As manufacturers pave their path toward rebuilding and adapting to a new normal in the wake of COVID-19, they have embraced new technology and changed other processes and practices.
A key area in need of change for custom manufacturers and integrators is getting designs from engineering to the sales team. For many manufacturers and integrators, this is their No.1 pain point and principal operational constraint limiting their growth and recovery. Advancements in 3D configurator technology can remove bottlenecks in the design-to-order process to enable business benefits.
The business benefits are truly transfomational. The typical manufacture and integrator doubles sales within one year of using 3D configuration software. A recent webinar hosted by Machine Design and presented by Tyler Craig from IronCAD includes several compelling case studies.
New tools in 3D configuration technology allow designers and sales support engineers the ability to configure, price and collaborate with teams and customers anywhere at any time. These powerful tools help eliminate time-intensive tasks and contribute numerous improvements to the custom design process, including:
- Creating competitive solutions in hours instead of days or weeks.
- Developing 3D customized solutions using existing design data with fewer lower cost resources.
- Making customer design changes in real-time in a single meeting radically improving the customer experience and work culture.
- Conducting the whole process in a single system to avoid data recreation and duplication of work.
- There are three critical ingredients 3D configurator software must have:
- It must operate in 3D throughout the entire design cycle, from the initial meeting with the client, through the design changes, to the final design.
- It must have an easy-to-use user interface that enables quick adoption by the end-user and opens the door for lower-skilled, lower-cost resources to develop 3D solutions for customers.
- It must incorporate robust design intelligence to enable effortless assembly of complex solutions.
Custom manufacturers or integrator of custom solutions that are not currently using a 3D configurator tool would benefit from a review of modern configuration technology to receive an update on this transformation technology.