Vaillant Ltd

Company: CapscanCustomer: Vaillant LtdSubmitted by: MCC InternationalDate: June 2001Vaillant Ltd is a UK based leading manufacturer of domestic heating and hot water appliances. With headquarters in Kent, Vaillant Ltd has been in operation since 1973, and prides itself in manufacturing high quality well designed systems, as well as implementing total quality customer service. Operating from Rochester, Birmingham and Halifax, Vaillant employs approximately 200 staff nationwide with an extra 11,000 staff being employed globally, making Vaillant the pioneering name in the heating industry.Customer satisfaction is the overriding principle within Vaillant, and in order to maintain such high standards of customer service, Vaillant recognise that as both a manufacturing and distribution company, total customer care must remain a cornerstone of their business in terms of priorities.

Since it is both a distributor and manufacturer, quality standards must be rigorously monitored and maintained in every part of its operation. Therefore, in 1996 Vaillant introduced the company-wide quality improvement process called ‘Vaillant Exzellenz’. This total quality concept commits Vaillant to deliver products and services of the highest standard, quickly and efficiently to its customers.Vaillant is driving contact with customers via the web at www.vaillant.

co.uk as well as through national customer service centres. As with all delivery and distribution operations, it is the responsibility of the organisation to gain accurate information in order to function efficiently. At Vaillant the reliable delivery of heating systems depends on the single address postcode provided by the customer. Vaillant recognises the problems of inaccurate address data, and Business Systems Manager at Vaillant, Stephen Pantling comments, ” incorrect delivery address data not only frustrates our engineers, it displeases our customers”.As early as 1996, Vaillant approached Capscan Ltd to provide its address management solution.

Vaillant’s main selection criteria were simple: is it accurate, is it flexible, and is it fast? Pantling continues, ” Capscan’s Matchcode solution is ideal for Vaillant. We take over 1,000 calls each day from end-users, and having their accurate address data to hand is invaluable to us. This solution alone has been a major contributor to increasing productivity, as well as making considerable timesavings. This allows us to focus proactively on providing improved services to customers”.By adding just a postcode and house number to the system Matchcode checks the company database, using powerful searching tools, adding and inserting missing address elements.

By comparing records with 26 million addresses in the Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF), Matchcode ensures that the information is as up-to-date and accurate as possible. Abbreviations, miss-spellings and incomplete addresses are identified by Matchcode, and updated immediately.Vaillant uses Capscan’s address management solution in a number ways. The company uses Matchcode to cleanse addresses in the corporate supplier database, and to update historic data that is then used for direct mailing to support marketing efforts. The despatch division of Vaillant also use postcodes provided by customers to identify grid coordinates to allow them to identify the most efficient routes to customer locations.

Vaillant considered many suppliers of address management solutions. Capscan was chosen because of its reputation for providing an accurate and flexible solution that would meet the needs of a large manufacturing company. Pantling concludes, “since the introduction of Matchcode into our system we have been more than pleased with the service Capscan provide to us and our process for quality, Vaillant Exzellenz. During the implementation of this address management solution Capscan provided value added technical advice and maximum support, and this contributed to the overall productivity of our company”.