Manufacturers of custom products are under pressure to deliver orders faster. Customers expect shorter lead times, quick responses to inquiries, and products configured to their exact specifications. Traditional sales and manufacturing processes struggle to keep pace with these requirements, leading to bottlenecks and errors.
DriveWorks enables manufacturers to deliver custom products faster by automating repetitive design tasks, streamlining product configuration, accelerating quote generation, and connecting sales, engineering, and production processes. Manufacturers use DriveWorks design automation, 3D product configurator, and CPQ solutions to reduce lead times, improve efficiency, and win more deals.
Why is it difficult to deliver custom products quickly?
Custom products require additional design work, configuration validation, models & drawings, and approvals, all done before production begins. Each manual step increases the amount of time from customer inquiry to delivery.
Common reasons for long lead times include:
- Repetitive engineering tasks
- Manual product configuration
- Extended communications between sales and engineering teams
- Slow quote turnaround times
- Design errors that need rework
- Slow approval workflows
This can make it difficult for manufacturers to respond quickly to customer inquiries and can result in lost sales opportunities.
How can manufacturers deliver custom products faster?
Manufacturers can reduce lead times by automating the processes involved in configuring, designing, quoting, and preparing products for production.
Manual processes
Manufacturers relying on manual processes see:
- Longer quote turnaround times
- Engineering bottlenecks
- Increased risk of errors
- Delays moving jobs into production
Automated processes
With DriveWorks, manufacturers can:
- Generate designs automatically
- Configure products using predefined rules
- Automatically produce quotes, manufacturing documents, and data
- Move from inquiry to production more efficiently
How DriveWorks reduces lead times for custom products
DriveWorks is used by manufacturers all over the world to deliver custom products faster with:
Faster design generation
Generate custom product designs in minutes, not hours or days.
Fewer engineering bottlenecks
Automation reduces reliance on engineering resources for “same but different” product designs.
Improved design consistency
Every design follows predefined engineering rules, reducing errors and minimizing rework.
Streamlined product configuration
Guided selling and 3D visualization streamline product configuration and ensure accuracy.
Faster quote turnaround
Accurate quotes are automatically generated, reducing back-and-forth communication between sales and engineering.
Improved sales efficiency
Sales teams have more time to focus on selling and waste less time on sales and quoting admin.
What are the benefits of shorter lead times?
Automating processes and reducing lead times can help manufacturers:
- Win more deals
- Improve customer satisfaction
- Respond to inquiries faster
- Improve operational efficiency
- Increase distributor sales
- Stay ahead of the competitions
Reducing lead times with DriveWorks
We’ve dramatically reduced our engineering time, saving at least one full day of labour per configurator request received. DriveWorks is not just an engineering automation tool, but a sales-driving and revenue generation system for our company.
Stacy Gardella
Vice President of Brand Marketing at WEATHER GUARD.
About DriveWorks
DriveWorks design automation, 3D product configurator, and CPQ solutions enable manufacturers of custom products to design and sell customer products faster and with greater accuracy. DriveWorks is sold worldwide and supported locally by authorized resellers in your time zone.