From Complexity to Clarity:
Mastering Manufacturing Challenges with
Configuration Lifecycle Management

In today’s rapidly evolving industrial landscape, manufacturers face increasing pressures to reduce time-to-market, meet customization demands, and ensure compliance across global markets. The integration of digital technologies, AI, and sustainability initiatives further intensifies these challenges, adding complexity in managing product configurations across the lifecycle.

This results in vast data volumes, with billions of variations influenced by customer preferences and regulatory standards, all requiring precise traceability, validation, and compliance. Managing these configurations efficiently while controlling costs and maintaining quality is crucial. Without streamlined processes, manufacturers risk inconsistency, inefficiency, and non-compliance, though those who can navigate this complexity gain a competitive edge.

To meet these market demands, B2B manufacturers can turn to Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM). CLM is designed to serve as a backbone for managing product-related data, rules, and configurations across the entire value stream – from engineering to manufacturing, sales, and after-sales services. It provides a centralized, up-to-date source of truth that ensures consistency and compliance across all product configurations.

CLM minimizes risk, reduces costs, and increases quality by automatically identifying the impact of changes across the product lifecycle. This approach not only streamlines the management of product variants but also enhances decision-making by providing reliable, real-time data.

The partnership between Deloitte Consulting and Configit combines deep process expertise with cutting-edge CLM technology to deliver significant benefits to manufacturers. Deloitte’s extensive experience in business process analysis and digital transformation, paired with Configit’s leading CLM solutions, ensures that clients receive a holistic, end-to-end approach to managing product configurations. Deloitte brings its expertise in integrating digital threads and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, helping organizations enhance collaboration, product compliance, and operational efficiency across complex, multi-stage product development processes.

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a digital record that centralizes product data on materials, lifecycle, and sustainability to enhance transparency and circularity. For industrial manufacturers, DPPs ensure regulatory compliance, improve traceability, and promote sustainable practices.

In the Deloitte + Configit collaboration, DPP integration tackles the challenge of managing product data across departments using different tools. By leveraging CLM, manufacturers can aggregate and synchronize various data sources, such as Bills of Materials (BOMs), material specifications, and quality assurance data, into a single, searchable source. This not only ensures compliance with regulations but also enhances the traceability of product configurations, enabling faster, more informed decision-making.

A prime example of CLM’s value is evident in the semiconductor industry, where manufacturers of complex chipmaking machines, such as those used by Samsung, TSMC, and Intel, must manage diverse customer requirements across various markets. The complexity of their products, along with performance upgrades that necessitate reconfigurations, places immense strain on their existing IT landscape, which often includes disparate systems like Teamcenter, SAP, and Salesforce CRM/CPQ.

The company’s existing processes for handling product re-configurations, upgrades, and change management were cumbersome and prone to delays. Disconnected systems and inconsistent data led to longer downtimes, increased costs, and a lack of traceability. Managing changes across departments was particularly difficult due to misaligned data and inefficient communication between teams, resulting in significant bottlenecks.

By leveraging a Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution, the company streamlined the entire re-configuration and change management process. The solution provided a unified source of truth, enabling seamless data synchronization across departments, from engineering to sales. This integration drastically reduced downtime, improved traceability, and ensured that every product variation was compliant at all stages.

With the ability to handle product changes dynamically, the company saw faster response times and enhanced flexibility. CLM’s automated change tracking and validation tools reduced errors and rework, further lowering operational costs and boosting overall efficiency.

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a major transformation, fueled by digital technologies, AI and the need for greater efficiency and sustainability. Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM) is key to helping manufacturers tackle these challenges, offering a solution that not only addresses today’s complexities but also prepares them for the future. With CLM, manufacturers can reduce time-to-market, improve product quality, and lower operational costs. By integrating data across the product lifecycle, Deloitte and Configit enable smarter, faster decisions that drive compliance and innovation.

In an increasingly complex world, the Deloitte-Configit partnership provides a proven path to success, helping manufacturers streamline configurations and ensure compliance across global markets.