Consumer Goods %%%%

11 Feb 2019

Gartner: How Supply Chain Teams Can Define and Achieve a PPL

Every manufacturer wants a perfect product launch (PPL). But the truth is, most launches are far from ideal. In fact, Gartner reports that more than 40% of the time manufacturers, customers, or both don’t consider product launches perfect.

In their report, “Supply Chain Drives Achievement of Perfect New Product Launches,” Gartner identifies a logical path – and responsible party – for defining comprehensive, enterprise-wide PPLs. The answer, they believe, rests with those managing the supply chain.

The Challenge: Who Owns PPL?

Growth through product improvements and/or new products and services within current market segments are high priorities for CEOs and chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) alike – botoh executive roles see them as key to corporate growth. Unfortunately for CSCs, Gartner says, “It’s unclear what role ‘owns’ the definition and execution of perfect product launches, but as supply chain often bears the most blame when product launches go wrong.”

The flip side of pressure and responsibility is usually opportunity and resources. For CSCOs this can mean the wherewithal to make process improvements-notably, the chance to redefine everything from “product design, development, and launch activities in an end-to-end framework to achieve continuous improvement.” In short, if CSCOs are in the spotlight, they should take the opportunity to define PPL processes and metrics.

But CSCOs should also be careful not to silo themselves. If they first focus on developing a vision and planning improvements, based on what supply chain can control and what metrics their team needs, they only add to another common problem. Gartner found that companies who don’t collaborate with leaders in other business functions aren’t working with a common vision or scorecard for NPI success. Too often, each team within an enterprise, from marketing, R&D, engineering, and manufacturing to end-to-end improvements, has its own objectives for a product launch, with no shared goal or vision. For example, marketing may push more product options to attract more sales, but engineering wants less complexity and change orders to speed up time-to-market. Each team has its own priorities and definition of what “success” means.

3 Things CSCOs Miss When Trying to Achieve a More Predictable PPL

1. Build Engagement with Other Stakeholders

The need is certainly there. Per Gartner, only 11% of companies “believe their functional teams work together to achieve shared NPI goals.” Clearly, almost every manufacturer can do better.

Every business function involved in NPI should be working together to come up with a strategy that increases the chances of a company wide PPL. Bring together all teams contributing to and expecting results in NPI as well as capturing strategies that already exist.

To build the engagement you need with the C-level and other stakeholders, check out another Gartner report, “Win Cross-Functional Stakeholders Over to NPI Improvement Initiatives.”

2. Take inventory of Existing Strategies

Good product launch strategies most likely exist in some functional teams within your organization. This is often a missed opportunity.

As other teams are on board, map out such things as impacts, business challenges, friction, risks, priorities, ad expectations along with customer experience factors. Evaluate their usefulness in reaching a common goal for a more successful PPL strategy for all stakeholders involved.

What type of PPL strategy does your company have?

Gartner examines four different scenarios along with actions CSCOs can take. If you want further information you can download this report.

3. Measure Internal Performance To External Performance

Gartner explains that a manufacturer’s definition of and metrics for PPL success can’t only be internal. As they point out, “You can have a 100% PPL from an internal point of view based on achieving internal target metrics and still have unhappy customers with the finished product.”

Internal metrics includes things like company targets defined for profitability, volume, on-time shipping, etc. External performance is based on the customer’s experience from purchasing to receiving and using the product.

Evaluate Your Processes

How should you work towards creating a cross-functional PPL?

Gartner introduces a five-step approach from evaluate, design and align to pilot and govern. The key is to work cross-functionally and help you create a definition and strategy for a more predictable PPL for all stakeholders as well as the customer. To start, Gartner suggests using their NPI Maturing Model found on page 10 of this report. This model will help you evaluate your current situation along with the likelihood of a PPL strategy being effective. Download the report to get more details.

In Summary

Many supply chain leaders already own NPI standards and PPL. Where they fall short is in creating a PPL definition and strategy that successfully works for all internal stakeholders as well as external, the customer.

Gartner introduces a logical path and strategy for CSCOs to help create a PPL throughout the company. Collaboration, sharing goals and objectives between cross-functional teams, and taking inventory of processes and information is the backbone for success.

