Configured Item Analysis

You need to understand the product and manufacturing processes. To assist you in better understanding the product and manufacturing processes, perform extensive data gathering and product analysis.

To understand the manufactured product, gather and review sales and marketing materials. Determine the way in which the sales and marketing team understands the features, options, and final product. What is presented to the customer?

Review engineering drawings and bills of material. Also, review manufacturing routings for manufactured items and assemblies (features, options, final product). Determine how the engineering and manufacturing teams view the product. How is the product defined and manufactured?

Conduct interviews with people from sales and marketing, sales order entry, procurement, manufacturing, assembly, and engineering to better define and understand the features, options, final assembled product, and the relationships between these components. Determine whether everyone has the same understanding of the product, and if not, clarify discrepancies.

Before you work with a configurator, ensure that you can answer these questions about the configured items:

• How do the customers order the configured item?

• How will you price the configured item?

• Which features and options make up the configured items?

• Which routings do the configured items require?

• Which calculations are required to support prices, features, options, components, and routing steps?

The answers to these questions (and similar questions that arise) help you determine which features and options to consider for possible inclusion in the configured items that you intend to make available to the customers. You will also have solid information from which to develop the best strategy for assembling the configured items. Determining the strategy for assembling configured items can save time during the initial system setup and facilitate subsequent adjustments.