B2B Manufacturing Portal for a Configure-to-Order Industrial Manufacturer

About the client

The client is a US-based B2B manufacturer of engineered-to-order modular industrial systems.

Its customers include industrial buyers, project teams, procurement departments, and operations teams that need configured products rather than standard catalog items. Orders depend on product dimensions, usage requirements, delivery timing, and production rules.

The company already had a working portal, but many customer and internal workflows still depended on manual updates, spreadsheets, and direct team involvement.

Portal users included customer-side buyers and project teams, as well as internal operations, accounting, warehouse, and manufacturing users.

Legacy stack: Kentico 13 · ASP.NET Web Forms · .NET Framework 4.6.1 · SQL Server · jQuery

Business challenge

The existing portal was stable, but key workflows had outgrown it.

Customers still needed internal support to update orders, select shipment dates, and reorder saved configurations. Product configuration also depended on sales or operations input, which slowed down routine requests.

Warehouse teams relied on manual steps for material receiving, inventory updates, shipment preparation, and document generation. Shipment data had to be re-entered into external systems, creating extra work and room for errors.

Production stoppages caused by equipment issues, planned maintenance, or operational constraints were not captured in a structured way. Managers had limited data for finding bottlenecks or improving workload distribution.

A full rebuild would have added migration risk and disrupted daily work. The client needed targeted modernization while keeping the production system live.

Solution

Bits Orchestra extended the existing .NET / Kentico platform instead of replacing it.

The work focused on the workflows with the highest operational friction: customer self-service, warehouse execution, logistics handoffs, and production visibility.

The project created a connected operating layer between customer actions, internal operations, and production events. This gave the client cleaner data for daily work, reporting, and future automation.

Delivery logic: restore customer autonomy first → digitize internal workflows → add production visibility → strengthen data and release control.

Customer self-service

• Customer-facing product builder — buyers configure engineered-to-order product specs and receive pricing guidance without direct sales involvement.
• Order self-service — customers update orders, select or change delivery dates, and cancel within business rules tied to production status.
• Shipment date selection — calendar-based shipment or collection scheduling with availability rules.
• Saved configurations and reordering — repeat buyers save product setups for recurring procurement cycles.
• AI-assisted configuration support — guided product selection, rule-based specification checks, and product knowledge support based on approved internal content.

Warehouse and logistics workflows

• Inbound materials tracking — receipt scanning, stock visibility, and consumption tracking.
• Inventory movement tracking — scan-based links between orders, stock, pallets, and shipments.
• Automated shipment documentation — operational documents generated from system data.
• Logistics provider integration — shipment data sent automatically with validation and retry handling.
• Refund and reconciliation workflow — structured refund handling aligned with order and accounting status.

Representative interface recreated from the delivered workflow. Client branding, product data, pricing, operational metrics, names, and visual details have been changed to protect confidentiality.

Production visibility

• Downtime tracking — production stoppages logged by machine or production area, duration, and reason category.
• Maintenance and issue visibility — interruptions linked to planned maintenance, equipment issues, or operational constraints.
• Scheduling improvements — workload distribution improved across production queues.
• Environmental metrics tracking — production activity connected to internal performance and sustainability indicators.

Data, access, and release control

• Role-based access — separate permissions for customer users, internal teams, and management roles.
• Integration monitoring — validation, retry handling, and error visibility for connected systems.
• Structured operational data — customer actions, inventory movement, shipment data, and production events captured in one platform.
• Release control — incremental delivery without freezing the production system.

Architecture: before vs. after