Salami or ham? With onions or mushrooms? And the question of all questions: pineapple - yes or no? We've probably all ordered a pizza and therefore know that just a few ingredients result in countless variations.
Variety sounds good - but it quickly becomes confusing. And this is where the challenges of variant configuration begin.
In the industrial environment, it's not about topped dough patties, but generally about components, modules, machines or production systems with many variants. However, the basic principle remains the same: Customers want advice and choice, companies need methodology and structure.
In this article, we explain exactly how variant management helps with this and why it is a real competitive factor today.
Personal preferences and requirements are not just limited to the choice of lunch. Machine and plant construction also requires customised special solutions. Complexity is increasing significantly and manual processing is becoming ever more complex and expensive. Today, industrial companies must be able to design and manufacture products and solutions very efficiently and effectively, even as customised items.
If companies succeed in developing, marketing and manufacturing unique products at costs and prices that are comparable with standard solutions, they can secure or even expand their market share in a globalised environment.
These challenges have made the modularisation of products and the extensive automation of processes from development and sales to production and services an absolute necessity today. Only in this way can the best possible fulfilment of individual customer requirements be successful and profitable.
An end-to-end variant management system is the ideal toolbox for meeting the increasing demand for customised solutions, or even profiting from it. Innovative methods and tools support the creation of customised offers and enable cost-effective production once an order has been received - for small batches and even for individual items.
Before we delve deeper, we would first like to explain the most important basic concepts of variant management. Because "not all cheese is the same", and the following levels of complexity also differ: PTO, ATO, CTO, CTO+ and ETO
PTO - Pick-to-Order
Standards enable minimum complexity
Variants are produced to stock
Products are selected independently of each other
Example: Pre-prepared pizzas are ready - we choose
ATO - Assemble-to-Order
Building blocks enable customised combinations
Dependencies between the components possible
Only sensible or technically possible combinations permitted
Example: Dough and ingredients are ready - we put it together
CTO - Configure-to-Order
Predefined range of variants using combinatorics
Very large closed solution spaces possible
Support from a configurator (set of rules) required
Example: We choose the size, ingredients and quantities (e.g. midi pizza with tomatoes, 100g cheese, 200g vegetables, 150g chicken) within the framework of rules (e.g. maximum 1500 kilocalories)
CTO+ - Configure-to-Order Plus
Configuration from modular system plus customisation
Unlimited open solution spaces, special requests possible
Configurator enables the customer's special requests to be recorded
Example: We would like a special sauce developed and prepared for us (e.g. tomato, garlic, chocolate, chilli)
ETO - Engineer-to-Order
Highest complexity: solutions must be newly developed
Maximum customisation, almost anything is possible
Manufacturing work drives up expenses and costs
Digitalisation and automation necessary for profitability
Example: Special baguettes to match the theme of a birthday party
These simplified examples show: The more individual the customer requirements, the more complex the variant management - and this requires modularised products and end-to-end automated processes. Note: A very large number of product variants also results in a very large number of process variants.
Just as our pizza is an important part of our lunch and contributes to our daily nutrition, the complexity levels PTO, ATO, CTO, CTO+ and ETO play a decisive role in product development, sales and marketing and in customised order processing.
An integrated variant management system that orchestrates all process steps gives companies the opportunity to handle quotation and order processes error-free, quickly and cost-effectively. The result: a noticeable reduction in workload across all areas of the company.
One-off customer manufacturers, component manufacturers, machine and plant manufacturers can finally focus again and concentrate on the essentials, namely what really counts: The best possible fulfilment of individual customer requirements
The situation is very similar with pizza food: Customers combine customised pizzas and expect them to arrive on the table promptly and as requested. In the background, catering processes interlock seamlessly. Service and kitchen follow an optimised plan and carry out all activities correctly so that customers are always served delicious meals quickly and reliably.
In the next blog post, we will take a closer look at the processes that enable the digitalisation and automation of quotation preparation and order processing for small batch sizes or one-offs.
If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact us directly!
Dr Martin Peters
e-mail: martin.peters@adesso.de
