Santos Bikes, founded in 1997 by Robbert Rutgrink, is a Dutch bicycle brand that has mastered the art of cycling to perfection. From their workshop in Nieuw-Vennep, just outside Amsterdam, they build the very best bicycles in the world—each one crafted with passion and expertise. Santos is renowned for its uncompromising quality and the unique ability to fully customize every bike down to the smallest detail. With innovative technologies, sustainable drive systems like belt drives, and an unmatched riding experience, a Santos bike is more than just a bicycle; it’s a reliable travel companion, ready to push boundaries and enable new adventures.
Scalability and efficiency through digital innovation
Santos Bikes
Santos Bikes
Santos & Harborn
Harborn has been working with Santos Bikes for nearly 20 years. This partnership is built on shared core values: quality, a personal approach, and unique products. Over the years, Harborn has supported Santos in creating their entire digital ecosystem to better serve dealers, end-users, and internal processes.
Challenge
One of Santos’ unique selling points is that their bicycles are fully customized to meet the customer’s preferences. This process is complex because customer choices can influence one another, increasing the risk of impossible configurations. Managing these customization processes was inefficient and error-prone, and a scalable solution was lacking. This caused production delays and required specialists to oversee the process, limiting Santos’ growth potential.
Strategic Objective
The collaboration with Harborn aims to make Santos more scalable, reduce errors in the production process, and provide dealers and end-users with more autonomy in customizing bicycles—without compromising the quality and flexibility Santos is known for.
Approach & co-creation
Harborn is driving a digital transformation for Santos Bikes by developing a fully integrated ecosystem of applications. We combine our expertise in data, UX design, front-end, and back-end engineering to deliver tailored solutions.
Multidisciplinary team & roles
Our multidisciplinary team consists of specialists who build with standard building blocks such as Amazon Web Services and front- and back-end frameworks. Thanks to our extensive industry knowledge, built over two decades of collaboration with Santos, we deliver solutions that perfectly align with their needs.
Collaboration with the client
We work closely with Santos to translate their in-depth knowledge of bicycles into intuitive digital applications. This partnership is a true example of co-creation, where the expertise of both parties comes together to create innovative solutions
Case 1: De Fietsenmaker
Challenge
Customizing bicycles is a complex process due to the many choices customers can make, some of which influence one another. This often led to impossible configurations, resulting in customer disappointment, longer delivery times, inefficiencies in the production process, and increased workload for employees. Santos sought a solution to streamline this process and improve the customer experience.
Solution
Harborn developed the product configurator De Fietsenmaker (The Bike Configurator), an intuitive system that guides customers and dealers step-by-step through the bike customization process. The configurator prevents invalid combinations and integrates seamlessly with production. By working closely with Santos, we ensured the system is user-friendly and always results in a functional bike. This makes the decision-making process simpler and more reliable for both Santos’ 190 dealers and end-users.
Result
With De Fietsenmaker, tens of thousands of bicycles have already been assembled without errors, supporting various bike models and thousands of components. This has led to shorter delivery times, fewer production errors, and higher customer satisfaction. Additionally, the configurator makes the process more scalable, enabling Santos to grow faster while enhancing the customer experience. The system not only provides operational efficiency but also a strategic advantage in a competitive market.
30000+
bicycles assembled without errors
Case 2: Supporting production
Challenge
Santos’ unique production process involves a wide variety of bicycles and components, leading to inefficiencies, errors, and delivery delays. Employees needed a solution to better manage the complexity and streamline the production process.
Solution
Harborn developed an integrated work preparation system and a tablet app that provides employees on the shop floor with real-time insights into required components, work steps, and deadlines. The system generates clear instructions and allows employees to easily update the status of the production process. By working closely with Santos’ employees, the tablet app was designed to be intuitive and seamlessly integrated into existing workflows, increasing adoption and effectiveness.
Result and strategic value
With the new tools, employees work more efficiently and make fewer errors, resulting in an optimized production process. The lead time for bicycles has been reduced, customers receive their bikes faster, and Santos has better oversight of ongoing orders. This minimizes costs, increases customer satisfaction, and enables Santos to respond more quickly to demand, providing a strategic advantage in a competitive market.
Impact & scaling
Long-term solution
The digital solutions form the backbone of Santos’ production and ordering processes. They are sustainably integrated and flexible enough to support future expansions.
Scaling & optimization
Following the successful implementation of The Bike Configurator and the optimization of the production process, we are expanding the collaboration to address other challenges. Together with Santos, we are planning to develop a MySantos app to support customers and dealers in maintaining their Santos bikes.
Ferdinando
Commercial Director
At Harborn, we believe that real change starts with addressing the right challenges. For Santos Bikes, we develop tailored digital solutions that optimize their processes and accelerate their growth. Our multidisciplinary teams act as a “special force” to solve complex problems and deliver sustainable results.
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