EAST Manufacturing Enters New Era With Configure One

Configure One™, a leading provider of web-based product configurator and electronic catalog software, today announced that EAST Manufacturing Corporation—a leading aluminum trailer manufacturer—selected Configure One’s Concept Enterprise Product Configurator® after a comprehensive evaluation.
 
Founded in 1968, EAST is a privately held company that began manufacturing aluminum Dump Trailers one at a time. Today, the company has grown to become a multiple product, leading trailer manufacturer that employs nearly 500 people.
 
As the number of products increased and became more complex, the company recognized that its manual quoting system was no longer adequate. “We knew that it wasn’t getting the job done,” said Don Pecano, executive vice president and CFO. “We wanted to make it easier for our customers, dealers, and internal sales people to generate timely, accurate quotes. Our goal is to be known as the trailer company with the most efficient quoting system in the industry. We recognized that we needed a web-based configuration system but it took us a couple of years to evaluate all of the candidates before we finally selected Configure One’s Concept Enterprise Product Configurator.”
 
Selecting the right solution is not just software but also the people behind the company. “We really liked the people we dealt with at Configure One,” said Pecano. “They were very professional and incredibly knowledgeable. They recognized that we were starting from scratch and they asked the right questions to find out where we were and where we wanted to be. Unlike some other vendors, Configure One is focused on manufacturing and has references in our industry. Overall, we just felt more comfortable with Concept and Configure One than the other products and vendors we evaluated.”
 
According to Pecano, EAST expects to receive considerable benefits from its implementation of Concept. “We are looking for economies and efficiencies that we haven’t seen before and that’s why we are very excited. We have the potential to substantially increase revenue and profitability. Concept’s analysis tools will enable us to monitor all of the quoting activities across the country. We will be able to analyze the data in many different ways and identify areas that need improving. Concept’s ability to integrate to our ERP system will generate real time cost data and therefore profit and margin numbers. We will be able to make pricing decisions instantaneously.”
 
EAST markets its products through a network of over 60 distributors and 400 accessories dealers nationwide. “We expect our dealers to become more proactive in the quoting process rather that relying on our inside sales people,” said Pecano. “Some of our dealers produce their own quotes, but not enough of them. Frankly, they are too busy to invest the time to become proficient in a cumbersome manual system. Concept will empower our dealers to generate their own quotes and rely far less on our inside sales people. Depending on the complexity of the trailer and the customer’s specifications, the quotation process could take between one and four hours. With Concept a quote can be generated almost instantaneously.”
 
“We are very pleased that after a comprehensive evaluation East Manufacturing selected Configure One,” said Jim Hessin, a senior account executive with Configure One. “Companies that rely heavily on a dealer network recognize the importance of being easy to do business with. We believe that Concept will enable EAST to offer its dealer network the best quoting system in their industry.”
 
About Configure One
 
Configure One is a leading provider of web-based product configurator and electronic catalog software.  Configure One’s Concept Enterprise Product Configurator®, Concept E-Catalog®, and Concept E-Commerce® products are enterprise applications that enable companies to efficiently sell and process orders for configurable, multi-option, and customizable products and services. Configure One’s customers are able to increase revenues while reducing costs by automating much of the sales, order entry, and engineering processes.  Customers include industry leaders such as Emerson Electric, British Telecom, Danaher, Dover Corporation, General Dynamics, Masonite Corporation, Mitsubishi, Otis Elevator, Stryker Medical, Stanley Black & Decker, Sumitomo, and Thomas & Betts.
 
Contact:
Ron Mouw
Configure One, Inc.
Oak Brook, Illinois 60523
630-368-9950