The myBühler portal provides on-demand access to details of Bühler machines and their relevant parts, together with a fast and simple process for ordering online – anywhere and anytime. The portal has made streamlining the spare and wear parts processing easier.

As the impact of the internet on everyday life increases constantly and 24/7 access to information becomes the new standard, Bühler provide its customers with up-to-date information and services at anytime and from anywhere. The new myBühler portal offers customers easy access to all details of their machines and parts, including documents such as user manuals and spare parts catalogs. myBühler provides its users with an overview of their Bühler equipment and makes it easy to find the parts they are looking for. In addition, the purchasing process is streamlined thanks to direct access to pricing and material information and the ability to directly generate quotations and orders online. Nowadays, about 1000 customers already use myBühler. It is still a work in progress, but it is a work that goes hand in hand with the users, supporting each other on this learning path. Working closely with its customers is very important for Bühler, since valuable customer feedback can make this portal better. One of the users of the portal is Allied Mills who has flour mills in Tilbury, Manchester and Belfast (UK), supplying group bakeries throughout the country and supporting household bread brands such as Kingsmill, Sunblest, Burgen and Allinson. Bühler and Allied Mills have enjoyed a long partnership, which began half a century ago. The collaboration has always been forward-looking, so it came as no surprise that Allied Mills was willing to be one of the initial customers worldwide to agree to implement and test the new myBühler portal, which was launched at the beginning of 2016, after one year of intensive development.

SPARE PARTS ORDER PROCESS MADE EASY In Tilbury, Allied Mills has about 900 machines installed, containing approx. 45,000 parts. In 2017, over 95% of the wear and spare parts orders were placed through myBühler, and 70% were a direct order, without a previous quotation, which speeds up business significantly. Mark Lind, Senior Engineer at Allied Mills, explains: “Before myBühler, our ordering process could be quite time-consuming, especially when we had to search for the part number. myBühler is very useful: there is nothing in between, it’s end-to-end, everything is right there. The system lists your machines and tells you immediately the spare parts that are available for this specific machine, including 360º images of parts, as well as terms of delivery and price. Also, it is really accurate and reliable – there was not one wrong delivery so far.”

ADDITIONAL TOOL, NOT A REPLACEMENT Mark Lind notes that he would miss the personal contact if he were only ordering online. However, with myBühler customers have both options: quick online ordering anytime and anywhere, or picking up the phone and chatting to someone at Bühler. “Initially, I was concerned that we would lose touch with our contacts at Bühler, but discovered soon that this was meant as an additional communication tool – giving us the choice to use either, or a combination of both.” Mark Lind is quick to state that only very little training was needed for the new portal. Navigation is straightforward and intuitive. The start page shows different menus, from where you can navigate to your machines and parts, your previous quotations and orders, your templates, or your calendar. The myBühler portal is completely individual: from past quotations and deliveries to agreements, everything is specific to each customer. Customers can just order right away, as they need it-and ordering only takes about five minutes. The tool provides insight into pricing and procedures upfront, e.g. showing information about various possible shipping methods, which allows the customer to choose the right shipment, based on his timeframe and cost range. Also, the installation time for this tool is quite short: it will vary depending on the age of the plant, the number of machines and the location, but typically it takes around 2-3 days. It is free of charge.

NEWEST ADDITION: QR CODES Bühler is constantly working on improving the myBühler portal. A large number of images have been uploaded already, and more will be added continually. Allied Mill confirms that pictures help tremendously during the ordering process. Also, the system is comprehensive; Allied Mills never missed the listing of any of their machines, for example. Furthermore, Bühler also plans to add a separate page, with the parts ordered most recently, or with the total figure showing how much was spent in a month or year, amongst other things. All spare parts have a QR code, so you can simply scan instead of having to type it in. Brad Hurr, Mechanical Maintenance Engineer at Allied Mills, is impressed with myBühler: “I am not the type of person who always wants to talk to people on the phone. So having the option to process my order using the portal suits me perfectly. Also, the QR codes are really useful - they make everything much easier and faster.” Another recently added feature is the storing of customized templates, or the possibility of using a shopping list: Let’s say Brian needs two screens, Daniel lacks 50 filter socks, and Steven wants to order ten bearings. So, at the end of the week, this shopping list goes into the cart. If the order isn’t urgent, several different people or departments can combine their orders, which will reduce the delivery costs. Advising myBühler Mark Lind states, “I would totally recommend myBühler to anyone. It definitely makes doing business with Bühler easier and speeds up the process of placing orders. It not only saves time, but also money. And there is less room for error: we get the right part, right on time, every time. The portal benefits us 100%, both short-term and long-term.”