VAT Group

VAT Group is a Swiss company and the leading global developer and supplier of high-vacuum solutions for the most renowned companies like NASA, CERN, Samsung, Intel, and many more. VAT's high-end solutions help to evolve and modernize multiple fields which have a direct effect on our daily lives. Starting with scientific research, throughout the medical and pharmaceutical applications to mobile chips, solar panels or batteries, and new discoveries in the Universe.

The Process

Our role has been to design and develop the global website presentation for this client. Everything started with a thorough analysis of the original website, print catalogs, and a competition survey. Thanks to its many years of experience, VAT Group has a huge database of standard products, as well as tailor-made solutions. To design a truly smart and efficient web solution, we had to process many tables, databases, and catalogs in an effort to take into account the reality and needs of the client. The analyzes gradually resulted in the structure of websites and their interconnections, which were then discussed with the client and fine-tuned in future versions to meet the client's requirements. This was a strong basis for the extensive design and large-scale back-end development.

Robust CMS Development

The website itself, but also the content management system (CMS) did not meet the usual requirements of our previous clients. Although we created the system on our custom CMS in the Laravel framework (PHP), we had to modify it and expand it with new functionalities significantly. The system should support the multi-level user management system enabling the different departments of the VAT Group (HR department, Content editors, Product editors, etc.) to only manage the relevant information for them. We added the ability to create navigation for individual domains or the functionality for easy and semi-automated creation of the technical tables based on product parameters, which were subsequently used for filtering on the website. The CMS also contains a tag system that determines the logic for displaying relevant news, case studies, or products on specific subpages. Because the client needed to create a large number of content subpages in a short time, we created the functionality of a page-builder. The inquiry aggregation is divided into several sections and information about the new inquiry is sent to the automatically preselected email addresses of the associated sales companies representing VAT in the region, which the customer filled out in the form.

Support and Maintenance

Although we have completed the initial scope of the websites, new ideas for functionalities are still coming. As the website has monthly traffic exceeding 24,000 visits, we're still improving the UX/UI for the website to become an even better online presentation and an effective tool for communication with VAT's customers. We are in daily contact with the client and adding new functionalities at regular intervals.

The Bellows Configurators

After vacuum valves, welded bellows are the second biggest part of VAT Group's product portfolio. VAT wanted to focus on fast delivery of some of the more standardized bellows solutions. Thanks to the Quick Spec Bellows configurator, the customer can fast and easily choose the environment in which the product should operate, the material, or the bellows ends, so that the final product fits exactly his needs. After choosing the right configuration, the system will calculate additional technical data about the product, such as its total length in the compressed and expanded state. During the whole configuration process, there is a sticky side panel with a bellows sketch indicating the parameter the user is currently choosing. In a simple administration panel, we also prepared an inquiry aggregation and editing of selected content.

After the success of the Quick Spec Bellows website, we started preparing the advanced Bellows Configurator, which opened up possibilities for more configurations and more complex products. The originally simpler configuration form has been enriched with new variables, and options have been added to upload your own drawings and specifications, which are then sent along with the product configuration to VAT. After filling in the data, the website generates a clear technical specification for the given configuration which can be downloaded or printed.