Lot Size 1 as the Expected NormConfigit CLM Summit

Configuration Lifecycle Management continues to grow and mature in the market. As the journey from vision to practice gains traction and followers, the lessons learned are being incorporated into new processes and practices.

This presentation will further look at trends in the ongoing digital transformation of manufacturing and discuss how they relate to the development of CLM.

No two tall buildings are exactly the same, and as a result, the elevators that makes those buildings function are also not exactly the same.

thyssenkrupp Elevator is seeking to meet the needs of the architect, developer and occupants of tall buildings around the world by enabling our sales people to configure elevators to meet their needs in an efficient, timely and cost effective fashion.

Fergus will discuss the challenges that thyssenkrupp faces in Configure-to-Order/Engineer-to-Order, the process of selecting Configit, the value the solution brings and the success factors in making the solution and approach work.

AGCO, a leading global player and innovation leader in the AgriTechnology industry, started a Digital Transformation journey for their customers, dealers, and internal stakeholders.

The Digital Customer Experience Program 1.0 comprised a best-in-class, cloud-based CPQ solution, a state of the art CRM system, and data analytics for both their dealers and internal AGCO users.

By integrating portals for dealers and customers, as well as integrations to AGCO legacy systems, they were able to ease the dealer process and achieve fast, reliable offers for the farmers.

This presentation will discuss the challenges AGCO overcame, including

• Creating and managing reliable underlying data (customer, dealer, machine, parts, rules, etc.) in a scattered post-merger context
• Building a standard solution, versus a differentiated user experience, in a multi-brand environment
• Tackling the change of an on-/offshore delivery from ‘traditional’ to ‘agile’ mid-project to improve time-to-market intervals
• Managing minimally-viable product strategy, followed by further enhancements and scalability, versus perfect user experience from the beginning
• Managing complexity, completeness and correctness, versus maximum performance, scalability and offline capabilities

Developing a configuration tool for a hoist or full crane system was just the first step.

CMCO needed to raise the bar to develop a complete configuration solution. To move beyond just a configurator and create an extended sales support tool, a solution that supports the full lifecycle of the configuration and quoting experience.

Leveraging the lessons learned and partnering with Coolshop, Project Apollo drove forward the development of a tailor made, best in class application based on Configit Quote.

Personas definition, system integrations, UI design, network validation and continuous improvement to scale globally are challenges that the company is solving with Coolshop.

Adapting machines consider their environments, their usage, and possible soft- or hardware updates and shall change themselves accordingly.

This presentation will consider how configuration technologies can support this adaptation process.

The digital world is bifurcating in the way enterprises lead and prosper. Some firms use digitisation to cut cost and standardise their products and services, so they may end in a semi-automated, speed & volume focused McDonaldization.

On the other hand, there is the stairway to innovation, indicated by the growing interest in agile development, self-empowerment, and design thinking processes. Such a culture is based on the mastery of complex and highly individualised products and services (“lot size 1”). Fast Fashion or Couture? The options between these two ends of the spectrum are narrowing down, and can result in changes in how companies and workforces are structured.

Wind energy is becoming a cost competitive source of energy, even without subsidies. The result is a demand for a larger and flexible product portfolio with an accelerated time to market.

Anders T. Laursen of Vestas Wind Systems, the global leader in the wind turbine industry, will tell the story of how existing processes and applications were ineffective while the need for speed was exploding.

Laursen will share how organizational collaboration enabled Vestas to create an aligned application setup, simplifying their process flow and ensuring accountability of configuration management data.

This presentation will conclude with a brief look into Vestas’ next steps towards Enterprise Configuration Management.

CLM has emerged as a response to the proliferation of configuration capabilities and information required by traditional manufacturing companies involved in assemble-to-order manufacturing. However, there is little traditional about the new digital era of mobility.

Volvo Cars is at the forefront of the ambitious race towards hyper-intelligent and connected vehicles. This race is fueled by a steady stream of new technologies and business disruptions, all having a common denominator – software.

As manufacturing companies struggle with unifying their digital configuration capabilities, the software paradigm continues to push the boundaries of what is required to develop and execute configurable products.

In this presentation, topical challenges for CLM that are derived from the evolution in the automotive industry will be introduced, including:

• Customization in the digital era – will every product be unique?
• Intersection between product development and execution – using configuration data as a knowledge base and as a means to automate configure-to-order
• Modeling configuration spaces supporting the continuous evolution ambition in vehicle development
• Vehicles that can be re-configured anytime, anywhere

These topics spark the ultimate question:
Does the CLM vision of a single source of configuration data hold when complexity grows along both the customer and development frontiers?

A prerequisite for the digital transformation is the connectivity of assets such as tools, machines, materials and employees along the value chain. This creates a link between the real, physical world and the connected, digital world. How can we improve the commercial operations.

ABB’s Electrification business has always been at the forefront of innovative electrification and today is writing the future of safe, smart and sustainable electrification. ABB has a long history in using configurator technology to deliver customized products to its customer.

In this presentation, Massimo Signori gives an overview of the ABB Electrification e-Configure program and specifically focus on how to connect configuration knowledge across different configuration solutions from devices to complex system level configuration of enclosures.

Many of the world’s largest manufacturing companies are placing growing attention on delivering a service rather than just a product, often at higher margins.

This presentation will address the challenges around changing business models to integrate products and services in total solutions.

The CLM Platform is a unified system for accessing configuration data, pricing and products from different systems such as SAP ERP and Configit Ace through a set of standard APIs. The platform offers storage and versioning of all released data, and supports scalability and load balancing for providing high performance configuration functionality.

In this presentation, I will give an overview of the features of the CLM Platform and show examples of how to use it to build web-based configuration applications with product logic and pricing data from different sources such as SAP ERP and Configit Ace.

For Kohler Engines to scale and grow, relying on product SKUs kept in multiple systems to develop configurations was no longer an option. Kohler Engines developed and implemented a CPQ solution to capture intellectual property, improve time to quote, and align product requirements and design delivery.

In this presentation, Paolo Costantini will introduce the opportunities, benefits, lessons learned from this CPQ implementation and focus on the further steps to leverage it into a fully integrated IT-landscape.

Markets for engineered goods have undergone significant changes. The trend of greater individual fulfillment of customer needs is causing the rapid growth of variants and, as a result, increasing costs. Companies must think about creating strategies that balance this increasing complexity with meeting expectations of markets and customers.

Volker Schnittler of VDMA will discuss the mechanisms behind this rising need for product variants, and will give insight and advice on how to best manage this growing complexity.

The foundational element is an autonomous and adaptive enterprise of people, processes, and products that operate cohesively within an integrated business model. Old mind-sets, legacy processes and systems must be shifted or an organization will fail to exploit true operational excellence.

Based on a modern operating model and advanced enabling digital solutions, there will no longer be a difference between information and material because products will be dynamically linked to their application and supporting information.