Case Study

How Kron Technologies streamlines sales with Katana and WooCommerce

Kron Technologies is a manufacturer of high-speed imaging cameras and uses seamless Katana and WooCommerce integration to streamline the sales process and customer experience.

We use Katana as a one-stop-shop for operations in manufacturing, so we're utilizing all the features Katana offers. It has been a great experience, and Katana's team successfully guided us through the implementation and integration of all our products.
Jax Hughes, IT Manager at Kron Technologies
  • Since implementing Katana, Kron Technologies have linked up with WooCommerce for successful sales order fulfilment with next-day shipping
  • They have streamlined all shop floor operations with Katana Shop Floor App
  • And finally, improved communication and alignment between all team members

About Kron Technologies

Kron Technologies is a Canadian high-speed imaging system design and manufacturing company located in the heart of the Greater Vancouver Area (British Columbia). Kron Tech aims to make high-speed imaging accessible to everyone. Their target customers cover a broad spectrum – from cinematography and sports to research and industrial – anything one might want to have slowed down beyond the human eye’s capability – and see what is happening during a dynamic event.

What sets Kron Technologies apart is availability. Turnaround between an order being placed and shipped is 1-2 days on average for both B2B and B2C customers. Katana allows Kron to ship worldwide the next day.”

The challenge they faced

Before Katana, Kron Technologies used spreadsheets to manage their inventory and production; however, it became unsustainable and required a new solution. As an electronics manufacturer, following raw materials inventory and component delivery times was crucial, especially after the pandemic put stress on supply chains.

Kron Technologies knew they needed an ERP system before covid, but hadn’t quite reached the tipping point. However, the pandemic surfaced various issues in the supply chain — shortage of components, delivery times —that served as a final push for getting visibility in the stock, demand, and manufacturing processes.

We needed to get our arms around our rapidly growing business.”

The solution they found

Jax Hughes was tasked with ERP selection and implementation, and she did look into quite a few solutions, but many of them either did not fit their workflows or were clunky to use.

It was hard to find a solution that fit our needs as a small startup. Katana had the right look and feel for us.”

Currently, Kron Technologies use Katana for order management, inventory visibility, and production, and there are five people who use Katana on a daily basis:

  • Operations Manager who oversees the parts, logistics, and quality control of the products
  • Purchasing Manager who’s responsible for maintaining contact with suppliers, and planning and buying camera components
  • Logistics Coordinator who manages the warehouse, deliveries, shipping, and receiving of cameras and parts
  • Two production technologists who work on the shop floor to assemble, test, calibrate, and debug the cameras, and assist customers with any support questions

Managing sales orders with our WooCommerce integration

Kron Technologies uses the WooCommerce platform for online sales and have it integrated with Katana. As soon as a customer makes an order in WooCommerce, the sales associate makes sure the order has all the necessary information and an approved payment from the buyer before releasing it to Katana.

Most e-commerce platforms are built for selling high-volume, relatively low-price products. We sell high value items in larger quantities and we need documentation such as end-use statements and various other prerequisites for the sale. WooCommerce has been the optimal solution, and connecting it to Katana was pretty flawless.

They had recently switched to WooCommerce before implementing Katana from another e-commerce platform and are now planning to implement Pipedrive to manage B2B (verbal) orders, which is also possible via Zapier or an Integromat connection.

Order fulfilment with Katana

Once an order is placed in their WooCommerce store, it shows up in Katana as a sales order. After that, when the sales associate has made sure that the order has all the necessary information, such as tax IDs, documentation, and payment, they create a manufacturing order in Katana and trigger the production workflow.

The operations team picks all the necessary items for the camera, then they create another order for the camera assembly itself. We are make-to-order, so when this manufacturing order is created, the finished product shows up as “not available” and alerts our production technologists – they get assigned tasks for assembly, testing, and calibration.

Production usually takes 1-2 business days, and once the order is completed, the finished camera will show up as available and ready for shipping. The logistics manager then takes care of a waybill and shipping documentation and gets the carrier partner to pick up the order. Once it’s delivered to the customer, it gets marked as delivered in Katana as well.

Real-time task management with the Katana Shop Floor App

Kron Technologies also use the Katana Shop Shop Floor App to assist in their production, task management, and preparation for shipping. For production, they use the Shop Floor App for two different types of order processing – based on sales orders and for subassemblies.

We use the shop floor app in a couple of different places — in production to manage the tasks once the sales assistant has created the manufacturing order , and for subassemblies which we create in batches. For example, we’ll have tasks assigned to our production technicians to build camera fronts, including a sensor and a couple of other components.

Kron Technologies have developed another workflow with the Katana Shop Floor App — a pre-shipping check for the ready orders. Once the camera assembly is done, they collect the rest of the items for shipping (e.g. cables), and a new operation is added to the manufacturing order called “Check” that enables them to check whether all items, including for example the correct plug for the order, is selected.

Multicurrency support for sales and purchasing

A software that lacked multicurrency support would be a dealbreaker for Kron Technologies. As a Canadian company, they do their stock and expenses in Canadian dollars while buying in USD and selling in various currencies worldwide.

With Katana, they can effortlessly buy and sell products in any currency with daily rate conversion.

Communication between teams

Communication between the growing team members has become more streamlined as well, adding visibility throughout the whole product lifecycle and organization.

Previously, it was hard to see how many orders were truly open in the moment, and how many were completed and delivered. Another aspect was more team members coming on board. They were pushing for having a system in place that would help reduce errors and improve transparency.

Synchronizing spreadsheets and manual data entry between sales and operations teams are a thing of the past. All orders get verified and aligned automatically.

Ensuring next-day shipping and having a complete overview of the manufacturing process

Even though the implementation of Katana has been a relatively recent project, Kron Technologies has already experienced significant improvements across the whole organization.

The sales page in Katana lets us see what everybody is doing in real-time. We immediately know which customers are in the pipeline.

As a high-value lower-volume product manufacturer, it’s imperative to have a clear overview of the inventory and sales demand. Managing stock is critical, and having a solution that gives clear visibility over what is available, what is running low, and what needs to be restored is vital to ensure next-day shipping for the client.

We like to use Katana as a one-stop-shop for operations in manufacturing, so we’re really utilizing all features Katana offers. It has been a great experience. The staff is also excellent — anytime I have a question, I use the chat or Knowledge base, and the team has been an immense help during the implementation and integration of all our products.

Electronics manufacturers use Katana to align their sales and production with one easy-to-use platform. Katana keeps track of demand to automatically adjust your production schedule according to resources and deadlines. Learn more about Katana’s features and how they help manufacturers get a live look at their business.

COMPANY

Kron Technologies

WEBSITE
LOCATION

Canada

INDUSTRY

Electronics

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