How BISSELL replaced its approval spreadsheets with 8090’s software, at half the annual cost
8090 built the system that now runs part and model numbering at BISSELL. The rules a handful of expert reviewers once enforced by hand are written into software: compliant requests approve in seconds, and reviewers see only the ones that need them.
BISSELL × 8090
Matt Kruger, CFO & CIO of BISSELL, tells Max Tynan, VP of Sales at 8090, why the old process had to go, and why 8090 was the partner to do it.
Client
Sector
Consumer products · Manufacturing
Engagement
Custom workflow software
Approach
Codified rules · Product development automation
BISSELL Homecare, Inc. is a 150-year-old, family-owned American manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and floor care products, and the leading maker of floor care products in North America.
0%
cost reduction across the process, people, and software.
0.0%
of submitted parts approved automatically, with no reviewer involved and no time in a queue.
Metrics from production analytics, December 2025 – July 2026.
A product pipeline that waited on spreadsheets.
Every product BISSELL ships is built from parts, and every part needs an official name and number before engineering work can move forward. For years that meant Excel forms, checked by hand by a small approval group in North America, while requests arrived from teams around the world.
The company has nearly doubled in size over the last five years, and a process built on institutional knowledge couldn’t scale with it. The rules were the kind a computer could apply in an instant. No system knew them, so every name waited on a person, including the large majority that would have passed anyway.
The way we set up and manage parts within our PLM system was very manual and inefficient. It required gathering and inputting a lot of data into the system so that we could track these thousands and thousands of parts. All of that data was being housed within spreadsheets and people’s minds which made it very susceptible to errors, and made the setup process very slow.
Write the rules down, then let software apply them.
8090 built the Part Management System, a web application that sits in front of the PLM system BISSELL already runs. The PLM system stays the system of record. What changed is everything that used to happen before a part reached it.
01 · Codify
One rulebook instead of many
8090 worked with BISSELL’s administrators to reconcile their differing conventions into one centralized rulebook of approved words, descriptors, and values.
02 · Check
Every request is validated as it’s written
The system checks each name against every rule as engineers type. A name that passes is approved on submission, and one that doesn’t goes to a reviewer with the reason attached.
03 · Connect
Approvals land in the PLM system on their own
Approved parts are created in the PLM system automatically, with forms and approval history filed alongside them.
A part name builds itself from approved pieces.
In the system, a name can only be assembled from pieces the rulebook recognizes, so most of the old mistakes can no longer be made at all. Pick a different part type, choose a custom value on any field, and watch the rules react.
Constructed part name
Every value came from the approved lists, so the part is approved the moment the request is submitted and the name is created in the PLM system without anyone in the loop.
Rule check
Illustrative · The nouns, descriptors, and formatting shown are representative, and the interface is simplified from the production system.
0+
parts submitted through the system since launch.
0 days
on average from a request’s first draft to final approval.
One system for the paperwork of product development.
Part naming was the sharpest bottleneck, and it was one of about six request workflows across parts and models that ran the same way. The system brought them into one place.
Model requests follow the same path
Marketers request model numbers through the same kind of guided, rules-first workflow, from number generation through approval.
BISSELL can edit its own rulebook
Administrators add approved words and values and adjust validation rules without waiting on 8090. Any user can propose a new value with a justification, and the request routes to an administrator.
The process is measurable for the first time
A live dashboard shows request volumes, approval rates, and time to finalization.
Why BISSELL chose 8090.
For its biggest AI investments, BISSELL looked for a partner already proving the technology in production, and a model that would not add headcount to maintain what got built. 8090 designs, builds, and hosts the system, with maintenance, support, and upgrades included in the subscription.
We want to make sure that we’re partnering with people that are on the leading edge of this technology and that have already successfully applied it in other industries. That’s why we work with partners like 8090, to help us solve these big strategic bets.
Are the processes your business depends on stuck in spreadsheets, waiting on somebody’s calendar?
8090 uses Software Factory to replace the manual middle of an operation, codifies the rules your experts carry in their heads, and stays accountable for the result in production.