06.09.2019

INOMETA – Aluminium semifinished products online

For the past five months, a digital interface has been live that allows customers to order standard aluminium products from East Westphalian family-run company INOMETA. Once again, this demonstrates the company’s role as a technological pioneer in the market and proves that not only the products, but also the sales channels at INOMETA are state-of-the-art.

The online shop for aluminium products, offering roller tubes, cylinder tubes, pneumatic profiles, divider tubes and profile tubes, went live in March this year. Today, around five months after the go-live, the benefits of this digital B2B sales support are being felt by customers and INOMETA alike. Jörg Wenzel, Sales Manager for Tubes & Profiles at INOMETA, shows the advantages that the introduction of the online shop has brought and where you can also continue to rely on the expertise of his sales staff.

Ordering around the clock

A growing acceptance of the digital sales channel has been witnessed since the introduction of the online shop for aluminium products. The online shop can be accessed and can accept customer orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Of course, this is a service that it wasn’t possible to offer previously at INOMETA using conventional methods. Many of the orders are received outside normal business hours and can then be processed quickly via the digital interfaces. Since the go-live of the online shop, the optimal connection to the company-wide ERP system has speeded up work processes, which is clearly having an impact for the customer. An improved process chain leads to much greater efficiency and therefore also to a good competitive position. 

Inometa Jörg Wenzel

Significant time savings for purchasing

The customer benefits the most from the introduction, as many processes have become leaner and quicker, resulting in a big time saving from the customer’s perspective. Once the procedures for digital ordering are clear, follow-on orders can be processed very quickly. The customer selects the dimensions and specifications in the product configuration for the items they want and then adds them to their shopping basket. Once all products have been selected, the customer can approve the costs directly, without having to wait for an offer. The purchase can therefore be completed by the buyer in a single process and this frees up resources. The data is transferred directly into the ERP system at INOMETA via an interface. Whereas previously, data sometimes had to be transferred by hand, sources of potential errors have now been reduced to a minimum. This also means that the customer’s approval processes are eliminated, so orders can be forwarded to production and logistics extremely quickly.

Inometa Aluminium

Faster on-time delivery of aluminium products

Digital processes increase the speed of the entire processing chain. This has a positive impact on delivery times and performance. At INOMETA, it is therefore possible to process even small batch sizes quickly, so any batch size, from a small pipe section to a bulk order, can be delivered quickly and with high quality. Today, significant benefits can be gained in the area of just-in-time processing, and agile and flexible trading at high speed is possible. Last but not least, connection to external logistics interfaces enables fast transfers, resulting in short delivery times. INOMETA is pursuing increased standardization and automation of logistic processes to enable it to provide its customer with maximum performance.

Easy access for international customers

The go-live of shop.inometa.de has also enabled INOMETA to open up its aluminium business to international customers and increase its level of internationalisation. The constant accessibility enables international customers to order the available aluminium precision semifinished products quickly and easily. Fast processes also lead here to short delivery times and flexible scheduling, which can be particularly significant for just-in-time orders. Having a multilingual presence for the shop was the intention from the outset and has already been implemented. By doing so, INOMETA hopes to increase customer orders from other European countries, particularly for standard products like roller tubes, cylinder tubes, pneumatic profiles, divider tubes and profile tubes.

Inometa iPad

Customer-specific projects at INOMETA

INOMETA’s online shop for aluminium products is primarily a platform for standard aluminium goods that can be transferred directly to logistics from the fully-automated high-bay warehouse, which has 1800 spaces. These products are predestined for B2B online retailing, as they are available in frequently recurring lengths and specifications. It is different for customer-specific products. Here, INOMETA continues to rely on the expertise of its sales staff. The configuration of individual aluminium products based on customer-specific drawings requires intensive consultation and coordination with the customer. Likewise, development projects in the aluminium sector cannot be represented using a configurator or online platform and therefore only take place through direct contact with the customer.

Further information about Tubes & Profiles at INOMETA

Visit our Online shop her. Find further information about our aluminum products here.

INOMETA at the K2019 in Düsseldorf

All questions about aluminum semi-finished products will be answered at the K2019. Meetings can be arranged in advance. Please contact us via the contact form.

See you at the K2019 – 16.-23.10.

INOMETA – Hall 4 Stand A43

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