As customer demands for more customization and choice increase, the complexity of products and associated product design, manufacturing, and sales processes also increase. Product life cycles are also getting shorter, requiring a constant flow of new products with high-value features and capabilities.
This challenges product design and engineering processes to become leaner, faster, and more inclusive. Addressing and managing complexity is a key success factor. The challenge can be tackled using a three-pronged approach that includes increased collaboration, greater integration, and the use of a configuration life-cycle management system.
Integrating key IT systems
One of the most significant hindrances to companies today is their siloed systems. You might have a product life-cycle management (PLM) system in the engineering department, a customer relationship management (CRM) system on the sales side, and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system on the manufacturing side. These different systems often don’t talk to one another.
A fundamental challenge is that all of these different functions must have a consistent view of the product they’re producing; they need to be aligned. But that doesn’t often happen. One of the fundamental challenges is to make sure that these different functions are all aligned and able to see what product options can be offered in different markets.
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