Product lifecycle management (PLM) has primarily been linear – product design and engineering were followed by manufacturing, service, and finally disposal. But linear PLM in the traditional sense is outdated, basically due to today’s more and more competitive and fast-paced markets. An increasing demand for product individualization, shortened design cycles, and the growth of Internet of Things (IoT) networks are all challenging manufacturers and their traditional processes. In particular today’s digitalization means that personalization and individualization are key – not only in consumer-driven markets such as automotive or footwear, but also in industrial markets like mill products or aerospace, where customization is achieved through software-enabled configuration.
To be ahead of their competitors, manufacturers need to accept that Live Engineering is real – and adapt their processes accordingly. They need to understand customer demands, efficiently and instantly, in order to produce the huge variety of individualized products (lot-size 1 products) their customers may require. They also need to recognize that and how their product design affects end-to-end processes, so they can adopt and deploy the digital product innovation platform that best suits their needs. We are sure that manufacturers will find out during deployment that only
Variant Configuration with
SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics will be the innovation platform of their choice – that by adopting it they make Live Engineering their own reality. Check SAP's new
product video for details.
