Empowering Quoting and Program Execution for Automotive Suppliers - Part 1 of 3

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Empowering Quoting and Program Execution for Automotive Suppliers - Part 1 of 3

The tiered automotive supply chain is one of the more challenging business environments in industry today.  Suppliers face mounting pressure from OEMs, competitors, and regulators alike.  Increasing product complexity, shorter program timeframes, and supply chain complexity are making it difficult to react to the latest consumer tastes and OEM requirements. These dynamics are squeezing margins tighter than ever and leave little room for error. In a recent survey (Figure 1), 65 tier one and two suppliers were asked to rank 12 activities based on their importance for helping the them stay competitive in 2017 and onward...

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Fueling the Business of Engineering for Automotive Suppliers - Part 2 of 2

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Fueling the Business of Engineering for Automotive Suppliers - Part 2 of 2

In Part 1 of this two-part series, we began by discussing how a perfect storm for inefficiencies and risk has been brewing – especially for automotive suppliers.  We identified the quoting phase and its related processes and activities as a key source of this risk as visualized by the Risk Quadrant graphic below.  To overcome these challenges, we suggested that a product lifecycle management (PLM) platform be used.  In the second part of this series, we’ll explore the value a PLM platform can provide and the specific operational activities that PLM facilitates.

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Fueling the Business of Engineering for Automotive Suppliers - Part 1 of 2

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Fueling the Business of Engineering for Automotive Suppliers - Part 1 of 2

Automotive suppliers face a combination of market forces that have created a unique business environment – an environment where uncertainty and unmitigated risk are eroding profit margins.  Why are other manufactures immune and what’s so different about automotive suppliers?  High volume production combined with product and tooling complexity create a perfect storm for uncertainty and risk.  This article deconstructs these risk factors and explores strategies and tools to calm the storm.

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Liberate Revit Data Through “Intelligent Parts” to Drive Company–Wide Efficiency

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Liberate Revit Data Through “Intelligent Parts” to Drive Company–Wide Efficiency

Join Ideate and The vdR Group as we introduce an exciting new approach to managing Revit data.  The rigid and siloed structure of Autodesk’s Revit data has been a long–time source of frustration for companies in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) space. Revit projects and family data rarely “play nice” with enterprise–wide solutions such as ERP systems, PLM software, or even simple document management. While many AEC companies have invested heavily in enterprise solutions, they have found it difficult to seamlessly harmonize those solutions with the Revit environment... 

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Model-Based Design and the Model-Based Enterprise

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Model-Based Design and the Model-Based Enterprise

What manufacturing company hasn't faced unnecessary rework, confusion on the shop floor and thus missed delivery dates? The cause can repeatedly be traced to unclear, ambiguous documentation often found in 2D drawings. Help is at hand, fortunately. An evolving solution for authoring product definition and design intent, sourced at the CAD models, is gaining recognition. 

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Investing in PLM Is No Longer an Option

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Investing in PLM Is No Longer an Option

“As it stands, companies are missing the opportunity for an $8B bottom line impact.  PLM investments could generate up to 50 percent higher returns if companies apply a sharper prioritization toward digitalization and pursue PLM programs as a means for true transformation.”  We talk with 10s of companies per week.  And the recurring theme is the same.  Companies continue to use emails, spreadsheets, and unstructured file folders ...

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An Interview with Mark Keenan, President of Technicon: Discussing Bill of Material Configuration and CPQ

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An Interview with Mark Keenan, President of Technicon: Discussing Bill of Material Configuration and CPQ

About sixteen years ago, I joined Technicon.  At that time, we came out with one of the leading CPQ products for large manufacturers in North America.  My background revolved around some of the aspects that can be associated with CPQ such as CAD and mechanical engineering.  By selling Intel products, I also got a good feel for the complexities and issues in generating quotes and the proposal process for manufacturers.  Since then, for the last sixteen years, we have been deploying systems for very large manufacturers in North America.  Companies like Eaton, Borg Warner and Phillips are Technicon customers.  Today, Technicon is a leading CPQ provider in North America. 

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Integrating CPQ with PLM

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Integrating CPQ with PLM

A common need is to manage data and support processes.  The data portion includes product data, their rules/options/constraints and associated documents such as 3D CAD used in the design automation aspect of CPQ.  For processes, this implies mechanisms to move a quote through the various functional areas of the business such as engineering, finance, manufacturing, planning, purchasing, etc.  Together, managing data and facilitating processes are the very heart of PLM.

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Applied PLM: Design Automation

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Applied PLM: Design Automation

An Interview with Scott Heide, CEO of Engineering Intent - PPLM:  Welcome, Scott.  Thank you for spending some time with us.  We are happy to have you bring additional perspective to our topic of CPQ.  Before we start, give us a quick backgrounder as well as what you are doing today.  Scott:  I started out with an interesting educational combination, both engineering and computer science degrees.  After I graduated with a master’s in science from MIT in the mid-80s, I immediately joined a company that was a pioneer in engineering automation called ICAD.  They developed the concept of what was then called “knowledge-based engineering,” now more often called “engineering automation,” and were able to deliver some eye-opening applications to a wide variety of high-end customers.

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Matching CPQ with the “To-Order” Spectrum

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Matching CPQ with the “To-Order” Spectrum

CPQ can be implemented in a range of product configuration options.  As a starter for your strategic planning, here’s a generally accepted definition of “To-Order” options that will be your strategic choices. Assemble-to-Order (ATO) – products with standard sets of predefined features and options.  The customer selects specific features and options to develop the unique product configurations.  Orders are typically processed by an ERP system, for example, computers ordered over the Internet.

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