The future of manufacturing: Configurators as the key to increasing efficiency

Author: Matthias Baumgartner

The manufacturing industry has taken a big step toward digitization in recent years. It is not only the Covid-19 pandemic that has contributed to the acceleration of digital projects in manufacturing companies in order to increase operational efficiency. Topics such as the shortage of skilled workers, climate neutrality, internationalization or competitiveness, also play an important role in corporate development and operational efficiency enhancement.

Configurators drive digital transformation by addressing customer needs and the performance of products and services.

Challenges in the manufacturing industry

• The manufacturing industry faces several challenges in the production of multi-variant products. In addition to increasing productivity, maintaining quality and the greatest possible flexibility, costs are to be reduced at the same time, and inventories and delivery times are to be kept as low as possible.
• Shortage of skilled workers and high staff turnover require lean and simple processes in sales.
• Sales staff should be able to sell the product or service successfully without months of training.
• The production of multi-variant products requires a high degree of adaptability and efficiency in order to fulfill the different orders on time and at low cost.
   

To achieve certain goals, these two concepts should be effective:

Make to Order

This means that the products are individually adapted to customer requirements, but also that delivery times are longer than with stock production. Make to order is often used in industries where products are not standardized, such as mechanical and plant engineering.

Advantages of Make to Order

• No warehousing costs for end products
• No sales risk for unsold products
• Higher customer satisfaction and differentiation

Disadvantages of Make to Order

• High planning and coordination effort for manufacturing and procurement
• Risk of delivery delays or quality defects
• Higher demands on the flexibility and qualifications of employees

Mass Customization 

is a concept that combines the advantages of mass production with the individualization of products. This means that customers:inside can design their products according to their own wishes and needs, while manufacturers benefit from the economies of scale, automation and efficiency of mass production. Mass customization is a way to stand out from the competition, increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs. Mass customization is applied in many industries, such as textiles, footwear, furniture or food.

Two examples of this:

• Mymuesli is a company that offers individually composed organic mueslis. Customers can create their own muesli mix from around 80 ingredients, which are then freshly produced and delivered. The packaging can also be personalized, for example with a name or photo.
• KPM - königliche Porzellanmanufaktur from Berlin is a well-known brand for high-quality porcelain tableware, which can also be personalized.

Customers can specify a monogram or text, as well as upload their own photo, which will be hand-painted on the mug or cup. The personalized to-go mugs are thereby a popular gift for friends or family.

In order to successfully implement mass customization, suitable strategies, methods and tools are required that enable the product variants to be defined, structured, managed and produced. One important tool, for example, is a product configurator that allows customers to assemble their product online from various options.

It is not only in mass customization that a configurator has proven its worth in overcoming challenges in the production of variant-rich products. By using a product configurator (often at the beginning of the sales & manufacturing chain) the following advantages can arise:
 

5 Advantages of using a configurator for manufacturing

1. Customer satisfaction through customized options: Product combinations and options are digitally mapped and presented to customers via a configurator. The customer can then select a combination or adapt it to his or her own requirements using the options.
2. Customize requirements: Meaningful customer guidance in the configurator reduces the need for time-consuming consultations and follow-up activities. It can also be used to define important information for quotation generation and order creation at an early stage. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and increases completion rates.
3. Increase process security, minimize errors: A configurator can help ensure security in planning and configuration management by using predefined rules for permissible configurations and binding prices. This reduces the risk of human error and eliminates the cost of any rework that may be required.
4. Automated processes run in the background: A configurator streamlines digital planning and configuration management processes by running automated processes in the background. This saves time and resources, as creating production orders without the use of digital tools is often tedious and error-prone.
5. Flexibility: Today's customers demand solutions that are tailored to their specific needs. Companies can stand out from the competition and delight their customers by offering personalized products.
6. Increasing efficiency: With configurators, companies can digitally represent product knowledge and business models and thus increase their operational efficiency. This leads to a simplification of processes and a saving of time and resources.

Best practice for increasing efficiency in manufacturing with the help of configurators

BBQ-Kitchen

BBQ-Kitchen specializes in the production of outdoor kitchens with modular design and sells its products throughout Europe through distributors. The distributors are also responsible for the delivery and assembly of the outdoor kitchen to the end customer. One component of the kitchen is the countertop, which is custom-made from Dekton to fit the modular kitchen.

Requirement: The production of these Dekton countertops should be handled regionally (lower transport costs, shorter supply chains, better availability, no warehousing at the producer,...).

Solution: All distributors can access a web-based configurator. The stored customer configuration serves as the basis for this. The distributor has additional functions in his view. One function is the creation of a dimensional drawing of the worktop including all technical requirements for the regional supplier.

Configuration in 3D and the resulting automated drawing creation for the Dekton countertop with details for the sink, among other things.

Without the configurator, this step would always have to be done manually. The standardization in the configuration tool eliminates errors and ensures that every dealer delivers the same qualitative result to the customer.
 

Molto Luce

Initial situation: Molto Luce produces and sells high-quality luminaires for a wide range of applications. One area is profile systems. In addition to the configuration of technical features, the system also allows the design to be created with straight profiles, corners, ring profiles and the placement of light inserts.

Requirement: Interactive option for planning an individual linear luminaire system including resulting data preparation for production.

Solution: Customers and sales staff use the configurator to design the luminaires in terms of equipment and design. In addition to interactive planning in 2D and 3D visualization, the configurator provides information that is calculated in real time:

• System dimensions
• Profiles dimensions
• Light elements
• Optical covers

Once the configuration is complete, a number of downloads are available for use in the further sales and manufacturing process:

• Assembly instructions for the respective system from Pollex incl. warnings
• STL-file
• Cutting legend (as .PDF, .DW, .DXF) with the articles of the profiles and cuttings for production or for information purposes
• Installation folder PDF with all relevant information for configuration
• General data
• Scope of delivery including article numbers, dimensions divided into type of article
• Drawings for each profiles, indirect light inserts, direct light inserts, covers, accessories...
• Screenshot of 3d model

Do you also work in the manufacturing industry and would like to work even more efficiently? Maybe a configurator can help you with that. Let's have a no-obligation conversation.