“Which driver do I fit?”, “how many spotlights do I need?”, “how much does my roof produce?”. Every question is a calculation your technical office does by hand, over the phone. With a 3D configurator, the wholesaler, the installer or the customer choose while looking at the product, switched on if it is light, with the calculation done and the order sheet complete.
Thursday, quarter past eight, the counter of an electrical wholesaler, with a queue of vans outside. An electrician brings the sketch of a kitchen with three runs of under-cabinet strip; behind him, a panel builder needs an enclosure for an outdoor switchboard, and an installer asks which charger to fit in a communal garage, forty metres from the board. The counter assistant has three PDF catalogues open and the phone in hand.
And in your technical office the phone rings. Which driver does the strip need if it goes from 9.6 to 14.4 W/m? Does the 800 × 600 enclosure include the mounting plate? A lighting shop forwards the plan of a living room with a “how many spotlights?”; an installer asks for the output of a south-west-facing roof. Every answer is a sum two people know how to do, between calls, without seeing the installation.
On Friday the consequences arrive: an order went out without end caps or clips, purchasing has put your high bay next to a cheaper one per unit, and the homeowner with the solar panels is “thinking about it”, because they cannot picture their roof. Nobody is to blame: an electrical product works as a system of parts that have to fit together, and it is ordered as loose references that pass through three pairs of hands.
At the wholesaler, in the technical office, on site and in the meeting with purchasing. Under each phrase, how it gets solved.
The installer calls with the metres of strip; the wholesaler, with an enclosure they are not sure includes the plate. Every answer is a sum done standing up, without seeing the installation.
With the configuratorDriver, lux, DIN modules or charging time come out calculated with every change, and the strip warns of voltage drop.
What is visible gets ordered and the small parts are forgotten: end caps, clips, driver, plate, rails or sensors. The installer finds out with the ceiling open.
With the configuratorAn order sheet with references and quantities: for the strip, reels, profiles, end caps, clips and driver; for the enclosure, plate, rails and lock.
The lighting of a living room, the high bays of a warehouse, the output of a roof: technician hours for someone who was only collecting prices or ends up buying elsewhere with your study.
With the configuratorThe customer does the first calculation (lux, high bays, output, savings) and the enquiry reaches you with their configuration.
2,700 K or 4,000 K, a 24° or 100° beam, front-lit or back-lit letters: in the catalogue they are numbers. The customer does not translate them to their ceiling and chooses on price.
With the configuratorStrip, light fittings, warehouse and sign are seen switched on in the night scene, and up to three versions are compared side by side.
Purchasing ranks three high bay offers by unit price. How many are needed and how much light they give does not fit in that column.
With the configuratorVersions are compared with the high bays needed, lux and consumption, and the savings come out in euros per year, in a PDF.
The charger three metres from the board or forty; the pitched roof or the warehouse. The customer saw the price of the device online and expects that figure.
With the configuratorAn indicative price with your price list and whatever changes in each installation: metres of cable and protection devices, or mounting structure depending on the roof.
An IP55 enclosure by the sea, an indoor strip in a bathroom. The person ordering does not always know where it will be installed.
With the configuratorThe protection rating is just another option (IP65 or IP67 for the strip, IP44 for the light fitting, IP65 for the warehouse) and the enclosure states its recommended use.
Five stops with sketches, PDFs and the phone. At each one, time is lost or a part drops out.
Asks for a price with a photo, a plan or an invoice. You lose: the sale, if it takes too long.
Measures, notes it their own way and calls. You lose: the figure they did not write down.
Looks up the reference in a PDF and passes it on to you. You lose: the right reference.
Calculates driver, lux, high bays or output by hand. You lose: hours on studies that never get signed.
What the paper says goes out. You lose: a second shipment for the missing part.
The problem is not your product. It is that it is sold as a system and explained with a catalogue designed for loose references (3D configurator vs PDF catalogue).
Replace the example values with your own.
| Figure | Example | How it is calculated |
|---|---|---|
| A · Enquiries per month that need a calculation | 60 | Driver, lux, high bays or output |
| B · Time per calculation, including changes | 40 min | Calls, sums and PDF |
| C · Orders per month with a part missing | 10 | End caps, clips, plate, driver or sensor |
| D · Cost of preparing and sending what was missing | €20 | Preparation and transport |
| Hours per year calculating by hand | 480 h | A × B × 12 months |
| Cost per year of shipping loose parts | €2,400 | C × D × 12 months |
With a 3D lighting and energy configurator, the wholesaler, the installer or the customer choose the product while seeing it in 3D, with the technical data calculated, an indicative price and an order sheet. The same five stops:
Sees their product in 3D, switched on if it is light, with an indicative price.
