Overview
Howmet Fastening Systems is part of Howmet Aerospace, a global leader in engineered metal products with operations across the US, UK, Germany, and Australia.
Over the past 14 years, the company has undergone several rebrands (Alcoa, Arconic, and now Howmet), managing more than 50 websites across six brands and multiple languages.
We were brought in to consolidate Howmet’s digital presence and build technical ecommerce solutions tailored to the complex needs of B2B customers.
From a unified global site (HFS Industrial) to a bespoke online Huck Catalogue and customer portal, these tools now save thousands of hours annually while driving proactive sales engagement.
How We Helped:
- Global B2B website consolidation (HFS Industrial)
- Huck Catalogue: custom product selector tool
- Magento Customer Portal with bespoke pricing & stock visibility
- UX reviews to support adoption of technical tools
- CRM integrations (QuickBase + JotForm for US site)
- Ongoing international digital support retainer
The Results:
- £19k+ annualised time savings across portal and catalog tools
- 2x increase in sales team efficiency (shifting from reactive support to proactive engagement)
- Faster customer self-service for stock levels, pricing, and lead times
- Ongoing global support across UK, US, and international teams
The Brief
Howmet needed to simplify its fragmented digital estate and create tools that better serve international B2B customers.
With multiple sub-brands (Huck, Recoil, Simmonds, Camloc, Marton), each operating separate websites by industry and language, management had become inefficient and customer communication inconsistent.
Key Issues:
- 50+ disconnected websites across six brands and regions
- Inefficient customer communication relying on manual processes
- Growing demand for digital self-service in technical product selection
- No centralised platform for special pricing, real-time stock, and delivery forecasting
Objective:
To deliver a consolidated digital ecosystem that streamlines Howmet’s operations, empowers customers with online tools, and unlocks efficiencies for internal teams.
The Approach
Global Website Redesign & UX Workshops
Our first step was to consolidate 50+ websites into HFS Industrial — a single, scalable Magento platform. To ensure it met real customer needs, we hosted UX workshops (July 2022) with Howmet’s global teams.
- Homepage Redesign: Before-and-after iterations created a cleaner structure, easier navigation, and mobile-first optimisation.
- Product page Overhaul: Pages like the Huck Bobtail® fastener were redesigned with clear specifications, better visuals, and simplified configurators.
- Navigation Improvements: Technical customers often come with part numbers in hand. We streamlined search and categorisation so engineers could find products in fewer clicks.
Workshops allowed Howmet’s teams to test prototypes, ensuring the redesigns solved practical customer frustrations rather than just refreshing visuals.
Huck Catalogue: Technical Product Configurator
The Huck Catalogue became the flagship innovation of the project. Designed by Clear and built to replicate the decision-making process of Howmet’s sales engineers, it allows customers to:
- Input the material type and fastening requirements
- Receive a recommended Huck product, complete with part numbers and codes
- Download results or send details directly to account managers
For customers, it delivers instant technical confidence. For Howmet, it saves ~5 hours per week, equating to £6,500 per year in staff time — while also freeing up teams to generate new orders.
Product Selectors for Recoil & Other Brands
Building on Huck’s success, Clear developed product selectors for Recoil and other brands. These included:
- Cross-referenced part numbers so customers moving from competitor products could quickly find the right Howmet equivalent
- Simplified journeys for engineers who weren’t existing Recoil users but needed to match specifications
- Enhanced credibility for the wider Howmet range, positioning the site as a complete digital resource
Bespoke Magento Customer Portal
Clear then customised Magento’s out-of-the-box dashboard into a purpose-built B2B customer portal.
Features included:
- Customer-specific pricing: each account sees its negotiated terms instantly
- Real-time stock & production schedules: giving accurate lead times for procurement teams
- Forecasting tools: enabling customers to align their own production lines with Howmet’s manufacturing schedule
Instant visibility for customer service: reducing the need for phone/email queries
The portal saves 5–10 hours per week in customer service effort (~£13,000 per year). More importantly, it transformed the sales team’s role:
“Instead of answering calls to check lead times, our staff are making calls to get new orders. We are undertaking proactive customer engagement instead of reactive query handling.”
Continuous Testing & Global Collaboration
Over the course of the project, Clear worked with multiple international teams:
- Design & testing cycles ensured functionality matched the needs of both engineers and distributors.
CRM Integration: US customer forms were connected to QuickBase via JotForm, streamlining lead capture and reducing manual admin. - Ongoing UX Reviews: The HFS site and portal are regularly refined to stay aligned with customer needs.
This iterative, collaborative approach ensured the final solutions were not just functional, but transformational.
Design Transformation
saved in the Husk Catalogue
saved in the Customer Portal
total annualised savings
in project value delivered over 5 years
Ongoing Collaboration
Our partnership with Howmet is not a one-off build — it’s a long-term digital transformation that continues to evolve as their business and customer needs change. Clear remains on retainer with both the UK and US teams, working closely with stakeholders across Germany and Australia to ensure consistency across global operations.
Magento Support & Development
We provide continuous technical support for Howmet’s Magento platform, handling updates, security patches, and bespoke feature development. This ensures the site remains stable, secure, and scalable while enabling Howmet to roll out new product data and digital tools without disruption.
Customer Portal Enhancements
The customer portal continues to evolve as adoption grows. Clear has expanded delivery forecasting, refined account dashboards, and improved visibility of pricing tiers and stock allocation. These enhancements make it easier for customers to plan production and for sales teams to work with accurate, real-time information.
UX Reviews & Mobile Optimisation
We conduct ongoing UX reviews and testing across the HFS Industrial site and product selectors. A/B testing and workshops with customer-facing teams ensure that friction points are identified and resolved quickly. With many engineers accessing the platform on mobile devices, mobile-first design improvements remain a core focus.
Global Coordination
We act as a digital partner across Howmet’s international operations, aligning strategies between teams in the UK, US, Germany, and Australia. We balance the need for a unified platform with regional flexibility, while providing documentation and training to support Howmet’s in-house teams.
Future Roadmap
Looking ahead, Clear and Howmet are exploring advanced distributor tools, API-led real-time stock integrations, and improved multi-language functionality. These developments will strengthen Howmet’s ability to serve a global customer base while maintaining efficiency and scalability.
