Reynaers Aluminium

Discover how our UX solutions made life easier for installers, manufacturers, floor managers and operators. In short, everyone.

The client

Reynaers Aluminium is the European leader in the development and marketing of sustainable and innovative aluminium applications. Their solutions are used in the construction of windows, doors, wall-systems, sliding doors, sunscreens and porches. They swear by energy-efficiency and sustainability. Aside from the basic product range they also develop tailored solutions for projects size XS to XXL in industry.

The match

Digital isn’t just about technology, it’s also about people, about the users. Your new digital product can be very hightech and efficient for you to use, but what if your customers don’t agree, or if your staff doesn’t adapt to these new tools.

While Reynaers already made huge steps in digitizing their production, and produced several customer facing applications, they were looking for a technical partner who could also advise them on the User Experience (UX) part of the story. And here comes Verhaert Digital… We guided Reynaers through 3 different projects so far and have more in the pipeline. We’ll present 2 of the results here.

Project 1 : A full option Dashboard

The challenge

Reynaers already had the ReynaPro and ReynaFlow software packages available to draw out their solutions into the smallest detail. But they wanted to extend its functionalities so that the tools would also be useful for their clients. But to better service their clients; the producers of their designs, the floor managers, the operators,… something had to be done. The current user interface was not friendly enough, there was data missing and the software couldn’t be shown on the screens in the workspace.

The solution

With our experts in UX, UI and product developers we took up the challenge and upgraded/re-invented the current dashboard. The information about the products, combined with an incentive to report more accurate, provides better insights for both Reynaers and their clients. The dashboard shows a clear overview of the different projects that are running simultaneously in a workshop, where the physical location of each product is, in which phase they find themselves (assembly, cutting, pressing, …) and much more. The data that is aggregated allows strategic interventions from Reynaers’ side; fast feedback loops from the production side also make it possible to adjust their designs where needed. On the client-side users can track their own efficiency and anticipate sudden fluxes in workstations, optimizing the workflow. They can intervene anywhere they want in the process and make plannings, estimations and directly test them on the work floor. The door to A/B testing for more efficiency is wide open with this dashboard.

Our added value

Our flexibility to work with historical software, existing database schemes or digital decisions was a plus in this collaboration, there were a lot of dependencies to take into account. The original project was purely a UX request, but with our background in innovation but also product development and software development we could grasp the whole picture and come up with an integrated solution that exceeded the initial request. The integration is going very well and the next steps are being taken for inter-application connections, more dashboard features and even better client servicing.

Project 2 : Element Controller installation procedure

The challenge

Reynaers also offers complex motorised solutions to its clients and they are available in over 110 combinations. These solutions are often integrated into complex building sites that are still under construction, are difficult to access and don’t have any wifi or 3G connection. Because the solutions are installed by external clients they need extra guidance doing the complex setup. With all the limitations at hand, we had to come up with a user-friendly solution that would significantly diminish the error margin and time spent per setup.

The solution

To counter the challenge Reynaers was facing we designed a web application that could receive feedback from the movement of the window solutions while guiding the installer through a well-thought-out set-up journey. A lot of effort went into the research of the actual installation circumstances, the variables of the installer and the environment while considering the technical limitations (devices, connection, digital maturity, …). UI and UX played an important role in the problem-solving process together with the small technical interventions needed to give live feedback to the installer.

Our added value

This was a very exciting project for us as we could apply almost our whole range of expertise. Innovative problem solving, research, product development, … We put our hardware engineers to work together with our design department and they came up with a solution that was so simple and effective. We are very proud of it! No unnecessary bells and whistles, just very pure and efficient problem-solving, that’s what we like at Verhaert Digital!

Lesson learned

We learned that digital can be an excellent partner for companies who have wide product ranges that are offered in myriad combinations, to help reduce the errors made in the production process and the setup. In a B2B relation, a supportive digital tool can really make the difference between you and the competition, the service level goes up and you gain valuable feedback from your clients to improve it even further. Also, never forget about the humans that will interact with your products, they can choose to make it or break it, when it doesn’t add any value to their work process.

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