Configures on their phone from the site, with the calculation alongside.
Uses it at the counter with the customer in front of them and forwards the order sheet to you as is.
Checks a calculation already done and keeps the study for those who deserve it.
The complete system goes out, small parts included, first time.
To get started: what a 3D configurator is and how it differs from a generic 3D product configurator .
Each with its own page and an open demo, with no registration, with example products and prices.
Single colour, dimmable or RGB, with the driver calculated and a voltage drop warning.
Downlights, panels, profiles, pendants and tracks, with the room lit and the light level calculated.
How many high bays are needed, how to space them, how much they consume and the savings versus the old ones.
Front-lit, back-lit or LED neon, seen on the façade by day and by night.
Wall or floor-standing enclosures: size, material, IP rating, plate, DIN rails, climate control and rain canopy.
Output by province with public data from the European Commission, savings and payback.
Wall or post-mounted, with cards, power management, home battery and the charging time calculated.
Images from the demos, with generic products. Your version loads your families, rules and price list.
What the demo base already does and what gets developed in your project.
The work focuses on loading what is yours and carrying over the sums from your technical office. Before starting, we put in writing what is included and what is not.
Strips, light fittings, high bays, enclosures, panels or chargers, with their variants and references.
Driver margins, run limits, light levels, compatibilities and what you do not make.
Prices, discounts, wholesalers, shops and installers, and who receives each enquiry.
On your website and on your distributors' websites, with training for the sales team.
We start from a base that already works: you do not pay for development from scratch.
Developments start from €6,500 for a visual configurator of one product family; most projects for manufacturers fall between €14,500 and €35,000, depending on the catalogue, the rules and the integrations, plus maintenance from €190 a month.
More detail at the price of a 3D configurator and in how much a 3D product configurator costs.
A web page in which the wholesaler, the installer or the customer choose the product and see it in 3D, switched on if it is light, with the technical data calculated on the spot. At the end, an indicative price with your price list, a PDF and an order sheet with references come out. Nothing to install. More at what a 3D configurator is.
Seven, each with its own page and open demo: LED strip and profile, recessed and pendant light fittings, warehouse lighting, signage letters and signs, electrical enclosures, solar panels and electric car chargers.
No. The lux, the solar output, the savings, the charging time or the DIN modules are indicative: they are there so the enquiry arrives with a first calculation and to tell which ones deserve the full study, which your technical office still does.
Yes, that is the core of the project: driver margins, strip limits, light levels per use, which driver each light fitting takes or which accessories each enclosure accepts. What you do not make cannot be chosen, and the order sheet comes out with your references.
Yes, as part of the custom development: every wholesaler, lighting shop, sign maker or dealer can have their own area with their brand and, if they resell, their margin on your price list. Orders reach you with the complete sheet and your references, and the enquiries from your website can be assigned by area to the right sales rep or installer.
A request with their details and their configuration, in a dashboard with its status and exportable to CSV; if you set up an email account, by email as well. The customer takes away a PDF with the image, the technical data, the order sheet and the indicative price.
Yes. It opens with a QR code, without downloading any app, with the calculation, the list of materials and the indicative price. With augmented reality, the charger, the enclosure or the sign are seen at full size in place. More at product augmented reality.
Projects start from €6,500 for a visual configurator of one product family; most projects for manufacturers fall between €14,500 and €35,000, depending on catalogue, rules and integrations, plus maintenance from €190/month. Separately, per product, 3D modelling and materials and finishes, from €30 to €120 per part or finish (or more), settled once we see your files. Lead time, between 3 and 16 weeks depending on scope; the specific date goes in the proposal. Details at the price of a 3D configurator.
All seven demos are open, with no registration, with example products and prices: configurador.grup3d.es/demo.
With your catalogue in front of us? We will show you in a 20-minute video call, with your families and your sums.
Would you rather talk it through? Call us on 662 061 421 or write to grup3d@grup3d.es.
Windows, doors, subframes, roller shutters, gates and lift cabins.
See sector →Kitchens, wardrobes, office, fittings, sofas, blinds and mattresses.
See sector →Tiles, showers, shower screens, bathroom furniture, worktops and paint.
See sector →Pergolas, awnings, railings, canopies, prefabricated modules and street furniture.
See sector →Lubrication, air conditioning, racking, conveyors, vans, tanks and pallets.
See sector →Sector by sector, each with its own page.
See all →