Customer Profile
Nipponia, established in 1992, has become a major factor in worldwide motorcycle and scooter manufacturing and sales. It will introduce three new scooters at the EICMA Exhibition in Milan on November 4th, 2008.
The Challenges
Far-flung manufacturing plants differed in standards and processes. Costs of printing catalogs were rising. New dealers needed to see Nipponia’s commitment to dealer success. Tools to enable end user marketing interaction were envisioned.
The Solution
Nipponia found other solutions primitive. Cortona3D RapidCatalog software from Cortona3D meets all needs, is fast to use, and will enable future benefits.
Benefits
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Company’s engineering and parts files can be used and leveraged
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Global standards can now be enforced
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Authoring is fast, intuitive - simple 3D animated graphics zoom, rotate /explode assemblies to show parts
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Potential dealers see business package with more profits and less work
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Parts be easily be selected and ordered online.
To fulfil its plan of “One World, One Brand,” Nipponia had to find a global solution to varying specifications for its spares in many plants scattered across the world. Yet the same IT solution had to be intuitive enough for dealers and even end users to easily use to find and order parts. New offerings with an ambitious business plan had to combine with an industry-leading approach to spares management that would intrigue prospective dealers.
RapidCatalog from Cortona3D will standardize spares manufacturing, let dealers manipulate scooter images on the Web to order the exact parts, and send Nipponia a purchase order via a Web shopping cart. View Streaming Video
From the global corporate level, through local dealers, to eventual end-user capabilities, Nipponia has found a cost-conscious solution that positions it for future growth.
Enabling Worldwide Marketing and Support
Nipponia was established in Japan in 1992 and has expanded activities to include design, manufacture and marketing of motorcycles, mopeds and scooters. Nipponia Holding and Management in Athens, Greece, conceives and designs models as well as manages market development, marketing support, warranties, spare parts ordering and administration. Mechanical and component engineering are finalized in China and Japan, then assembly is executed in plants around the world that adhere to Nipponia’s strict quality standards.
Smooth and rapid aftermarket service with genuine Nipponia parts is crucial to product longevity, worldwide user respect and the rapid growth of a worldwide dealer network to achieve Nipponia’s motto of “One World, One Brand.”
The difference between a parts book and the RapidCatalog Web capability is that each Web image can be rotated, zoomed, exploded and purchased on the screen.
Cortona3D RapidCatalog is the enabling technology for the speed and conformity of these scooters’ spare parts and global service.
Worldwide Success…with Room for Improvement
Nipponia’s rapid growth and geographical diversity, however, contributed to problems such as differing business structures and processes within the company. There was no clear process for redesigning, manufacturing, documenting the change, or globalising a new part. For customer safety and liability defense, Nipponia required an audit trail of all parts improvements, but diverse processes made clean trails unattainable.
Alexandros Zountas, Chief Information Officer of Nipponia Athens, explains, “A year ago, we had an old system, an old parts book and no rules for coding, nomenclature or changes. These factors made manufacturing inefficient, but we all saw they would hamper globalization of Nipponia products. Our new models have totally new looks, performance and value. So the business package we show and provide dealers must have equally impressive functions. We had a mental vision of Web-based 3D parts capabilities to show business people the wisdom of becoming Nipponia dealers."
RapidCatalog—the Only Choice to Meet the Needs
Zountas says, “We looked very carefully at several vendors hoping to find one product that would answer all those needs. Except for Cortona3D, the field was very disappointing. Many products were primitive. I’m a programmer and could have written them myself! Only RapidCatalog did everything we wanted, from helping us design and standardize new parts manufacturing, to smoothing distribution, to showing dealers we are truly serious about long-term, top-notch support. It even opens doors to further improvements. When we saw RapidCatalog manage worldwide military and aviation spares standards, our confidence jumped because our own standards must be just as tight.
“RapidCatalog accepts JT data directly from our CAD. This establishes the required consistent global framework on our parts’ source material. Now our design, manufacturing, processes, and of course electronic literature can be streamlined and universally consistent.
In this view, only plastic parts are emphasized on-screen. Selected parts can go into a shopping cart for immediate, error-free purchase.
“Finally, the Cortona3D team were very open and very helpful. As early as our evaluation version, they spent time to guide me through the product via phone and WebEx meetings. We were confident of this choice on every level.”
Hands-On with RapidCatalog
Zountas explains, “In everyday use, our factory sends us JT files, which we import and produce the catalog using RapidCatalog. It’s a very, very simple procedure. To prove the point, although we had very little time to prepare marketing material for this exhibit, we were able to publish our initial catalog in time to show it and make a video demonstrating its capabilities. We’ll show it continuously because we know dealers will notice the benefits. Many other companies in this niche don’t serve their dealers or aftermarket very well.
“We expect our final catalog for all new scooters to be ready by March 2009. With this done, we’ll also have a framework so we can double-check manufacturing quality and nomenclature.
A “Dream” System for Dealers Worldwide
“Nipponia dealers will have a ‘dream’ system,” explains Zountas. “Beyond speed and convenience, the obvious benefits will be ease of attracting after-sales revenue while every dealer helps build a superior reputation for Nipponia in our industry.On-screen, they will see a true-to-life, three-dimensional animation of any Nipponia scooter. They can rotate the image continuously in every direction, yielding views from any angle. They can use pre-selected views. Clicking a part or an assembly highlights it and selects it on the parts list. They can zoom in, explode assemblies to show all components, hide parts they don’t need, and drill down to any given part.
“Conversely, if they know an item’s name or number, they can click its line in the parts list and the item will highlight on the screen, where they can rotate, zoom and drill down to see exactly how it fits. Two more clicks put the item into a shopping cart. These sequential zooming and exploding capabilities also give us a very useful instruction tool for teaching and reviewing disassembly and reassembly procedures.
The many viewing tools in RapidCatalog could enable this user, for example, to hide the highlighted accessory.
Business Benefits for Dealers and Nipponia
“We want dealers to have these tools on a dedicated dealer-network Web site. Later, they can evolve into a Wholesalers’ Dashboard site where dealers will see pending orders, payments owing, shipping progress of parts, etc. Cutting excess steps reduces per-part cost to the user. We eliminate the rising printing and shipping costs of paper catalogs. We reduce human error in ordering and repairs. Users, dealers and Nipponia all benefit.”
“Engineering changes will now go through strict, step-by-step procedures required by and documented in RapidCatalog. The new standardization framework will ensure that piston rings bought in Venezuela will fit pistons sold in Greece. And we will have a rock-solid audit trail. Setting up and getting distributors fully operational can be faster, more economical and more certain. The field’s feedback to Nipponia can be immediate, so we can rapidly include and disseminate valid points worldwide.”
Cortona3D Leverages Budget and Business Data
In a projected 2009 scenario, an end user in a country without Nipponia dealer presence will be able to intuitively order parts by Web, using pictures and drawings, with no need to browse a printed catalog. This will help eliminate language barriers to aftermarket revenue and add years of value to Nipponia products. “Cortona3D is now an essential part and partner of our business plan,” says Zountas. “We expect to recycle our RapidCatalog information into RapidManual for a fully automated instruction manual compliant with modern teaching standards. It can even evolve into a Web sales tool that allows users to paint the scooter different colors, see it from different angles, then choose accessories and a convenient dealer. This partnership is just beginning.” View Streaming Video