Visibilty | Efficiency | Business Development

EMS Marketing

Customer Portal for Electronics Manufacturing:

Optimizing Quote Requests and Customer Communication

Greater visibility and easier inquiries for electronics manufacturers

Today, potential customers expect a simple, digital way to get in touch and request a quote.

International platforms have demonstrated how important simple inquiry processes are for acquiring new customers and projects.

A customer portal lowers the barrier to submitting bills of materials (BOMs), Gerber and pick-and-place data, as well as other manufacturing documents and, above all, makes it easier for new customers to get started on new projects. This enables electronics manufacturers to strengthen their digital presence and process qualified inquiries more efficiently.

The main day-to-day challenges in the EMS industry

EMS Neukundengewinnung

Business
Development

  • Availability for new customers
  • Asian dominance in online business
  • Building an active sales force
  • Visibility through customer-focused marketing
Elektronik Beratung Geschäftentwicklung

Customer
Communication

  • Achieving clarity through the use of emails
  • Ensuring traceability
  • Ensuring version control
  • Ensuring audit compliance
Elektronikfertigung

Fast
quotation process

  • Identify components in the bill of materials (BOM)
  • Find out additional information about the Gerber data (material, surface finish, etc.)
  • Reduce the number of queries
  • Shorten quotation cycles
bee produced customer portal

Strategic Advantages for the EMS Industry Through a Customer Portal

Geschäftsentwicklung in der Elektronik

Business
Development

  • Customer portal for integration into your website
  • Accessible and available 24/7
  • Wide reach
  • Easy to use and as visible as established portals
  • New customers directly through online search
EMS Kommunikation

Customer communication

  • Centralised project communication via the portal chat
  • Audit-proof and traceable
  • Secure and hosted in Germany
  • More time for personalised advice thanks to intelligent data analysis
Dateneffiziens in der Elektronik

Fast
quotation process

  • Automatic component identification and analysis of the layer stack
  • Overview of PCB information
  • Integration with your ERP system
  • Efficient quotation process
  • Complete manufacturing documentation
  • More quotations with less effort
GDPR compliant
EMS Portal Hosted in Germany
For electronics manufacturers with high data security requirements, an on-premises solution is available – implemented and managed either by you or by our team of experts. – Get in touch!
bee market EMS Marktplatz

How does a customer portal for electronics manufacturing work?

Your perspective as EMS supplier

1. Enquiry overview

Once they have logged in, your staff will be taken straight to the enquiry overview.
All enquiries are displayed here in chronological order.

You will, of course, be notified by email whenever a new enquiry is received.

2. Filter enquiries

The overview includes both enquiries received via your personalised customer portal and those received via our beemarket platform.
You can apply a filter to view enquiries from one source or the other only.

3. Order overview & chat

When you select an enquiry, you will be taken to the order overview with an integrated chat function.
Here, you can ask the customer any queries in a comprehensive, transparent and secure manner, and also document any telephone discussions.
The chat remains accessible at any time, even after the order has been completed, and can be used as evidence during an audit.

4. Order processing – PCB

If you select ‘Edit order’, you will be shown exactly the settings that the customer has specified.

You will first be taken to the PCB properties, which you can adjust in consultation with the customer if necessary, should any information be missing or requirements be unfeasible.

5. Editing the bill of materials (BOM)

You can also amend the bill of materials at a later date – for example, if there is no specific manufacturer requirement and you wish to use a component you have in stock.

The customer receives automatic notification of every change and can confirm it or suggest alternatives.

6. Synchronisation & Download

Once all components have been specified and approved by the customer, you can match them to the internal IDs in your ERP system – provided that a manufacturer’s part number has already been created in your system.

You can also conveniently download the order data as a ZIP file for further processing.

7. ERP matching of components

To synchronise with your ERP system, a mapping table
Manufacturer Part Number – Local ERP
must be uploaded. All part numbers that are officially listed with the distributors can be synchronised.

Automatic synchronisation for individual components such as printed circuit boards and stencils is not possible.

New customers from a wide range of sectors – directly via your website

Create quotations in hours
rather than days

Fewer clarifications, more production orders

Up to 75% less effort when preparing quotations

bee produced customer portal

Operational benefits in day-to-day EMS work

Relief for sales
and production planning

  • Complete project and production documentation
  • Consistent database
  • Fewer queries
  • Transparent communication
  • Faster processing of quotation requests

Optimised quality assurance and manufacturing

  • Complete and up-to-date production documentation
  • Traceable documentation of changes and approvals
  • Consistent information for all parties involved
  • Fewer misunderstandings regarding production requirements
  • Reduction in rework and complaints
bee connect EMS Portal

Watch our video and find out how a customer portal can make your order processing more visible, faster and more transparent!

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Find out more…

The customer perspective

1. Uploading the project data

Customers can easily upload bills of materials (BOMs), Gerber files and other production documents using drag-and-drop

2. Successful upload of project data

Once all the data has been successfully uploaded, the automatic data analysis can be started.