23 Jul 2018

3DEXPERIENCE, Consumer Goods, Dassault Systèmes Juliann Grant 0 comment

DELMIA: The Missing Link for Consumer Goods Manufacturers

Connecting Digital Design and Manufacturing Improvements

Digital design and simulation are standard engineering practices by now. But the recognized value of those digital processes raises two questions for manufacturing operations. How do digital files stay relevant and current when the digital design transitions into physical production? And how can organizations apply digital best practices beyond the design and simulation phases?

The answer is powerful solutions like DELMIA, part of Dassault Systèmes’ My Product Portfolio for consumer goods manufacturers. DELMIA helps global businesses reimagine approaches to manufacturing, by virtually planning, analyzing, revising, and simulating production flows—from the supply chain down to machine tool paths. Doing so allows manufacturers to optimize production planning, asset productivity, on-time delivery, and customer relationships, while simultaneously reducing working capital, production cycle times, and inventories.

DELMIA also ensures digital continuity, a shared digital landscape connecting all stakeholders to improve visibility into, control over, and synchronization across manufacturing operations and supply chain processes on a global scale. Because in this day and age, having your digital house in order is vital for any enterprise that expects to be competitive in a crowded and fast-paced consumer goods marketplace—manufacturing digitalization isn’t an option, it’s a necessity.

With the world, economy, and particularly the consumer goods market moving faster than ever, manufacturers are looking for every possible efficiency—looking to get the most out of manufacturing, logistics, supply chain ops, and everything else. Everyone wants to be faster, develop faster, build faster, and sell more. Using technology to uncover and create operational efficiencies is the best way to do it.

Engineer, Operate, Optimize

DELMIA enables manufacturers to address three fundamental aspects of manufacturing: engineering or designing the process, operations information and management capability, and optimization or continuous improvement of systems.

To improve engineering practices, manufacturers use DELMIA to review and structure all industrial processes, with the goal of eliminating time and waste. By creating digital models that virtually simulate products, processes, and factory operations, they can improve processes to quickly respond to the competition or a market opportunity.

Specific engineering capabilities offered as part of DELMIA include collaborative manufacturing, to connect manufacturing stakeholders; process planning, allowing for design and validation of manufacturing processes; robotics, for programming and simulating industrial robots; fabrication, for programming and simulation of machining and additive manufacturing; and ergonomics, for designing human-centered production and workplace environments.

To address operations efficiencies, DELMIA manufacturing operations management (MOM) solutions provide manufacturers with a continuum of visibility, control, and synchronization of operational activities, in a common platform to ensure unified visibility and control. Functionality includes the ability to examine and improve global production processes, schedules, and resources from workers to IIoT equipment, as well as to increase labor efficiency and productivity.

DELMIA can also help manufacturers make advances in quality across manufacturing operations, while also extracting data for regulatory compliance and continuous improvement. In addition, it allows manufacturers to synchronize warehouse manufacturing, inventory, and logistics—just in time—and perform maintenance, maximizing asset performance and uptime, and avoiding unplanned or service disruptions.

Above all, DELMIA helps manufacturers optimize—continuously. For sales and operations planning, the platform offers advanced modeling and optimization capabilities to simulate any scenario in a sales and ops cycle, to consistently deliver maximum value. For master planning, DELMIA advances global decision support with real-time visibility and predictive analysis for master planning and scheduling and material requirements planning. And for detailed production scheduling, it helps reduce lead time and inventory by optimizing production within and across production lines, work cells, and assembly operations—all while improving asset utilization and throughput.

The Prodtex director of production technology, Peter Helgosson, sums up the benefit: “Virtual simulation with DELMIA enabled us to prove our build concept, verify the assembly path of the parts in the factory, and more efficiently balance the workload between stations, thereby reducing overall lead times.”

Not Just the Software, But the Solution

DELMIA on its own offers a wide variety of benefits, but as part of Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform and, more specifically, the My Product Portfolio solution for consumer goods manufacturers, it delivers even more value. My Product Portfolio offers not only the software platform but also a set of industry process experiences, focused around collaboration and community, project management, BOM and change management, mechanical design, performance testing and simulation, mold and tooling, and machining. With it, manufacturers can collaborate on a global basis and improve communications, with the aim of reducing time-to-market.

In addition, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform streamlines internal operations, establishing a single source of truth for all information about a product, enhancing cross-functional communication, and enabling the tracking of product data from design to production. In this day and age, consumer goods manufacturers can’t afford to do less.

