How Kawasaki Optimized Workflows with a Self-Service Portal

Explore how Kawasaki Engines streamlined manual processes with an enhanced workflow for 7,700 dealers, resulting in an increase in revenue in under 6 months.

Company Overview

Driving Innovation for Kawasaki Engines

Kawasaki is a renowned global leader in manufacturing high-performance engines for residential and commercial power equipment, particularly lawnmowers. With nearly 7,700 dealers across the U.S., Kawasaki Engines is known for delivering reliability and innovation in the power equipment industry. Their commitment to engineering excellence has earned them the trust of both consumers and commercial users.

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Driving Increased Revenue in 6 weeks with New Engine Replacement App

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The Challenge

Streamlining Processes for Dealers Across the US

Each day, dealers would contact the customer support team to look up engines, find appropriate replacement options, and submit specific EPA-required documentation to initiate the replacement process. Information was housed and locally maintained in various locations  – with data going back over 30 years.  A business need arose for a centralized system to handle engine lookups and EPA-required documentation submissions. Often, dealers needed additional support to find accurate engine replacement options, specifications, and technical notes. While this process ensured the correct information was provided, it created additional steps for dealers and customer support. Recognizing the need to streamline the process, Kawasaki Engines turned to LaunchPad Lab to enhance the engine replacement process and automate EPA Form submissions for its dealer network and customer support team.

Pain Points

  • Decentralized Data

  • Disconnected UX

  • Lengthy Manual Processes

  • Risk for Human Errors

Kawasaki Engines UI to find and replacement engines.

The Approach

Mapping Out Plans for a Centralized Portal for Thousands of Dealers

To kick off the project, a Blueprint Workshop was facilitated to map out the intricacies of the engine replacement process and the specific needs of the dealer network. After identifying the core challenges, the team prioritized the consolidation of Kawasaki’s engine data as the foundation for building a comprehensive, user-friendly solution. The team decided to leverage Heroku to ensure scalability and ease of use.

The goal: build a custom application within its Dealer portal for customers to easily find, compare, and order new replacement engines.

Product Requirements

  • Single Source of Truth

  • Ease of Use

  • Streamline Workflow

  • Data Compliance

The Solution

Building a Self-Service Dealer Portal for Engine Replacement Orders

LaunchPad Lab built a cloud-based portal on Heroku that transformed how dealers find, review, and manage engine replacements. The new self-service portal empowers dealers to independently access engine specs and replacement options, reducing reliance on Kawasaki's customer support team. In addition, designing a streamlined workflow would better meet EPA compliance requirements.

  • Intuitive Search

    With the engine replacement finder, dealers can enter Model/Spec or Serial Number details to search, review replacement options, and access up-to-date engine data.

  • Streamlined Ordering

    Once the correct engine is selected, a dealer could add the engine and parts to their shopping cart for ordering.

  • Modernized Workflow

    The solution created a modernized workflow that expedites the EPA-required documentation process.

  • Automation

    By automating key steps, the solution significantly improved efficiency and reduced errors in the engine replacement process.

The Results

Driving Increased Revenue in 6 weeks with New Engine Replacement App

Kawasaki Engines and LaunchPad Lab shipped the Engine Replacement Application to market in four months – with additional features launching just two months later. The custom portal delivered significant improvements in dealer support and internal operations for Kawasaki Engines.

Communication and information sharing between Application Engineering in Research and Development (who maintain the Engine Database), Sales, and Customer Care teams has improved greatly. This improvement makes more accurate engine build data available to the customer within the Engine Replacement application. In addition, the streamlined EPA engine replacement process led to fewer errors and faster processing times.

Kawasaki Engines experienced an increase in case deflection as dealers were empowered to handle common queries on their own. Additionally, the consolidation of engine data improved internal management and provided dealers with a seamless, improved experience, contributing to higher satisfaction across the dealer network.

Since going live, the company has been averaging hundreds of engine searches each week. The integration linking the Engine Replacement App to their internal ERP system has added hundreds of replacement engines to the e-commerce shopping cart. As a result, visits to the Engines Replacement App with new engines and associated parts for the replacement being added to the shopping cart for dealer customers have increased by almost fifteen percent. The new app continues to generate new revenue related to engine, parts, and accessories sales.

  • Centralized Resource

  • Modern UX/UI

  • Streamlined, Efficient Workflow

  • Reduced Errors and Compliance Risks

The Stats

How Kawasaki's Self-Service Portal Improved Dealer Support and Internal Operations

  • 30+

    years of data unlocked for customer use

  • 15%

    conversion rate on new engine replacements added to cart

  • ~4 months

    to ship initial product

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