Atlantic
Track & Turnout Company
Since 1924 Atlantic
Track & Turnout has been a supplier of rail products and accessories
and enjoys its position at the forefront of what is now a worldwide
market. Users include railroads, heavy industries, overhead crane
and ARS manufacturers, mining companies, railroad and tunnel contractors,
transit authorities, and operators of port facilities. Their Transit
Division and partners have created a team of companies that supply
a full line of products to transit systems and the contractors who
build them.
Web
Objective: To create an on-line presence that would
both promote the company, its products and services while being
fresh in the presentation of the products and services.
The
Challenge: Atlantic Track & Turnout has not added a
new major product in over forty years due to the nature of the
rail industry. Knowing the importance of keeping the information
within a web site fresh so that users will return often, this
created a challenge for the creative minds at BLAZE inter.NET.
The BLAZE
inter. NET Solution:
During discussions with Mr. Ron Dreesen and after much probing
to learn about the rail industry and its users, it was discovered
that an ongoing challenge to industry professionals was  the
identification of older rail sections when it came time for replacement.
Since many of the sections of rail have been laid for decades,
getting an accurate measurement (weight and length) was extremely
difficult due to wear.
It was decided
to use the web presence as a resource for engineers and other
industry professionals to identify sections of rail by particular
measurements such as base width and rail height and web markings.
This was done by creating a database with information on the most
commonly used types of rail. When the users enters as much or
as little information on the section of rail that needs replacement,
the database will return any and all possible rail sections that
fit the search criteria.
 Once
a specific type of rail is found via the database visitors can
then utilize another powerful feature called the "Frog Finder".
By clicking on a special link that is displayed along with the
database results, data from the search is automatically passed
and inserted into the frog finder page where via a custom created
javascript visitors can then work out complicated calculations
to deduce recommended switch length and frog and turnout numbers
information at the touch of a button.
This Rail
Search & Frog Finder features of the Atlantic Track & Turnout
web site have produced a significant amount of traffic. The assumption
is that if the engineers come to the site to identify the rail
section in question, they will click the next button to have an
Atlantic Track & Turnout representative contact them about the
purchase of the replacement rail section as well as any necessary
accessories.
Another feature
of the site is an updateable FAQ page. The staff can go to a hidden
administration page and with no programming or HTML knowledge
edit existing questions, add new or delete old ones. This feature
allows the Atlantic Track & Turnout staff to interact and react
to their clients needs at a moments notice.
Visit
the Atlantic Track Web site
View
Atlantic Track President Ron Dreesen's
comments on his experience with BLAZE inter.NET
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