Maxi Metal gears for growth with Configure One’s CPQ software

If you see a fire truck en route to a rescue scene in Montreal or Quebec City, chances are good that it was built by Maxi Metal, a fast-growing custom vehicle manufacturing business launching Configure One’s CPQ software.

If you see a fire truck en route to a rescue scene in Montreal or Quebec City, chances are good that it was built by Maxi Metal, a fast-growing custom vehicle manufacturing business launching Configure One’s CPQ software.

Located an hour south of Quebec City in Saint-Georges, Quebec, Maxi Metal has custom-built precision machinery since 1983 and has led the Quebec fire truck market for 30 years. Now having selected Configure One’s CPQ package after a stringent evaluation process, it is poised to emerge as one of North America’s pre-eminent emergency vehicle manufacturers.

The firm distributes optimized intervention equipment through the dual channels of MAXI Fire Truck and MAXI Utility, with company growth focused primarily on fire apparatus. Maxi Metal’s Fire Truck division supplies custom fire and commercial pumpers, tankers and rescue trucks.

Among its newest products is the “MaxiSaber” product line, manufactured since 2016 in an exclusive product partnership with Wisconsin-based Pierce Manufacturing Inc.

“We’re very proud of our partnership with Pierce,” said Maxi Metal’s director of business development Christopher Sapienza, adding that because Pierce is the world’s leading fire truck maker.

As the collaboration with Pierce sparked business and the company found itself working with dozens of dealers “overnight,” Maxi Metal sought a better estimating and quoting solution to replace an obsolete system requiring tedious transfer of data between programs.

Noting that “dealers are driving much higher demand on our estimation team and it has created a major bottleneck,” the director predicted that Maxi Metal’s team would be able to leverage the built-in advantages of Configure One’s CPQ software, which automates and speeds up the process of generating quotes and proposals to improve the ROI.

“For Maxi Metal’s estimation department and the dealer sales team, it’s about having the speed and flexibility to respond quickly to customers’ requests for information and customization of the products we are proposing,” Sapienza said, comparing Maxi Metal’s current process to old methods of metal fabrication.  “We used to cut our sheet metal with hand tools.  Now we use precision laser cutting.  It’s time for the estimation department to catch up with the times.”

Initially, the company looked at four different vendors. One was an existing ERP supplier that offered to implement their own system; two others were “very standard quote software products.” And then there was Configure One.

What sealed the deal? Sapienza said, “We literally searched for [an answer to] ‘Who is the next-level provider that will bring us not just up to date, but into the future?’”

Following Configure One’s product presentation, Maxi Metal created a rigorous internal evaluation process and “put it through the wringer and stress-tested it financially.” Since Configure One represented the greatest financial commitment of all the candidates, Maxi Metal’s accounting department required a triple check for ROI. After meticulous assessment, Configure One passed with flying colors.

It was concluded that “this would be the solution that could bring us to the next level and go beyond the status quo,” Sapienza said. “We chose a product that would put us ahead of the game and into best-of-class.”

He noted that the professionalism, transparency and support of Sr. Solution Executive Jim Hessin and Global Sales Director Chris DiEllo, respectively, was “very responsive and key in helping us determine how this product could meet our needs.”

Sapienza confirmed that Configure One software will let dealers and estimators respond quickly and accurately to requested changes as customers move through the quoting process and commended the automated features built in to the CPQ’s time-saving system.

With a majority of its clients being municipal, county and regional governments, Maxi Metal hopes to dispatch customized emergency equipment well into the future. Significantly, the business stands out as an innovator, as every single product it creates is tailored and unique.

“Maxi Metal sees this system as a key hinge point in our strategic growth plan,” Sapienza said. “This major investment is a commitment to supporting our partnership with Pierce Manufacturing and their dealers and making sure that they have the high-performance tools they need to grow all of our respective businesses.”

About Configure One
Configure One is a leading provider of web-based product configurator and CPQ (configure price quote) software. Configure One’s Enterprise Product Configurator® is an enterprise CPQ application that enables companies to efficiently sell and process orders for configurable, multi-option, and customizable products and services. Configure One’s customers can increase revenues while reducing costs by automating much of the sales, order entry, and engineering processes. Customers include industry leaders such as Alstom, Dover Corporation, Rosenbauer, Masonite Corporation, Otis Elevator, SPX Corporation, Stanley Black & Decker, and Sumitomo.