Supplier portal –
With automated inspection of steel mill certificates
The steel used in the production of forks must meet the highest standards. To ensure quality, every piece of steel delivered is inspected using steel mill certificates. The certificate contains important information concerning the quality, composition, and properties of the produced steel. Manually inspecting these certificated is very time-consuming, and handling complaints with suppliers often involves a great deal of communication. Additionally, manual examination and transfer of data are highly prone to errors.
We developed a supplier portal for verifying supplier certificates and managing complaints. The portal serves as a communication platform where suppliers can upload certificates, give feedback, or access relevant information. The extraction of values from the steel mill certificates is fully automated and immediately validated against standard reference values. A built-in PDF recognition feature identifies and extracts key data, making it available for further processing. This functionality is powered by Python, ensuring a seamless and efficient workflow.
New regulations for suppliers can be provided centrally via the portal. These can be edited and commented on directly within the system. This makes the supplier portal a central tool for customer service and helps strengthen customer relationships. Additionally, it enables faster communication and interaction between suppliers and VETTER.
Automation
The supplier can now simply submit a certificate via email or upload it through the backend. The supplier‘s PDF data is read automatically and validated against standard reference values. This way, VETTER can verify the quality characteristics of the steel and ensure it complies with the required specifications. In case of quality issues or complaints, VETTER can quickly raise concerns or problems via the portal. For example, when a response file is uploaded, the status is automatically updated and relevant notifications are sent.
The supplier can efficiently manage and process these complaints, which leads to improved customer relationships. The customer portal for steel mill products and complaint management is essential to enabling efficient communication between suppliers and VETTER, guaranteeing product quality, and saving time.
Frontend and backend
Framework React.js assists us when developing an interactive and user-friendly surface. Staff members and suppliers can interact seamlessly — for example through updates of status information or uploading data for the orders.
In the backend, we use TYPO 3 in a headless configuration as a REST API. This enables an efficient management of content and data flows and allows for a high flexibility in backend logic. Additionally, the backend is responsible for automatically generating PDFs based on user input from the frontend.
