VDMA Variant Management Conference 2023

IT-supported variant management for process optimization

 

Due to individual customer requirements in machine and plant engineering, many more unique products are created than series products. As a result, the number of variants and their complexity are constantly increasing. This represents an increasing challenge for companies. With IT-supported variant management in the form of a product configurator, every customer requirement and every variant can be put together quickly and individually. Quality, costs and delivery dates remain controllable and processes can be optimized.

For many companies in the mechanical engineering sector, this is still a long way off. According to a survey conducted at the 11th VDMA Conference 2022, 74 percent of the participants surveyed said they would expand their IT-supported variant management in the next one to three years. End-to-end data collection, data consolidation and efficient processing were cited as key success factors.

The following questions are in focus: How are variant management systems introduced technically and organizationally? How can all project participants be involved in the change process? What functions and powers does the project management need to have? The conference will show how the consistent use of data can release potentials that enable long-lasting products to be supported professionally and cost-effectively throughout the entire product life cycle. This generates long-term customer satisfaction and thus a decisive competitive advantage.

In the context of the VDMA conference Variant Management on March 07, 2023, these aspects will be addressed and substantiated by practical presentations as well as their successful implementation. In the accompanying exhibition, Lino will present its 3D configuration solutions Tacton CPQ, Tacton Design Automation for Solidworks or Autodesk Inventor, as well as associated visualization and integration products Made by Lino®.

Target Group

Management as well as responsible persons from the areas of development and design, production, sales, product management, purchasing and IT

Agenda

Starting at 09:00
Registration and exhibition opening
10:00 – 10:15
Welcome and introduction - Thomas Riegler, Software and Digitalization Association, VDMA, Frankfurt am Main
10:15 – 10:45
Master Data Management (MDM) - Application- and target group-specific configuration of products - Arndt Schieb, Head of Consulting at GAL Digital GmbH, Hungen-Obbornhofen: Variant management via intelligent links & rules and application- and target group-specific product packages.
10:45 – 11:15
FROM FOG TO CLOUD - THE WAY TO IT-SUPPORTED VARIANT CONFIGURATION - STEFAN HÖTZINGER, DIRECTOR ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, SCHEUCH GMBH, AUROLZMÜNSTER/AUSTRIA: PREPARING THE PORTFOLIO FOR VARIANT CONFIGURATION WITH DATA ANALYTICS; MAKING CONFIGURATION POSSIBLE ON THE PRODUCT SIDE WITH A MODULAR SYSTEM; ALIGNING THE ORGANIZATION WITH THE IT-SUPPORTED HANDLING PROCESS.
11:15 – 11:45
Coffee break & visit of the exhibition
11:45 – 12:15
Digitization consistently implemented, in products, data, configuration and engineering - Gerd Schüler, Senior Vice President Process and Quality Management, Lenze SE, Aerzen: Individualized product and manufacturing data on demand for configurable, highly variant products; cloud and information architecture for the provision of all relevant data to the customer; interaction of product configuration, data provision and data supply in a hosted cloud solution.
12:15 – 12:45
From model to digital twin - generative creation of engineering data - Norbert Kohl, Sales Support Tool Manager, Siemens AG, Amberg: data creation with CAD gen and data generation; 3D configurator; interaction data creation with product configurator
12:45 - 13:45
Lunch and visit of the exhibition
13:45 – 14:15
Accelerate processes from sales to production with 3D visualization and digitalized quotation process - Erik Spahlinger, Team Leader PLM/ CPQ, E. Zoller GmbH & Co. KG, Pleidelsheim: Offer products reliably and accelerate sales with 3D visualization of the configuration; professional, digitalized quotation preparation is made possible, saving time and money; a simple and comprehensible presentation of the complex product portfolio is made possible.
14:15 – 14:45
CPQ - Quotation Creation at Doppelmayr Ropeways - Philipp Steurer, IT Administrator, Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH, Wolfurt/Austria: Different product designs; project categorization; planning parameters.
14:45 – 15:15
Coffee break and visit of the exhibition
15:15 – 15:45
Challenges and potentials in the operationalization of ERP-supported and -integrated variant management - Matthias Reumerman, IT Manager, Vecoplan AG, Bad Marienberg: Procedure for identifying the stakeholders of ERP-supported variant management and (organizational) integration of these into the ERP project; Analysis of the requirements from the perspective of the identified stakeholders: Change Project; Challenges and benefits of integrating variant management with the business processes in the ERP
15:45 – 16:15
INTELLIGENT VARIANT MANAGEMENT + CPQ: MANAGE HIGH VARIANT DIVERSITY INTUITIVELY & OFFER HIGHLY COMPLEX PRODUCTS QUICKLY, CORRECTLY AND CONVINCINGLY - CHRISTIAN EICKMANNS, HEAD OF INTERNAL SALES, WOMA GMBH, DUISBURG: REASONS AND INTERNAL REQUIREMENTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF A FULLY INTEGRATED VARIANT MANAGEMENT & CPQ SOLUTION; TECHNOLOGY & SALES - THE PERFECT SYMBIOSIS FOR A SUCCESSFUL OFFER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WITH PRODUCT CONFIGURATION; WHY EFFICIENT VARIANT MANAGEMENT DELIVERS POSITIVE EFFECTS ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.
16:15 – 16:30
Summary and farewell - Thomas Riegler
16:30
Estimated end

* all dates are in CET