Sustaining a successful manufacturing business in today’s market is quite a significant feat. Thermal Solutions Manufacturing has managed to do just that – they have established themselves as an industry leader in developing high-quality industrial heating and cooling parts for light- and heavy-duty trucks and equipment.

So, when this leader in the heavy-duty parts space went searching for the best solution for its e-catalog, Thermal Solutions turned to another industry leader for help, Vertical Development, an aftermarket tech solutions provider. Vertical Development helped to get accurate information to Thermal Solutions’ customers online in the form of an eCatalog using its proven, easy-to-use platform, ShowMeTheParts.

Thermal Solutions, a manufacturer of industrial heating and cooling parts for light- and heavy-duty trucks and equipment, now offers a searchable, mobile-friendly, catalog to showcase its high-quality engine cooling and temperature control automotive parts, using ShowMeTheParts. The ecat also showcases the company’s line of heavy-duty parts, including replacement radiator cores, truck radiators, tractor radiators, lift truck radiators, industrial radiators, DPFs, DOCs, charge air coolers and A/C condensers for heavy-duty applications.

Finding the correct parts quickly and on-demand is mandatory for meeting customer needs today.

Vertical Development created ShowMeTheParts as an online complement to its catalog mapping services. It contains one of the largest public parts databases on the market, offering millions of entries with interchange information, specifications, data sheets, photographs and even three-dimensional views. All of this data is accessible online through a simple web interface that works on computers and mobile devices, the company notes.

The platform is scalable, allowing agricultural, heavy-duty and industrial manufacturers like Thermal Solutions to use ShowMeTheParts in a form that best fits their needs. With such a vast collection of parts, the company needed a robust solution to digitally organize and present a myriad of options to its customers, while also being able to readily add to its portfolio of parts. By partnering with Vertical Development, Thermal Solutions was able to bring integral parts information to its customers using a data system with years of development and refinement behind it.

Now, Thermal Solutions has a distinct competitive advantage by being one of a few parts providers in this space to offer customers digital, anytime access to industrial and heavy-duty applications. The image thumbnails allow for techs to look at the parts they are servicing and compare apples to apples. In addition, customers can now use smartphones and tablets to access the catalog since it is mobile-friendly.

“ShowMeTheParts gets our data updated immediately. This is critical for new product launches and it helps to reduce our overall number of returns and increase customer satisfaction,” said David Hamill, director of product management for Thermal Solutions. When Thermal Solutions saw the capabilities of ShowMeTheParts, the company decided it was the best way to get parts information from its broad portfolio into the hands of existing customers and thousands of potential new buyers.

How does integration with ShowMeTheParts work?

ShowMeTheParts uses an HTML5-based front end with an API that integrates with existing websites, which means both current and prospective customers can visit Thermal Solutions’ website and seamlessly look up parts information from any modern browser. The database gives users an easy way to find the information they need for ordering without having to contact customer service. Customers can search for parts by the product type and vehicle make.

“For our heavy-duty and industrial temperature control products, there are a number of critical data points which we must deliver to our users for them to find the correct fitment. A few of these are OE core size references, OE numbers and product construction type. We needed to have this information front-and-center in our application search,” said Hamill. To meet those precise requirements for Thermal Solutions, Vertical Development created a clean and intuitive product lookup with ShowMeTheParts, which allows users to filter on the specified information.

Searches also can be done based on the part itself. A cross-referencing option can find the right Thermal Solutions part based on the part numbers from other suppliers, while the “Part Search” option displays a buyer’s guide with compatible vehicles for that part number. Both options make it easy to find replacement parts.

The feedback has been tremendously positive, according to Vertical Development. Thermal Solutions’ customers like how the new catalog powered by ShowMeTheParts gives them the ability to access and cross-reference its entire product range with a few swipes or mouse clicks, letting them find the exact parts they need from the company’s extensive line of merchandise. Employees like the support they’ve received from Vertical Development’s team to deploy the system.

The integration of ShowMeTheParts makes ordering parts as easy as possible for customers, and that’s often a significant enough difference to choose Thermal Solutions over other companies with similar products. And, with more than 350 brands already using ShowMeTheParts, there’s a good chance these customers already have experience using this system.

For more information contact Vertical Development here or or via telephone at (630) 651-0594 or email [email protected] to build your user-friendly digital parts catalog.