Truck Box Shop, based in Salt Lake City UT, was one of the first vehicle upfitters in the nation to purchase Knaack Mfg Co's Weatherguard Vehicle Solutions software, resulting in more successful business with its customers.
Kurt Johnson, division manager of Truck Box Shop, became aware of Weatherguard Vehicle Solutions through his company's sales representative. Johnson received a demo of the software at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in November 2004, where it debuted, and decided to purchase a one-year license.
“We enjoy using this new design method and look forward to using it when we can,” said Johnson. “It is helpful to sit with the customer and work together to develop a van package. It enables the customer to visualize his van storage first-hand and to see the design process.”
According to Johnson, the software gives both the vehicle upfitter and the customer confidence in the design process.
“I think people find it easier to visualize a concept, so it's a lot easier to look at the design rather than read the design dimensions. This is what makes Vehicle Solutions so great,” said Johnson.
Johnson believes the design printout and corresponding quotes look more professional and are more comprehensive than just a hand-drawn sketch and a written list of prices.
He also noticed that Vehicle Solutions saved him time in designing van storage for his customers.
“With the traditional upfitting method, I would have to measure a customer's vehicle and plot the vehicle and storage equipment dimensions out on graph paper,” said Johnson. “This way does not always guarantee that the storage equipment is going to fit. With Vehicle Solutions, it's guaranteed that everything will fit because the software tells you what is going to fit based on the vehicle.”
The program will not allow the user to configure the van design with products inappropriate for a particular vehicle model, thus eliminating costly errors. The software also can save van drawings for users to make revisions at a later time.
Johnson estimates that he has saved about 80% of his time using Vehicle Solutions.
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