Developing a capability to configure, price and quote for every custom order is definitely a need of the hour, and this requires manufacturers to adopt a robust CPQ solution that solves the exact purpose of keeping business processes efficient while enhancing guided selling for customers.
Kashyap Vyas | Hi-Tech CADD Services
Configurable products are certainly the norm today. We all have probably seen or even utilized configurators to customize the look of cars, or select the paint on walls. This capability is increasingly being demanded in a B2B environment too, especially by manufacturing companies. This need is essentially due to a trend within customers or distributors who prefer to ask for prices online, for the choice of configured product that they are seeking to buy.
Developing a capability to configure, price and quote for every custom order is definitely a need of the hour, and this requires manufacturers to adopt a robust CPQ solution that solves the exact purpose of keeping business processes efficient while enhancing guided selling for customers.
A CPQ system such as DriveWorks makes it easy for the customers to specify their needs and for the manufacturer to quickly provide them with accurate quotes. If your process of quote generation isn’t easy or takes too much time, the customer is likely to move to your competitor, and you may end up losing the business.
Is CPQ Solution Fit for Me?
CPQ is applicable for those who manufacture products that fall into the category of “same but different”. These products though have different design configurations; the overall design is likely the same. The tool is extremely helpful to manufacturing companies who are working on improving mass customization strategies.
A CPQ is fit for your business if:
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You are losing contracts due to an inability to generate accurate quotes at the right time
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The lead time is too long and your engineers are occupied doing repetitive design tasks
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Your dealer network is wide spread or you have a mobile sales team
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You are not able to bring new products in the market as you spend more time in designing standard product offerings
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You are looking to differentiate yourself from the competition
Where Does CPQ fit in My Business?
CPQ solutions like DriveWorks can be implemented across most of the business processes. For internal manufacturing department, DriveWorks can generate drawings and technical documentation for each custom order. For sales team or a dealer network, the tool can provide web based interface where they can easily configure and generate quote for the customers. For the end-customer, DriveWorks makes it easy to engage with product he is buying. With an interactive 3D graphics, the online configurator can be accessed anywhere and on any device. Customers can get the information on pricing and order the product securely. The tool also can be integrated with existing ERP systems to pull the data and generate models, drawings and quotes instantly.
How Do I Implement CPQ Solution?
Implementing a CPQ solution such as DriveWorks can certainly consume time and involves a proper planning and engineering experience, in order to ensure that the solution works in your favor. Implementation can be handled by your own teams or by an external support from authorized service partners, who can assist in capturing the product knowledge, establish standard rules and automate the design and sales processes. Our team at Hi-Tech has been helping companies to implement DriveWorks and gain significant competitive edge over their competitors. Reach out to us to discuss your business goals and let us help you take your CPQ solution off-the ground.
A Case in Point: Metal Door Manufacturing
Let’s take the case of a metal door manufacturing business. The door design although remains overall the same, there are few options or configurations available, such as length, width, type of core, color, locking mechanism, etc. Thus each door manufacturing order will be different, requiring specific design information to develop accurate quote.
The engineers then end up spending most of their time designing the same thing, which is then evaluated to determine the quote. The entire process consumes lot of time and often results in quote inaccuracies and delayed shipments.
Implementing a CPQ solution such as DriveWorks for this case can significantly bring down non-productive hours and enable the sales team to generate accurate quotes for each custom door order. It further automates model and drawings development to free up engineers from doing repetitive tasks.
About Kashyap Vyas
Kashyap Vyas is an Engineer at Hi-Tech CADD Services and holds a Master’s degree in Thermal Engineering with several research papers to his credit. He covers CAD and CAE topics for the engineering industry. His contributions are primarily focused on encouraging manufacturers and suppliers to adopt virtual product development tools to build efficient products with reduced time-to-market.
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of ManufacturingTomorrow
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