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DriveWorks Product Configurator Solution


Evolving B2B buyer habits and expectations have led to an increased demand for complex configured products, often purchased online. The 2024 McKinsey B2B Pulse Survey revealed that e-commerce is the leading B2B sales channel in terms of revenue generation, usage, and effectiveness. The survey found that 73% of B2B buyers are willing to spend more than $50,000 online, up from 59% in 2022. And 39% are willing to spend more than $500,000, up from 28% in 2022. These figures highlight the growing importance of e-commerce as a key driver of revenue growth for many manufacturers.

For manufacturers of custom products, enabling sales teams, distributors, and customers to accurately configure and visualize products is key for business growth. Whether it’s customers self-serving online or sales reps closing the deal, a product configurator solution makes it easy to accurately configure and sell complex custom products.


What is a product configurator?

A product configurator is an interactive digital tool that enables sales teams and customers to customize and visualize products in 2D or 3D directly on a website or mobile device. Product configurators equip sales teams and distributors with guided-selling tools, making it easier for them to sell complex custom products. They also enable B2B buyers to self-serve custom products online.

Product configurators with 3D technology also enable users to rotate, zoom, and change various product features in real-time. This technology is beneficial for manufacturers of custom products where meeting specific product needs is key.


DriveWorks product configurator solution

Manufacturing custom products doesn’t have to be complicated. A DriveWorks product configurator solution enables you to make selling easier, reduce errors, and improve efficiency with these powerful features:

Guided selling

Enable your customers to configure their product selection, get instant quotes, accurate delivery dates, and self-serve their purchase with little or no input from sales.

  • Guide your customers to the correct buying decision based on their needs and budget
  • Identify upsell opportunities to promote higher-value products and suitable add-ons
  • Make it easy for sales teams and distributors to accurately sell complex custom products

Configure on any device, anywhere

Enable sales teams, distributors, and customers to configure custom products on any device, anywhere. Streamline processes and communication between sales and manufacturing to reduce costs, errors, and lead time.

  • Create a responsive configurator, optimized for all browsers and devices
  • Embed the configurator into your website to enable customers to configure and order products anytime
  • Set up intelligent workflows and control users and security

Interactive 3D visualization

Enhance customer understanding and shorten your sales cycle by communicating design details with interactive 3D visualizations.

  • Communicate complex designs easily using interactive 3D
  • Import existing 3D models and geometry. DriveWorks supports files in .stl, .obj, .gtlf, .gtlb, .iam, .ipt, .par, .psm and .asm formats
  • View products in immersive Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

Seamless integration

DriveWorks integrates seamlessly with your other company systems enabling accurate pricing, inventory management, accurate lead times, and delivery schedules.

  • Pull information from your existing company data or CRM system
  • Pass data to other company systems
  • Built-in SOLIDWORKS PDM integration and the ability to automate MBD and CAM

Automatically create sales and manufacturing documents

Order-specific sales and manufacturing documents are created automatically. Set up templates that match your company branding.

  • Create Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PDF, HTML, XML, and text files
  • Automatically send emails with generated documents and approval drawings attached
  • Create BOMs, cut lists, and supporting documents for manufacturing

Transform your business with a DriveWorks product configurator

Improved customer experience

As an increasing number of B2B customers want to buy online, the ability to deliver a superior customer buying experience becomes crucial. Enabling an easy purchase process with a product configurator, significantly enhances the customer experience. Buyers can visualize their customizations in real-time, giving them confidence in their choices and reducing the guesswork associated with custom orders.

Increased sales

By equipping sales teams with guided selling tools and enabling customers to see exactly what they are purchasing, sales conversion rates are higher. The ability to visualize the final product reduces buyer hesitation and increases the likelihood of completing a purchase. This can directly impact your sales and bottom line.

Reduced return rates

One of the biggest challenges in custom manufacturing is the high rate of returns as a result of unmet customer expectations. A DriveWorks product configurator solution provides a clear and accurate representation of the final product, helping to align customer expectations with reality. This transparency can significantly reduce return rates, saving your business time and resources.

Streamlined production

With a DriveWorks product configurator you can also streamline your quoting and production process with the automatic creation of order-specific sales and manufacturing documents. This reduces errors and ensures that every product is made to the exact customer requirements. This not only improves production accuracy but also speeds up the manufacturing process.


Winning more orders and providing great customer service with a DriveWorks product configurator

Karpen Steel, based in North Carolina, USA, manufactures custom doors and frames. They complete many small, one-off orders and pride themselves on delivering quality products. Due to the extent of the technical data involved, the processes previously used to track and verify each order were slow and error-prone.

They started using DriveWorks to streamline their custom order process without compromising on quality and accuracy.

Karpen Steel have implemented a DriveWorks configurator that uses guided selling to lead the user through the order process, showing only required inputs and fields relevant to the selected product line. As DriveWorks automates the generation of CAD data, the customer service team is now using DriveWorks’ powerful 3D capabilities, without the need for any SOLIDWORKS training.

Their engineering team is freed up from simple, repetitive tasks to focus on more critical product aspects. After the product has been specified, documentation is sent to both the customer and the workshop. The documents also contain images specific to the order details such as the frame profile, hardware locations, and door vision light size.

Visual feedback when completing the order forms, including images, pop-up warnings and instructions, helps to catch errors before an order is progressed to the next stage. This minimizes the number of times orders must be returned to customer services due to incomplete or inaccurate information. The automatic generation of documents further optimizes the process, eliminating potential errors. Any required changes can be quickly identified before reaching the shop floor.


The operation has become slicker and more efficient, enabling Karpen Steel to concentrate on winning more orders and providing great customer service.



DriveWorks product configurators in action

DriveWorks product configurator software is used by companies of all sizes. It’s suitable for any industry where quotes or 2D or 3D files and drawings are part of the sales-manufacturing process. Our configurator examples show how versatile and customizable DriveWorks is and provide great inspiration for your sales strategy.