Product Configurator: Product Design
TRP quote custom O-rings out of a spreadsheet: an account manager reads it line by line, applies the rules by hand, and produces a quote for every order. The brief was to let trade customers self-serve: configure a part, see a live price, check stock and lead time, and order without a phone call.
Case study WIP: more visuals coming soon.
The brief
TRP quote custom O-rings out of a spreadsheet: an account manager reads it line by line, applies the rules by hand, and produces a quote. It’s slow, it ties up senior staff, and mistakes cost money. They wanted trade customers to self-serve instead.
The project had already been attempted and rejected once when I took it over. The first version treated the configurator as an e-commerce quiz: one decision per screen, a long linear walk to a single result. The client called it “too long and clunky” and it had stalled.
The work
I reframed it from a quiz into a tool: the whole journey on one screen, where changing any choice updates everything else in place, instead of forcing a restart. The real difficulty was never the interface. It was the rules underneath: an 11-tier price model, customer-specific tooling charges, a partial-fulfilment hierarchy, stock reservation.
I designed that logic first, working from a factory visit and a spreadsheet walkthrough with an account manager, then built it as a running prototype rather than flat screens, so the edge cases were designed, not discovered mid-build.
What shipped
A stalled project, reframed and rebuilt as a working prototype. The client’s verdict: “more than they asked for,” “very innovative.” The developer expects to reuse most of the front end. 46 business rules designed and documented. In development. No live metrics yet.