As a manufacturer, you’ve probably wondered what to make of these new Web technologies everyone is talking about? You’re a manufacturing company, not a retailer. So how can using an eCommerce website increase your productivity and improve your profitability? What’s in it for you, right?
You’re in the business-to-business (B2B) business, and maybe you don’t — or even care to — sell your products online. But you ARE looking for new strategies for growth and ways to generate greater value from your customers.
How exactly does a manufacturer develop customer loyalty, using the Web?
As luck would have it, the Fall conference season is almost upon us. And xTuple has been invited to talk about this very topic at two upcoming manufacturing-focused trade shows and conferences.
Our first appearance on the show circuit is September 20-22 in North Carolina (USA), at Pipe & Tube Charlotte, the largest tube and pipe market conference in North America. My technical session on B2B eCommerce — “How Manufacturers Increase Productivity & Improve Profitability with Web Technology” — will demonstrate how customer intimacy leads to customer loyalty.
If you haven’t already, be sure to register and join us for an opening reception at Charlotte Motor Speedway plus a plant tour at Joe Gibbs Racing (owned and led by three-time Super Bowl winning and Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs). My compadre, account executive Cam Hagan, will be manning the xTuple booth for those attendees looking for a product demo.
In November, I’ll also be at the Las Vegas edition of FABTECH Expo, North America's Largest Metal Forming, Fabricating, Welding and Finishing event. Joining me is Josh Fischer, product manager of xTupleCommerce, which is xTuple’s revolutionary B2B eCommerce Web portal — integrated with our open source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). As part of the Preparing for Industry 4.0 technology panel, Josh will present a product overview and case study on how to solve productivity and customer relationship issues for every business type and size entitled “Is Your Manufacturing Company Ready to Go Digital?”
We’ll be giving away our complimentary e-book What Are Your Biggest Challenges with B2B eCommerce? to attendees at both shows.
Both events are sponsored by our manufacturing membership organization, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl. (FMA).
Follow the Pipe & Tube Charlotte conference hashtag #PipeTube on Twitter.
Wally Tonra
Wally has been with xTuple since 2004 and in ERP sales since the mid-1990s. After all that time selling vendor-centric, proprietary enterprise software, moving to an open source, Mac-friendly ERP package was a natural evolution. Prior to xTuple, Wally spent 10 years at JD Edwards, which was eventually acquired by Peoplesoft, in various sales and sales management positions. He made the move to xTuple before Oracle took over both Peoplesoft and the former JDE. Prior to JD Edwards, Wally held sales positions at ERP software company Daly.commerce (formerly Daly and Wolcott), hardware supplier XL/Datacomp and storage vendor EMC. Wally holds a B.S. from Boston College, where the Mac fanaticism all began.