How remanufacturer ETE REMAN implemented fast & reliable VIN Scanning in just 1 week

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ETE REMAN is the largest remanufacturer of automatic transmissions and other drivetrain components in the United States. It is a B2B supplier to the automotive repair industry and other resellers.

Industry

Manufacturing

Company Size

650+ employees

Use Case

VIN OCR scanning inside a customer-facing B2B application to enable easy and efficient ordering of automatic transmissions and other car parts from the remanufacturer.

Availability

iOS & Android

Development Platform

React Native

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Goal

ETE REMAN sought a real-time OCR solution they could seamlessly integrate into their existing codebase. The preference here was for a real-time scanning solution that didn't necessitate an API callout for each potential scan. This project’s core objective was to empower customers to directly scan VINs (Vehicle Identification Numbers) from work orders or vehicles. This streamlines the ordering process for automatic transmissions and various automotive components, making it swift and efficient.

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Challenge

The company was aware of customers’ frustration over the app’s inability to simply scan VINs from work orders or vehicles. However, ETE REMAN's team deemed it impractical to develop an OCR scanner from the ground up. This prompted the search for a solution. A critical requirement was to deliver real-time feedback to ensure that the VIN matched the observed vehicle. Although a snapshot-and-processing approach was considered, it was judged less effective and interactive. Moreover, the project required more than basic OCR capabilities. Beyond merely scanning the data, the solution had to be able to identify and filter out characters and patterns to ensure a reliable check-digit calculation to verify the VIN.

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Solution

A trial of the Scanbot SDK demonstrated its impressive reliability and ease of integration. The comprehensive service offerings and the convenient communication via a dedicated Slack channel greatly facilitated the adoption. The SDK enabled ETE REMAN to add a significant feature to the app. Thanks to the first-class user experience, the VIN scanner was pivotal in driving customer adoption of the newly released app. It has greatly simplified lookups of price and delivery information for transmissions.  This, in turn, empowered ETE REMAN’s B2B customers to quote prices to their end consumers promptly. Ultimately, the Scanbot SDK enabled them to sell with incredible speed and ease, boosting customer satisfaction.

Key results

Barcode Accuracy

Easy and accurate VIN lookups from the shop floor, no office visit needed

Scanbot SDK: few hours barcode scanner integration

Saved weeks of internal development time

WoW Customers

High customer satisfaction

Without the Scanbot SDK, we wouldn’t have been able to offer the robust, real-time VIN-scanning features the project required. We don’t have the time and resources needed to build such functionality from scratch, and the other options we considered were not nearly as integrated and didn’t provide the real-time scanning that was part of our feature necessities.

The SDK was easy to integrate, and though we had some initial configuration challenges, the support we received from Scanbot’s team helped to eliminate the problems and was critical to getting us up and running.

We can now offer our prospective customers a highly functional scanning functionality, and providing it was among the easiest parts of the project.

James Young

Director of Systems

ETE REMAN’s customers faced friction in the original workflow

  1. If there was no VIN barcode, which is common on older models, the customer had to manually enter the 17-digit VIN into the app. This is especially tricky with work gloves on. 
  2. The app identified the vehicle model/year based on the entered VIN.
  3. Using the vehicle details, the app retrieved transmission pricing and availability.
  4. The customer generated a quote for the transmission.
  5. Without the app, customers had to write down the VIN, call ETE REMAN, or use the web-based catalog to find transmission pricing and availability.

ETE REMAN’s new customer-facing VIN scanning workflow

  1. The user opens the app and selects “Scan a VIN.” If no VIN barcode is present, the user can choose “Scan a VIN directly.”
  2. The user points their camera at the VIN. Once the scan is complete, the app displays the matching vehicle model.
  3. Now, the user can explore the parts available for that vehicle. The app shows the part descriptions, the shop’s purchasing price, and the delivery timeframe. 
  4. With this information, they can generate a quote for their customer.
  5. After finalizing the selection, the user can confidently place the order.

 

With the Scanbot VIN Scanner SDK, ETE REMAN significantly improved the user experience and streamlined the process of finding automatic transmission pricing and availability.

Scanbot SDK’s vision and mission

Our initial goal for the Scanbot SDK was for it to read any text-based information via mobile devices – today, this has become a reality. The easy-to-integrate software creates virtually endless possibilities to streamline and facilitate processes for companies, employees, and customers alike, whether in document management, onboarding, sales, or HR.

We now use machine learning algorithms that understand all kinds of complex document types to open up even more possibilities for automated workflows that connect and process data in real time.

At the same time, we want to protect users’ personal data, which is why we opted for on-device intelligence. Scan results are encrypted before transmission to keep them safe from any outside attacks. To guarantee maximum privacy, no data is ever sent to Scanbot SDK’s or any other server.

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