a modern, intuitive way to let the customer go from need to purchase as quickly as possible.
The Solution
This project combined our expertise in the development of native mobile Apps for iOS and Android with our extensive experience of building “back-end” systems that integrated more complex IT system so that information could easily be presented to the customer.
Using our native mobile app development, we created a native iOS App and a native Android App to allow us to take full advantage of all of the features available on a mobile device.
Our native mobile app solution:
- Allows users to search over 300,000 Norgren components instantly
- Allows users in over 30 countries in over 30 languages to search for Norgren components
- Provides the ability for a customer to simply scan a product text label to find a matching component (using Artificial Intelligence and OCR)
- Allows scanning of bar codes and QR codes to find replacement components
- Allows conversion of thousands of competitor part numbers into Norgren part numbers to make it very easy to find compatible Norgren components
- Allows users to check the tens of thousands of components that Norgren distributors have in stock all over the world
- Allows users to find a local distributor with the components in stock
- Allows users to order components from the online web store
Delivery
Our Agile approach to delivery meant that we could prioritise the development and delivery of the App features in order of the greatest business value.
We then managed the global rollout of the App to over 30 countries around the world, including the development of a custom-build web portal to allow each local territory to provide their own localised text for the App. Also, it provides up to date information on local distributors so that their stock could be included in the App.
If you are wondering whether your business would benefit from having an App, then please read our informative guide on the benefits of having a native mobile App. Or contact us, to find out how our native mobile app development services could help your business.