I kicked off this project by delving into the challenges faced by Douwe Egberts and their partners. With multiple parties involved, our initial task was to map out their needs and document their preferences. Our focus centered on identifying the functionalities Douwe Egberts required to empower their field engineers, enabling more efficient repair processes.
Following extensive research, including interviews with field engineers and back-office staff, we uncovered a significant issue: a high volume of incorrect part orders originating primarily from field engineers conducting service on the coffee machines.
The root cause lay in the field engineers relying heavily on guesswork when diagnosing machine issues. They then used paper order forms to request parts, which were often misinterpreted by back-office employees when inputting them into the order software. These combined factors led to a stream of faulty orders.
Our discoveries led us to an ingenious solution that was quite tech-savvy. We compiled the original exploded view technical drawings for each Douwe Egberts coffee machine and devised a sophisticated overlay for easy part identification. Integrating these parts into Douwe Egberts’ order software, we then developed a user-friendly interface accessible via tablets for field engineers.
This innovation enabled field engineers to directly order parts from an exploded view, eliminating the need for error-prone paper forms. Our efforts culminated in a highly efficient ordering process, remarkably reducing faults and virtually eliminating returns. This not only resulted in substantial cost savings but also contributed to my graduation.
Utilizing Magento as the backbone of our solution, our project garnered recognition from the Meet Magento jury, ultimately earning us the prestigious “Magento Innovation Award.”