To learn more about how DELMIA can help your organization, please Contact Us and we put you in touch with the right DELMIA expert.

Also, you can review videos and other materials on our DELMIA LinkedIn PointDrive page here

26 Jun 2018

3DEXPERIENCE, Consumer Goods, Dassault Systèmes Ken Smith 0 comment

Consumer Goods: Moving at the Speed of Social Media

Customers today can be fickle. Our attention spans—conditioned by years of bite-size news, messages, video clips, and posts—are notoriously short. It’s both a boon and a hazard to manufacturers of consumer goods that the power of social media can make trends viral in the blink of an eye—and discards them just as quickly. Today’s hot product is tomorrow’s “over it” post, and brands have to be quick to respond to stay relevant.

That’s why manufacturers with hopes of competing in the global marketplace must be able to communicate, design, and produce faster than ever before. They have to deliver not just at the speed of today’s global business, but at the pace of social media.

Of course, most manufacturers aren’t merely watching cultural trends go past and hoping to jump on the merry-go-round, they’re also being bombarded with opinions, feedback, criticism, kudos, and requests for help. Their customers around the world are demanding safe, high-quality, and timely products. And most manufacturers are handling all of that while also dealing with a multitude of internal, disconnected systems. It’s an ever-increasing challenge to imagine, design, and deliver innovative consumer goods, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.

The Communication Challenge

Manufacturers don’t typically establish their operations with a fully planned, cohesive network of information. Instead, they tend to grow from tiny operations, adding on software systems and databases of information as necessary to house a litany of ideas, specifications, CAD models, and more. It’s an organic means of growing a business that tends to result in siloed information in a variety of disconnected systems—and difficulty in maintaining a single, shared vision.

Disconnected islands of information make it difficult to design and manufacture products quickly, much less to be agile enough to design and produce a product based on customer feedback. But that’s where a single, integrated platform can be a manufacturer’s game-changer.

The 3DEXPERIENCE Platform Solution

A product lifecycle management (PLM) platform can form the basis of a manufacturer’s operations. With multiple components seamlessly integrated together—everything from 3D CAD software, project management, simulation, and manufacturing—you can sustain and preserve all of your operational data in one place. The “single source of truth” allows you to exchange data with such widely flung and disparate groups as R&D, production, procurement, marketing, and even customers.

In fact, PLM leader, Dassault Systèmes has developed My Product Portfolio, a unique solution designed for consumer goods companies based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This solution takes advantage of cloud-based technology to provide a solution for global manufacturers. The solution gives product managers the ability to track customer requests (features) from inception through production—providing an unparalleled opportunity for follow-through and customer satisfaction. Internal teams can engage customers, gather insights, conduct user studies and product tests—then store the information where it can be accessed by any party involved in the product lifecycle. The same is true for design data, marketing information, production schedules, and more. An integrated PLM platform isn’t merely one source of truth, it’s also one source for communication, innovation, and collaboration.

The Bottom-Line Benefits

A solution like My Product Portfolio makes it easy for small and medium retail goods manufacturers to collaborate and produce with the resources of much larger corporations. It provides a collaborative cloud-based system that ensures better communication between all stakeholders. A project management solution for tracking product enhancements and changes throughout the manufacturing process. More efficient engineering and simulation tools reduce the need for physical prototypes. Shortening development and production time. All of these tools improve business processes to save money and accelerate new product time-to-market. No longer do manufacturers have to look at “right, fast, and cheap” and only choose two. With the right tools, they can make the product right for the customer, deliver it fast—at the speed of cultural trends and social media—and save money through collaboration and increased communication.

14 May 2018

3DEXPERIENCE, Consumer Goods, High Tech Ken Smith 0 comment

How Your Product Development Process can Keep Up with Emerging Consumer Trends

Emerging consumer trends like Smart Technology, Resimercial, and Product Customization are transforming the ways consumer products are being bought, sold and used. Today’s consumers want trendy, high-quality products and they want them fast. They share their likes and dislikes, and purchase products from multiple channels including brick-and-mortar retail locations, mobile apps, social media, and eCommerce websites.

These emerging trends are causing consumer goods manufacturers to re-evaluate the way they do business. In order to compete, they will need a product development process that can manage the full product lifecycle from gathering customer requirements, through product design, simulation, and manufacturing. Many consumer goods companies operate on a global scale, where they may design in one company, manufacture in several locations, and distribute products globally. Using PLM software to manage the collaboration between the remote functions is no longer an option, but a necessity if these companies want to compete in the digital economy.

