About COVAL
COVAL is a French industrial company that develops and manufactures vacuum components and vacuum systems for industrial automation — vacuum pumps, suction cups, grippers and the solutions that let robots and machines lift, move and hold parts in production. The company calls itself “vacuum managers”.
Its customers work in packaging, automotive, plastics, food and many other industries where automation needs to get a grip on something. COVAL sells through its own subsidiaries and distributors in several countries, which makes the order flow international from the very first line.
The challenge
An order to COVAL can come from a machine builder in France, an integrator in Germany, a distributor in Italy or a subsidiary on the other side of the Atlantic. It can be written in French, English, German, Spanish or Italian, arrive as a PDF from the customer’s own system or as a few lines in an email — and it has to become a correct sales order in Sylob.
Every order needs to be read and understood: which items the customer actually means, in what quantities, to which delivery address and at what price. Price lists, discounts and terms differ between countries and customer groups, and a price that does not match is otherwise only noticed when the invoice goes out or the customer gets in touch.
The work lands with an order team that also has to answer customers, coordinate with production and warehouse, and keep deliveries on track. As order volume grows and new markets are added, it is the entry and the checks that eat the time.
What Alexandra does
- Order analysis — examines incoming orders and their content, whether they arrive as email, PDF or free text, and whatever the language.
- Price verification and confirmation — checks and confirms prices against the customer’s price list and terms before anything is registered.
- Order entry in Sylob — creates the sales order in the ERP with the right customer, items, quantities, prices and delivery details.
- Communication around orders — facilitates exchanges about orders and helps clarify questions, in the language the customer uses.
- Team support — supports colleagues in the day-to-day management of orders and hands over anything that needs a human decision with the background gathered.
Sylob, the languages and the countries
COVAL runs Sylob, a French ERP built for manufacturing. Alexandra works directly against Sylob — she reads customers, items and prices and registers the order in the same system as the rest of the company. No data has been moved, no new interface has been introduced, and the order looks the same in the system as if a colleague had entered it.
Language is no obstacle. Alexandra reads an order in German as well as one in French, understands that “Saugnapf”, “ventosa” and “ventouse” can point to the same item, and links the line to the right item number in Sylob. The reply to the customer is written in the customer’s own language.
The same care applies whatever the country. Price list, currency and terms are fetched for that specific customer, and anything that deviates is not registered on a guess. The order then goes to the right person on the team, with the deviation described.
The effect
- Orders registered continuously — as they arrive, from every market and in every language.
- The right price from the start — price deviations caught when the order arrives, not on the invoice.
- The same check in every country — regardless of who is in or which language the order is written in.
- More time for customers — the team can spend its time on dialogue and deliveries instead of data entry.
- Room to grow — new markets and more orders do not require more hours of admin.
Next steps
Order management is the first process. The same approach can be applied to order confirmations, delivery notices and order status questions — process by process, at the pace COVAL wants.