Nimlok Shop Goes Live
By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 4/23/2007
In less than four months on the job, new Nimlok COO Bob Scupin has already made major changes to the Chicago-based tradeshow display and exhibit company.
Most recently, he completed the installation of a video system that lets clients review and approve projects online, saving them the time and expense of either traveling to Chicago or mailing work back and forth to get a first-hand look at it before a show opens.
The system, which went live March 28, consists of nine Web cameras installed throughout Nimlok's 150,000 square foot production facility. They can capture everything from the cutting of materials used to fabricate booths to the packaging and shipping of exhibits to customers.
Using an online video viewing system developed by IVC, Nimlok salespeople are able to conduct Web conferences with clients, showing them projects live as they progress. Clients have the ability to see their completed exhibits set up in a staging area, with high enough resolution to show the grain in wood veneers and tell whether corners are square.
In fact, views are detailed enough to read a 9-inch monitor on a CNC machine 100 feet away from one camera. Another camera mounted in the graphics staging area can zoom in on Pantone color chips, allowing clients to compare the colors they ordered with those of final products. And shop cams can capture, albeit slightly blurry, 4~3 delivery labels showing that pieces have been inspected for quality before they hit the road.
Scupin is a veteran of both MICE North America and Exhibit-group/Giltspur. He said his past experience helped him develop the system, but his current employer was willing to invest much more in it. For instance, Nimlok's cameras have full panning, tilting and zooming capabilities, whereas others he used in the past were fixed.
Scupin estimated the company put $100,000 into the installation of Webcams and $50,000 into software development. In addition, he said, "we reorganized the entire facility for this."
But the expense was worth every penny, said Nimlok President Simon Perutz.
"This time last year, I told everybody my goal was to provide a remarkable experience for our partners and clients and reach a 95-percent satisfaction rating," Perutz said. "If you can do that, the growth will come."
Scupin is trying to create a quality-driven company culture. He estimated Nimlok's accuracy on orders to be about 88 percent, but believes the quality assurance program he instituted will elevate it to as high as 99 percent.
In addition, changes to the workflow have made delivery on projects 32 percent faster than when Scupin arrived.
The video system is part of this overall customer satisfaction goal.
"Instead of them flying in or hoping we get it right, now they can verify it from their office and use the money they save to invest in other marketing," Scupin said.
With Nimlok's structure, including its 136 distributors, the system also provides a centralized resource that connects everyone to the source of their products.