3. PCB

The portal automatically analyses the layer stack and assigns the layers according to their function.
The customer can make manual adjustments at any time if the assignment does not meet their requirements.

4. Components/BOM

Components with a unique MPN are identified automatically.
All other components can be manually assigned an MPN or marked as generic.

In addition, you can specify which components are not to be fitted.

5. Pick&Place Data

The placement coordinates (pick-and-place data) are also automatically read and displayed.

This enables both systematic and individual errors to be identified and rectified more quickly.

6. Production

Once the printed circuit board and bill of materials have been fully identified and configured, the requirements for the production and testing processes can be specified.

7. Summary

Before submitting their enquiry, the customer receives a summary of their production order so that they can make any final changes if necessary.

Easy upload of all production documents

Direct enquiry 24/7 instead of a lengthy email process

All enquiries centralised in one place

Short time-to-market thanks to rapid quotations

bee produced customer portal

Our added value – a combination of electronics expertise and marketing experience

  • Website integration of the portal
  • Search engine optimisation
  • Listing on our EMSmarketplace
bee market EMS Marktplatz
  • Templates for customer communications
  • Best practice for onboarding existing customers
  • Form for your individual profile as an EMS service provider

Complete enquiries including bills of materials (BOM), Gerber and pick-and-place data

A significant proportion of the time spent in the quotation process is taken up with queries regarding incomplete bills of materials (BOMs), missing Gerber data or unclear manufacturing requirements. The customer portal allows customers to upload their bills of materials (BOMs), Gerber data, drawings and other manufacturing documents in one central location. All information is available directly within the project and can be processed without the need for time-consuming email correspondence.

Audit-proof project communication in electronics manufacturing

Technical queries, change requests and project information are documented centrally. This ensures that decisions remain traceable and transparent to all parties involved. All communication is stored in one place and does not need to be pieced together from individual emails.

Faster quotation preparation

Structured data collection reduces the need for follow-up enquiries and cuts waiting times. The sales, work planning and procurement teams receive the information they need directly within the project. This speeds up the processing of quotation requests and improves response times to customers.
bee connect EMS Portal

The customer portal for quick quotes on electronics is supported by:

Logo Change Lightly

Practical solutions for visibility and efficiency in the electronics industry

SRM EMS aus Berlin

E2MS Made in Berlin

ProudlyEngineeredInEurope

The network for the entire electronics supply chain

Questions on new customer acquisition, the quality of enquiry data and the rapid preparation of quotations for EMS service providers

Akquire new customers in the electronics sector?

As well as engaging with people face-to-face at events, the ability to easily request a quote via an EMS provider’s website is a key way of attracting new customers. It is therefore advisable to integrate a customer portal directly into the website so that enquiry details can be uploaded quickly and in full, 24/7.

It also increases your company’s visibility and brand awareness and can generate further new customers through the traditional route of word-of-mouth. – After all, the link to your portal is easily shared.

Compete with established electronics manufacturing portals

Globally, electronics manufacturing portals offering simple, fast ordering processes have already become established.

As a result, many European first-time customers in the electronics manufacturing sector believe that electronics are no longer manufactured in Europe and place their orders directly via these portals. This misconception means that you are missing out on valuable turnover in Europe.

European manufacturers face the challenge of increasing their digital visibility and accessibility to (first-time) customers.

Integrating your own customer portal into your website and optimising your search engine optimisation so that potential local customers can find you with minimal difficulty is the first important step towards achieving this goal.

Reducing back-and-forth in electronics manufacturing / easing the workload on AV and Sales?

The best way to minimise queries during the quotation process for electronics manufacturing is to make it as easy as possible for the customer to provide and update complete order details.

An easily accessible customer portal that automatically analyses bills of materials (BOMs), Gerber files and production data – visualising the results, automatically detecting errors and simplifying corrections – minimises the hurdles for customers.

The easier it is for customers to upload their data to the portal and add their specific requirements, the fewer queries your staff will need to make.

Document changes and version history clearly

In electronics manufacturing, there are regular consultations, adjustments and new version releases.

To document these accurately, reliably and in an audit-proof manner, a central location is required that brings together technical order data and agreements.

In a customer portal to which electronics manufacturers and their customers have joint access, technical changes, current statuses, queries and approvals can be securely documented and easily retrieved during audits.

Highlight the benefits of this shared data source to your customers to encourage them to clearly distinguish between different version statuses.

Speeding up the quotation process in the electronics sector

In the electronics sector, quotation processes are primarily slowed down by the quality and completeness of customer data.

To obtain complete data as quickly as possible and minimise the need for follow-up enquiries – whilst ensuring these are dealt with as promptly as possible – a customer portal integrated into the website is an efficient solution.

If all data can be easily uploaded by the customer and queries are resolved and documented directly within the portal, you have already optimised the data process.

However, do not forget to train your staff and adapt your internal processes; otherwise, the time saved in data preparation will be offset by inefficient structures in the transfer of data.