Kolbe & Kolbe Millwork Company, Inc. (Kolbe & Kolbe) has gone live with the MAC-PAC XE Advanced Bid and Quote (ABQ) application combined with the MAC-PAC XE Customer Center web-based storefront and C3™ Customer Centric Configuration solutions. Kolbe & Kolbe is a national manufacturer of high-end residential wood, aluminum clad and vinyl windows and doors, as well as a line of steel doors. ABQ extends Customer Center with sophisticated quote generation and management capabilities to provide a powerful channel support solution for sales of highly customized products such as Kolbe & Kolbe's.

With ABQ and the extended MAC-PAC XE solution, Kolbe & Kolbe is now providing distributors with some of the most advanced web-based capabilities available from any window and door manufacturer anywhere, including the ability to:

• Configure and order any custom Kolbe & Kolbe product on-line, including mulled units (units that combine and coordinate multiple window and door products)
• Immediately view and manipulate a 3D model of configured custom products
• Quickly generate custom product quotes for dealers, delivering them in an Excel spreadsheet format that dealers can directly translate into high quality end-customer ‘bid' documents with thumbnail images of the configured window and/or mulled unit
• Automatically turn complex custom product quotes/bids into orders
• Instantly view the status of custom product orders, invoices, and shipments

Together, these capabilities dramatically reduce the time and effort required to produce quotes and bids for Kolbe & Kolbe's custom windows and doors – from days to minutes – while significantly reducing errors and the requirement for order changes. In addition, the new system provides Kolbe & Kolbe distributors and field sales people with access to far better information about products, orders, and outstanding quotes.

On the back end, the new system automatically passes distributor orders to MAC-PAC XE order processing and manufacturing applications to drive production at any one of Kolbe & Kolbe's six manufacturing plants located in various parts of the United States . Integration of the web-based channel sales system and core MAC-PAC XE applications is done using the MAC-PAC XE Integration Server™ product.

Donald Huehnerfuss, Kolbe & Kolbe Vice President states: “On-line product configuration, 3D visualization, and rapid sales quotes give our dealers and distributors a tremendous set of tools for increasing sales and customer service. But this system is also helping us significantly streamline our entire quote-to-delivery cycle. Ultimately, this reduces our lead-times as well as our costs, making us more responsive to customer needs and more competitive in our market.”

Dan DeMuth, TDCI President, adds: “Kolbe & Kolbe is taking a leadership position in the window and door industry by offering these on-line capabilities to their distributors and dealers and we are proud to be a part of the effort. In addition to providing Kolbe & Kolbe with a distinct competitive advantage, this solution also serves to illustrate the breadth and flexibility of today's extended MAC-PAC XE solution set.