Benefits of integrating CPQ for Manufacturing and PLM

Definitions

PLM

Product Lifecycle Management. A strategic approach to managing the entire lifecycle of a product from inception, through engineering design and manufacturing, to service and disposal. PLM integrates people, processes, business systems, and information to facilitate collaboration and improve product innovation, quality, and time-to-market.

PLM software manages all stages of a product’s lifecycle, from conceptualization to design, production, maintenance, and eventual disposal. It acts as a hub for product data, streamlining communication across different departments and enhancing decision-making processes.

CPQ

Configure, Price, Quote. In manufacturing, CPQ refers to software solutions that streamline the configuration, pricing, and quoting processes for complex and customizable products. These solutions help manufacturers and their sales teams quickly and accurately generate quotes for products that may have numerous customizable options, features, and configurations.

CPQ for Manufacturing (CPQM)

CPQM software helps companies sell and manufacture complex configurable products accurately and efficiently. CPQM applications include all the features of standard configure, price, quote (CPQ) tools but can also automatically create the documents and data required for manufacturing. 

Integrating PLM with CPQ

Linking PLM with CPQ closes the gap between product development/engineering and sales and creates a single source of truth for all product data. Connecting a PLM system with a CPQ solution guarantees that the sales team can access accurate and up-to-date product details, such as configurations and specifications, directly from PLM. This ensures that the quotes produced by CPQ reflect accurate, manufacturable configurations. For CPQM solutions, such as DriveWorks, this also includes the automatic generation of accurate BOMs. 

Improved product and pricing accuracy

Ensures sales configurations are always based on the latest product designs, specifications, and parts/components availability. Associated pricing is more accurate as it’s calculated from up-to-date materials and production costs.

Increased efficiency

Streamlines the flow of information between product development, sales, design engineering, and production. This reduces time-to-quote and time-to-market. A seamless flow of accurate product data between teams means that products can be configured, sold, produced, and delivered in the shortest possible time.

Improved compliance

Guarantees that all possible product configurations comply with the latest regulatory standards, as set in the PLM. Only valid and compliant configurations are available in CPQ, ensuring all custom products are compliant.  

Improved customer experience

With the provision of accurate and up-to-date product data in a configurator, customers can easily configure custom products themselves, even highly customizable products. This improves customer loyalty, strengthens trust, and increases customer satisfaction.

BOM accuracy

With up-to-date product information coming from the PLM system directly to the CPQ system, automatically generated BOMs are accurate and current. DriveWorks CPQ for Manufacturing automatically creates MBOMs for manufacturing teams, EBOMs for engineering teams and SBOMs for service stakeholders. 

Conclusion

From streamlining data flow and reducing time-to-market to improving accuracy and ensuring compliance, integration enables organizations to operate more efficiently and effectively in today’s competitive marketplace.  

Integrating PLM and CPQ systems offers a range of benefits that can transform product development and sales processes for custom products. From streamlining data flow and improving accuracy and ensuring compliance, integration enables businesses to operate more efficiently and effectively.