WSP Systems Puts Excel Sheets Away and Reduces Price Calculation Time by 75%

Delivering complete systems, where every component depends on every other, pushed WSP beyond what a standard product configurator could offer. They needed something built for that reality. At Elfsquad, recognizing that need and building the solution together with the customer is exactly how we work. WSP Systems became our first launching customer for system and project configurations, and the result was a 75% reduction in price calculation time.

When Customer Specificity Becomes a Bottleneck

WSP's systems are not just complex, they are interconnected. As Aalbers explains: "Our systems are quite diverse. Even a transport conveyor belt to move laundry through the system is produced with precision to the millimeter. Additionally, it requires curvature at different angles to fit optimally in the washery. Many other extra options are also available, such as whether they should have side bulkheads or not. Even the types of legs and colors can all be customized."

For outsiders, the number of options for a single conveyor belt is already hard to grasp. But WSP's systems go further than that. "The conveyor belt has to fit perfectly with the next part, such as an elevator. Otherwise, you are not delivering a full system. Every possible component available in a system is interdependent. You're talking about millions of possibilities. With that, try to get a price."

Getting to an accurate price was the biggest challenge WSP faced. It required constant back-and-forth between Sales Inside Service, Account Managers, and customers. The process was slow, error-prone, and entirely dependent on a handful of people who understood how the Excel sheets worked.

Knowledge Locked in Spreadsheets

"Our account managers focus on finding projects. Then Sales Inside needs to quickly manage a price calculation for the entire project," Aalbers explains. That calculation lived in Excel, and Excel had reached its limits. "Fewer and fewer employees eventually knew how the Excel Sheets and calculations exactly worked anymore. It wasn't future-proof at all. It also isn't scalable, as it's almost impossible to explain to newer employees. All very prone to error."

The deep product knowledge at WSP is a genuine competitive advantage. Securing that knowledge in a system that everyone can work with, rather than keeping it locked in spreadsheets and people's heads, was the reason they started looking for a configurator.

Building a System Configurator From the Ground Up

At WSP's request, Elfsquad developed the nested configurations and linked configurations functionalities together, because no other CPQ solution on the market could handle the complexity of interconnected system configurations. During the Elfsquad demonstration, WSP was asked to describe exactly what they were doing, which was then quickly modeled in the configurator to show them what was possible. That openness and flexibility was what convinced them.

A WSP system consists of different objects, such as conveyor belts, elevators, and more. All configuration models follow the same structure, so WSP always uses the same setup per product, object, and project. Inside Sales now works with an engineering-validated sales model. Every object in a project can be configured, copied, and adjusted in Elfsquad. One price rolls out for the entire system, including man-hours and travel costs.

Aalbers describes how it works: "There is one main configuration model: the WSP project. This model consists of a decision tree containing every underlying nested configuration model. All of these models are interdependent. This is an evolution of the product configurator, which focuses on one complex product, but not on the coherence of numerous connected products across a full system."

75% Faster. Zero Confusion.

The results speak for themselves. "We took an old project and configured the entire thing within 15 clicks. Previously, Inside Sales would work with Excel Sheets to get to the new price. Product improvements were not properly taken into account, and errors from previous projects carried over. That is not what you want in a project of this size and complexity."

WSP reduced price calculation time by 75%, and they did it by going back to basics first. "We asked ourselves: what exactly do we supply, and how can we break our product into standardized modules? By working this way, we eliminated confusion in our sales and engineering processes. Everyone now speaks the same language, customers, account managers, and engineering alike."

When a project comes in, Sales Engineers capture the entire system in 3D. Within that model, modules are identified, all corresponding with product lists in the ERP system. Customers are served correctly from the first conversation. Engineering gets to work without confusion. One source of truth, across the entire process.