Kron Technologies Streamlines Sales with Katana and WooCommerce

Integration
Kron uses the WooCommerce platform for online sales and it's 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. Kron sells high value products in larger quantities and Sales requires documentation such as end-use statements and other prerequisites for the sale. WooCommerce has been the optimal solution, and connecting it to Katana was pretty flawless.

Order fulfillment with Katana
Once an order is placed through the website via WooCommerce, it shows up in Katana as a Sales Order. When the Sales Associate has ensured that the order has all the necessary information, such as tax ID, documentation, and payment, they create a Make Order in Katana and trigger the production workflow.

The operations team picks all necessary items for the camera, then they create another order for the camera assembly. Kron is make-to-order, so when the Make 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.

Real-Time Task Management With 'Katana Shop Floor App'

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

Kron uses the shop floor app in a couple of different places – in production to manage the tasks once the Sales Associate has created Make 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 other components.

Kron has 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, such as the correct plug for the order, is selected.

Multi-currency Support for Sales and Purchasing

A software that lacked multi-currency support would be a dealbreaker for Kron Technologies. As a Canadian company, Kron manages stock and expenses in Canadian dollars while buying in USD. With Katana, Kron can effortlessly buy and sell products in any currency with daily rate conversion.

Team Communication

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 open in the moment, and how many were completed and delivered. Another aspect was more team members coming on board. They were pushing for 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.

Next-day Shipping and 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 let's Kron see what everybody is doing 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. 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.