Why bilstein group is confident in its product offering

bilstein group employs dedicated demand planning, cross-referencing competitor gains, and advanced sales forecasting to maintain a consistent supply chain. Its quality assurance includes a three-stage approval process and testing labs. Embracing EV trends, bilstein group diversifies product ranges and offers comprehensive support and training, ensuring customer satisfaction and industry relevance.

There’s clearly a lot going on behind the scenes at bilstein group! Therefore, Linda Evans, bilstein group’s UK head of product, pricing and marketing, attempts to break all of that down in this Q&A:

Q. How does bilstein group ensure a consistent supply chain to motor factors?

A. “Our management of product availability employs several different approaches. This includes a dedicated demand planning and supply chain team, responsible for forecasting and procuring each article held in stock. Our sales team collaborates closely with customers, and we cross-reference anticipated competitor gains at the article level, which is then fed into the demand planning team.

“We utilise Factor Sales software to gain visibility into the overall market potential, both at the product range and article level. This software plays a pivotal role in enhancing our sales forecasts, especially for new product ranges.

“Lost sales are reviewed on a weekly basis to ensure that relevant safety stock levels are in place, as well as analysis on articles searched within our partsfinder catalogue.

“To enhance our service to customers, we refined our brand cross-referencing within TecCom, making it simpler for customers to identify the availability of an alternative bilstein group brand.

“In addition, our depth of local stock is circa £40m, and we have the ability to draw from European stock of more than £100m.”

Q. What quality assurance processes does bilstein group employ to ensure the reliability and durability of its parts?

A. “We maintain a rigorous approach to ensure the quality of our components. Every part is meticulously designed and manufactured to serve as a direct replacement for the OE equivalent, and all follow a three-stage approval: sample inspector report, product engineer review and independent engineer review.

“Furthermore, we have a dedicated team of over 130 employees responsible for quality management, quality assurance and after-sales service. To support our commitment to quality, we operate state-ofthe- art testing laboratories for initial sample testing and goods-in inspections, which are equipped with more than 70 different machines – including 3D precision measuring arm, spectral analyser, and micro-hardness tester.

“bilstein group UK holds the Quality Management System certification (DIN EN ISO 9001:2015), emphasising our commitment to quality and adherence to international standards. To demonstrate our confidence in our products, we back them with a solid three-year manufacturer guarantee.”

Q. How is bilstein group incorporating new technologies and innovations into its product offerings?

A. “The transition to EVs is reshaping the automotive industry and will impact the demand for more traditional parts. We have proactively introduced new ranges, such as brake calipers and driveshafts, in order to diversify our product portfolio. At the same time, we have increased our focus on existing products, like steering and suspension, recognising their heightened relevance for EVs as being components with an increased likelihood of wear and tear. This approach ensures that we are well prepared to meet the evolving needs of the automotive aftermarket.

“We have 660 hybrid and pure EVs catalogued/launched including BMW i3 driveshafts, a Tesla Y control unit for steering column and tailgate push button (dealer perceived articles), mounts for lifts (so battery is not damaged), and many more.”

Q. What types of support and training does bilstein group offer to motor factors to help them better understand and sell products?

A. “We offer a dedicated technical helpline staffed by five experts and a customer service team of six, all based in the UK.

Our support is available from 08:00 to 17:30 Monday to Friday. In addition, a dedicated aftersales support is available for site visits within 48 hours of any reported issue. “Our invaluable online parts search engine, partsfinder, is designed to streamline and simplify the parts identification process. It features a catalogue of over 62,000 spare parts for both cars and CVs from the bilstein group brands, bilstein group and Blue Print. What sets this time-saving tool apart from other online catalogues is its unique search flexibility that can get users to the parts they need in a few simple clicks. Once a part has been identified, a wealth of detailed information is on offer, such as detailed images, precise dimensions, a full list of applications, cross reference information, fitting instructions, safety information and links to related parts.

“We are committed to providing valuable resources to our customers and garages. We regularly produce technical articles, videos, and tips, which are available on our YouTube channel. These resources are also shared via email newsletters to our subscribers and on our social media platforms. We also work closely with the trade media via both print and online/email format, with last year seeing the start of bilstein group CPD content being printed within PMM, further strengthening our commitment to knowledge sharing and industry education.

“We support numerous trade shows each year, ranging from large commercial trade events, such as UK Garage & Bodyshop Event, end-user shows, like Auto Alex Shedfest event, and customer trade shows and branch evenings.

“This year we will launch the bilstein group ‘brand experience van’. Fully branded inside and out, this will showcase our products, brands and technical capabilities to our customers and also our workshop end-users at their premises and at trade shows alike. The design will allow us to interchange the focus between brands and products depending on the specific audience.”

Q. How does bilstein group gather feedback from motor factors and what steps do you take to address their concerns or suggestions?

A. “We have a team of nine key account managers (KAMs) and business development managers (BDMs) that directly support motor factors offering a variety of services, including stock reprofiling, garage workouts and marketing support. Each KAM or BDM will feedback to the relevant teams any customer concerns or suggestions for implementation. In addition, these are recorded within their individual visit reports. Over 60 visit reports are logged in Sales Force each month, and additionally we conduct an annual customer satisfaction survey, with questions on marketing, sustainability, pricing alongside the tradition customer satisfaction type questions.

“Our online partsfinder catalogue also has a section entitled FANS (Future Article Notification System). FANS is a tool that allows users of partsfinder to contribute to the ongoing development of the bilstein group product range to ensure we have the right articles – for the right applications – at the right time. They can simply enter the OE reference number for the part they can’t find. Alternatively, users can supply the vehicle registration or VIN with a description of the product required. All feedback will be considered in our range development process for new bilstein group articles, and customers will even be emailed when the article has been introduced to range.”