Markets in which manufacturers operate are changing. Fierce global competition is leading to customer expectations of more choice and customization. To meet these demands, products are becoming more complex, offering a variety of options and configurable features that satisfy customization requirements in a cost-effective manner.

More complex products with inherent quality risks

The result is more complex products with inherent quality risks, requiring more complex testing, which in turn challenges product delivery schedules. Managing this growth in product complexity is now the major challenge that manufacturers face on their digital transformation journey.

Intuitively, one would expect the engineering department and PLM vendors to lead the charge in addressing product complexity. Scaling PLM to accommodate product configuration lifecycle management is certainly an option, but this assumes that product configuration complexity is solely an engineering concern. In fact, product configuration is a cross-functional concern as all departments from engineering to manufacturing, marketing, sales and service, require reliable and up-to-date product configuration information in order to execute their tasks efficiently.

Enable PLM systems to scale to meet the growing complexity of products Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM) enables PLM systems to scale to meet the growing complexity of products without impacting existing system installations and processes. CLM enhances existing PLM systems by providing an accurate and up-to-date status of valid product configuration options across multiple product variants and versions.

By providing this single source of configuration truth, CLM establishes a basis of close collaboration between departments, providing product designers and engineers with invaluable insight into logistic, manufacturing, marketing, sales and service challenges with expert input from other functional departments as well as supply-chain partners, vendors and even customers themselves.

Read Configit’s white paper, “How to Enhance your PLM to Effectively Manage Increasing Product Complexity,” for a closer look at how to meet growing customer demands, minimize risk of errors and get products to market faster by expanding the capacity and capability of your PLM systems with collaborative Configuration Lifecycle Management.

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