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Variant management

Configuring individual product variants and automating order processing with adesso

Product configurations

A challenge for the industry

It’s a dilemma you’ve probably been in yourself. A large number of manufacturing companies are operating in a market that is increasingly on edge. Since the demand from customers for products that can be configured individually and purchased at a competitive price is growing, your manufacturing company has to offer more and more variants of its products. This greatly increases the complexity and cost of your planning and production, leaving you with declining profitability and lower margins.

Is variant management the solution here?

Yes, because variant management is the starting point for overcoming the complexity of products, systems and solutions for which there is a large number of variants. Good variant management, modular systems and configurable products provide assistance. Processing orders manually is often no longer cost efficient due to the constantly increasing complexity of them.

Variant management by adesso

To meet these challenges, adesso has developed an innovative and highly flexible system solution for variant management, configuration and automation in technology-oriented companies. The modular architecture is based on the latest IT technologies and enables a continuous process – from product modelling for configuration at the point of sale to the automated generation of all the required manufacturing documents – thanks to a fully integrated digital order fulfilment process. This makes variant management controllable.

What makes variant management by adesso stand out?

We draw on years of experience to provide consultation services to help you choose or implement configuration solutions, digitalise cost-intensive engineer-to-order processes, automate information flows to enable flexible manufacturing and integrate into your existing IT infrastructure.

What does adesso provide in terms of variant configuration and automation?

Configuration and automation by adesso is a unique suite of innovative system components, which allows you to model product variants, modules and frameworks. You can also use the suite to configure variants at the point of sale interactively by using the 3D view, drive digitalisation and largely automate subsequent handling processes – including engineering, work preparation/planning, production, commissioning and service.

Benefit from the advantages of variant management by adesso:

  • Ensure your project is a success thanks to the extensive experience of our teams of consultants and developers.
  • The unique usability and perfect integration of the adesso solution into your existing infrastructure makes you more efficient.
  • Reduce costs and save time through automation in engineering and work preparation.
  • Reduce complexity in core processes and minimise sources of error.
  • Benefit from the fact that the adesso solution is based on a modular IT concept and can be implemented and extended gradually.

How does adesso differ from other IT service providers?

The approach that adesso follows is unique. We combine innovative variant management methods, modular system components for variant configuration based on the latest technologies and our broad spectrum of software development and IT services to implement highly effective, tailored overall solutions for our customers.

For which industries does variant management and variant configuration offer the greatest potential?

In principle, the greatest potential can be found in technology-oriented companies from high-wage countries that (have to) offer their customers complex configurable products or product variants and at the same time want to generate high margins. This means our customers include leading manufacturers of components, machines, systems or industrial plants.

Variant management in marketing and sales

Product configurators have become an indispensable part of today’s sales team. Whether they want to customise machines or vehicles or the system for complex industrial applications configured, today’s customers expect an outstanding customer experience, coupled with the best usability possible.

This is exactly where we come in:

  • Product information in the self-service portal is always up to date and digitalisation avoids transmission errors.
  • Save time and reduce costs by involving the end customer in the configuration process in B2C.
  • Joint configuration and visualisation (supported by VR and AR, if needed) ensure successful sales calls and secure technical clarification in B2B.

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Variant management in development and design

Development and design is a key function in the manufacturing industry. This is where innovation happens and where new products are invented. However, engineering is often the bottleneck in the quotation and order process for multi-variant products.

Our approach makes the day-to-day engineering work easier and saves cost-intensive resources. The Solution Space is described and the faultless configuration of the variants is prepared during the development process. Routine tasks are gradually automated on the basis of automation templates using a workflow engine.

Specialists free up time to tackle tricky issues and can now dedicate far more of their attention on topics and activities that are fun and create value.

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Variant management in work preparation and production

Does this sound familiar? Production requires that every document be printed out for each shift, sorted and transported to the workstations on time. The work preparation department is totally occupied with obtaining information from the design department and creating parts lists, work plans, NC programs and quality forms. And on top of that, there’s the continuous change service.

In a digitalised process, a great deal of the required data and documents are created and distributed automatically for the most part. The expert teams only need to intervene at the places where automation has not yet been implemented or is not profitable.

Our variant management solutions enable a substantial increase in productivity through digitalisation and automating planning and production processes. Existing shop floor management, quality or logistics systems can be flexibly integrated.

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Questions and answers about variant management by adesso

An IT solution is only convincing if it not only supports the specialist user departments, but also impresses in terms of implementation, integration into the IT landscape and in terms of maintenance and further development. We have the answers to all of the important questions for when it comes to choosing your system.

  • It goes without saying that e-commerce solutions, CRM/ERP or even technical systems such as PLM or CAD/CAE/CAM can be connected. The open architecture of our modular configuration solution is highly flexible, making it ideally suited for connecting different individual systems and integrating seamlessly into your existing infrastructure. Our experts would be happy to arrange a consultation with you to discuss your options.

  • The aim of engineering automation is to gradually automate all of the necessary, less complex, but still time-consuming engineering tasks based on frameworks, algorithms and AI frameworks. Engineering automation combines a workflow engine, configuration/automation services and interfaces to standard engineering software. The system can be implemented gradually, saving time and money with each step and allowing engineering staff to concentrate on the really tricky and exciting tasks.

  • This depends largely on the following factors:

    • The complexity of the products and processes.
    • The existing system landscape and IT infrastructure.
    • The basic data quality.

    We would be happy to arrange an initial, no-obligation consultation with you to discuss your options and provide you with an indication of the costs.

  • As an established IT service provider, we have years of in-depth experience in software implementation and integration into existing IT infrastructures. In addition, we also have a comprehensive understanding of the industry.

  • Our configuration solution is designed in such a way that it can be extended by our customers themselves after the initial implementation. This is definitely one of the biggest advantages of our solution.

What our customers say

Well-known companies use our systems with great success. For the sake of their corporate secrecy and market strategy, many of them wish to remain anonymous. We would be happy to provide you with further information in a personal consultation.

It’s great. Up until recently, we used to work with the customer to design the systems on a whiteboard. We then used this to create a quote and a sketch in the back office. We can now do all of this easily together with the customer at their location using a tablet. The customers are really impressed by it.
Stefan, Sales Representative in mechanical engineering
I was sceptical at first and had a lot of respect for what my co-workers would say. After all, these types of systems are an indirect threat to our jobs. I have had the exact opposite experience. My colleagues are highly motivated and can finally get back to working on the tricky tasks because we have been freed from having to do the soul-destroying things.
Giselle, Development Manager
It’s fantastic. The work plans almost create themselves. I haven’t ordered printer ink in a long time either. That’s a good sign. We won’t need the printers at all soon.
Hans, Head of Work Preparation

Do you have any questions?

There is no website or broschure which can replace a personal meeting to talk about your goals and topics. We are looking forward to an appointment on site.

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