Product Configuration
Effectively Managing Product Variants
Deliver Customized Solutions Faster and More Reliably
In modern mechanical engineering, market success depends on mastering product variety. With a product configurator, complexity becomes a competitive advantage. An intelligent set of rules unites technical feasibility with commercial constraints, guiding sales teams and customers to the right variant – turning product configuration into an intuitive, efficient process.
Seamless End-to-End Workflows
Product configuration marks the first step in an automated workflow. It encompasses the intuitive selection of product specifics in sales, the automatic generation of CAD data, and the seamless integration of ERP, PDM, and CRM systems.
Modern CPQ software ties this information back into the sales process – ensuring customers receive accurate, feasible quotes that align with engineering and production.
Smart Guided Selling
Modern CPQ software replaces complex catalogs with a seamless guided-selling experience. Powered by a centralized knowledge base, CPQ (Configure Price Quote) digitizes the entire sales process, enabling sales teams to deliver personalized quotes in record time.
Interactive Selection
Based on customer requirements, the product configurator generates technically valid combinations in real time.
Visual Experience
Products come to life instantly, making configuration easier for both sales teams and customers.
Central Knowledge Base
Digitally capture your experts’ know-how and make it consistently available across departments.
Key Benefits of Product Configuration
Turn Inquiries Into Orders!
Ready to take your efficiency to the next level? Join one of our webinars to learn how we can speed up your processes or request a one-on-one consultation today!
Together, we analyze your existing workflows and identify specific opportunities for more efficient, digital processes – in a practical, structured manner and with a clear focus on measurable benefits.
- Analysis of your engineering and sales processes
- Identification of opportunities for optimization
- A clear roadmap for your digital transformation
Check it out for yourself
Webinars
Register now for our free webinar or contact an expert for a personalized consultation.
Our webinars are intended exclusively for companies within our defined target audience.
The Services that make Digital Transformation Projects a Success
Successful digital transformation isn’t achieved simply by using software. We support and advise our clients throughout the entire lifecycle—from the initial idea to stable operation.
Software for Product Configuration
Our software and solutions address the challenges that arise when industrial processes reach their limits: product variety, manual handoffs, and a lack of integration between sales, engineering, and IT.
Lino® Hub
Seamlessly connects sales, engineering, and manufacturing for end-to-end digital processes.
Seamlessly integrates CPQ, CAD, ERP, and PDM for error-free, automated data flows without media breaks.
Tacton CPQ
The constraint-based engine intuitively guides users to a technically sound solution. It significantly speeds up the quote generation process and ensures maximum price transparency through automated real-time calculations for the sales team.
Tacton Design Automation
Transforms expert knowledge into intelligent rules to automatically generate complex 3D models, drawings, and bill of materials—saving up to 90% of engineering time.
Lino® AI Agent
Intuitively captures requirements through voice input, prevents configuration errors, and connects requests directly to CAD automation and ERP systems for a seamless digital workflow.
Automate Engineering. Streamline Processes.
Digital engineering processes for mechanical and plant engineering: Automate design, product configuration, and workflows; seamlessly integrate CAD, PDM, and ERP; and accelerate sales, planning, and manufacturing—efficiently, error-free, and with future-proof connectivity.
Frequently asked questions
Knowledge Base on Configure-Price-Quote, Variant Management, and Guided Selling
This FAQ section answers key questions about digital product configuration in mechanical engineering. Learn how to configure complex variants using rules, automatically generate quotes, and better integrate sales, engineering, and manufacturing.
What does product configuration mean in mechanical engineering?
Product configuration describes the rule-based assembly of highly configurable products based on technical and commercial requirements. An intelligent system ensures that only technically valid and economically sensible combinations are offered. This makes variety manageable and turns it into a competitive advantage, especially in mechanical and plant engineering.
How does product configuration help manage product variety?
A central knowledge base stores product rules, dependencies, and constraints in a systematic way. This prevents invalid combinations and ensures that even complex product portfolios can be offered efficiently and safely.
How is visual product configuration defined?
Integrated 3D visualization on the web makes configured variants immediately visible and easy to understand. Customers experience their product interactively, which speeds up decision-making and reduces misunderstandings. Visual product configuration increases transparency and the likelihood of closing a deal.
How does product configuration support end-to-end processes?
Configuration is the starting point for an automated workflow. From product selection in sales to automatic generation of CAD data and integration into ERP, PDM, or CRM systems, a continuous process without media disruptions is created.
How does product configuration reduce errors in the quotation process?
Because every variant is validated by rules, technically invalid combinations do not arise in the first place. Manual interventions and typical coordination errors between sales and engineering are significantly reduced, which is an important building block of a zero-defect strategy.
What advantages does product configuration offer for engineering?
Automated configuration processes relieve design engineers of routine tasks. CAD data and bills of materials can be generated automatically, which shortens lead times and allows specialists to focus on innovative development work.
Is product configuration also possible in special-purpose machine building?
Yes. Product configuration does not mean that a product has to be defined 100 percent in advance. Configure-to-order (CTO) and engineering-to-order (ETO) processes can be intelligently combined (also called CTO(+)). On the one hand, even very complex machines can be designed automatically via rule-based design automation and, if necessary, only need manual review. On the other hand, for example, 90 percent of the product knowledge can be stored in the design automation rule set, while the remaining 10 percent of special adaptations are created manually in CAD.
How does guided selling work in product configuration?
Instead of complex catalogs, a digital rule set guides the user step by step to the optimal product variant. Based on the customer’s requirements, the system generates not only technically valid options in real time, but also the best-suited variant (also called needs-based configuration). Sales and customers receive a clear, structured selection without misconfigurations.
For which companies is product configuration particularly useful?
Product configuration is ideal for companies with complex, highly configurable products. As soon as individual customer requirements occur on a regular basis, a digital configuration solution sustainably increases efficiency, data quality, and sales velocity.