Product structures

Structured product data – A necessity for the Digital Thread

Consistent product data is the DNA for the Digital Twin.

However, the data originates in different company divisions and often in the context of distributed, interdisciplinary development projects. Only when product information can be seamlessly communicated and interpreted by the various functions, potentials along the value stream can be recognised and leveraged.

Especially in the case of configurable products, it is necessary to manage the knowledge about your products in a central location. Classic BOMs do not meet this requirement. A structured mapping of the entire variant space of a configurable product is essential at this point in order to make complexity manageable.

Product structures – efficiency drivers and quality assurance for products with many variants

The lack of a central product structure can significantly limit the number of variants demanded by the market or simply explode the effort required to manage complexity. Fixed parts lists for variants of a product bear the risk of your products “drifting apart” due to technical changes, in the worst case with negative effects on product quality. Especially when a product is manufactured at different locations, location-specific manufacturing conditions often lead to technical adjustments.

A central product structure makes it possible to implement uniform change control. Innovations can thus be implemented efficiently for your entire product families.

The global product structure as a maximum-EBOM

With the possibility to manage technical information for the product’s entire variant space, the global product structure serves as a single point of truth for your product- and configuration knowledge. This facilitates cross-functional and geographically distributed product development and avoids information-loss effectively.

Responsibilities and release-status can be managed directly based on the product modules.

With the product structure as maximum-EBOM, stakeholders are provided fast and easy access to relevant technical information.