Engineering - where it all begins
Engineering is an important department within manufacturing companies. Discover how to reduce your development cost and work closer together with other departments.
Engineering - where it all beginsThere is no denying that engineering is an important department within manufacturing companies. Product creation starts within engineering, and every decision made in the design phase influences the following processes and departments – sometimes even in unforeseen ways,
Engineering is not only about the creation of products; it is also about solving product problems and improving them.
Common challenges within engineering
Increased complexity of engineering projects
Due to customized products and increasing customer demands, projects are becoming increasingly complex.
Increased material and labour costs
Material prices and labour costs are increasing, making it important to design as efficiently as possible with the right materials.
Speed of technological change
The speed at which technologies change also causes engineering departments to need to innovate
Smooth collaboration
An engineering department does not work alone but is connected to different departments such as production, R&D and service to optimize designs.
Regulatory compliance
Most products being designed need to have certain certifications or perform certain tests. Documenting these tests, and their results, can be challenging.
Risk assessment and risk mitigation
The quality of designed products must be tested to reduce the risks of defect.
Untap the business value of your engineering department
✓ Easily bring different designs together, regardless of the tool used.
✓ Collaborate efficiently with other departments.
✓ Easily link certificates and tests to products.
✓ Get the correct information on the latest version of the product.
✓ Create a single version of the truth for all product information.
It is essential that your engineering department
collaborates with other departments – understand why:
The engineering department must be able to easily hand over designs in the right form to specific departments, and sometimes receive input from them. To make this possible, data must be able to flow through these departments via a so-called digital common thread.
Below are some departments where collaboration with engineering is essential:
Manufacturing
The engineering and production departments must be able to look at the same and newest product related data. This is the only way to avoid manual errors and misunderstandings. Furthermore, problems during the production process must be easily transferred to the engineering department.
Field Service
The Field Service department can pass on common product defects to the design department so that they can make the necessary adjustments. Visa versa, Field Service needs access to the latest product information, like drawings, to be able to identify the right spare parts and repair approach.
Sales
The sales department can show 3D designs to potential customers to give them a better idea of the product. Furthermore, they must also be able to present the necessary certificates when selling and easily need access to the latest improvements of products.
Purchasing
By improving the collaborations between the purchasing and engineering departments, you ensure that the designers have insight into the prices of different components. This allows them to reduce any costs by using alternative/cheaper components. Visa versa, the purchasing department must be notified instantly when a new product update is out, so they can update or change orders made with suppliers.
We'd love to help you with your engineering solution.
Whether you're considering optimizing your engineering department, are already working with engineering software and need support, or want to talk about how to get even more out of your existing engineering solution, we're here to help.