Giving Consumers What They Want

The customer is always right─a commandment for consumer goods manufacturing companies where customer desires drive the designs and features of the next bicycle, office chair, or powered lawn mower. Today, more than ever, consumer wants and needs are driving the global consumer goods markets. Consumers are more demanding and particular than ever. They want high-quality products that are environmentally friendly, customizable and affordable. If they like what they buy, they’ll share their accolades with their friends and family via social media. If they’re unhappy, they’ll share it with the world.

While there are many factors consumers consider when purchasing new products for their home or office, a few emerging trends appear to be having a greater impact on product development and manufacturing requirements.

Smart or Connected Technology

Consumers want products that are connected via technology. Smart devices like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Home are everywhere. Not only do they allow ‘hands-free’ operation of smartphones and computers, they connect multiple devices throughout the home including lights, thermostats, security systems, and entertainment systems.

Another evolving industry is the mobile healthcare product used by healthcare providers to monitor and diagnose patients from remote distances. These smart technology products integrate enterprise applications, mobile apps and devices, and high-speed internet communications. Product design engineers have to consider how these new software-driven technologies influence the product development process.

New Workspace Trends Lead Towards Fully Customized Furniture

Resimercial Office Trends — Source: Adobe Stock

The mass adoption of mobile computing and wireless networking products have spawned a movement in the workplace. No longer do companies need to invest in ‘cubicle farms’ to house their employees to their hard-wired personal computers. Companies are tearing down the cubes and cork boards and creating collaborative workspaces with shared tables, comfortable work areas, and customized conference and meeting areas. Interior designers are also looking for more options in terms of materials, fabrics, and finishes. Living environments are also becoming popular with live plants interspersed into the workspace.

Furniture manufacturers are looking for ways to develop agile manufacturing methods in order to keep up with these ever-changing consumer demands.

A recent article posted on Huffpost.com discusses how resimercial─the trend of adding residential looks to commercial spaces is driving the demand for customization. Designers are looking for those ‘homey’ items that can make the workplace feel more personal. Anne Gibson, IIDA, LEED AP, Principal and Design Director for Gensler in Chicago, shed insight into how the term customization has evolved. “Ten years ago, ‘custom’ meant altering a standard product – asking for a new finish, modifying dimensions, or specifying a COM,” explains Gibson. “This kind of ‘custom’ was a small percentage of my work. Today, that level of alteration is the norm for every standard product and I am routinely using an obscure upholstery on a lounge chair with custom-trimmed throw pillows. And, now, a sizable percentage of the pieces I specify are entirely unique.” (source: Rising Demand for Custom Furniture).

So how do leaders of consumer goods manufacturers keep up with these growing trends?

While many organizations continue to use traditional product lifecycle management (PLM) software, innovative companies are embracing new technologies to streamline their product development processes. Cloud-based solutions can improve collaboration and data sharing among remote locations. Social media tools allow product managers to communicate and collaborate with their customers. Product designers can share realistic 3D prototypes using virtual reality (VR) tools and systems. Product engineers can use advanced simulation and testing tools to streamline their product development operations and increase their speed-to-market. These companies focus on breaking down departmental silos and look for better ways to leverage digital assets across the global enterprise.

Office Furniture Leader Improves Speed-to-Market

One company who found themselves dealing with this customization trend is Nowy Styl, a European leader in comprehensive furniture solutions and the third largest manufacturer of office furniture in Europe. With six brands and offices in 17 countries, Nowy Styl found themselves looking for their own solution to this demanding problem.

“Each of our customers have specific needs requiring individual analysis, space planning, and customized production and we pride ourselves on concepts that balance design and engineering,” said Tomasz Pardzik, CTO, Nowy Styl Group who implemented the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. “Dassault Systèmes’ industry solution experience helps our technical departments, personnel, partners and suppliers better communicate and monitor and detect issues early in the development process to optimize product quality.”

One of the key features of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is the ability to share ideas directly with the clients. “We are often using the virtual space to predefine and design the answers for our clients,” Pardzik said. “With the 3DS we can share our experience and knowledge directly with the clients.”

Putting Simulation to the Test

The sporting goods industry is always looking to improve performance. Bicycle manufacturers face the same pressures as the office furniture manufacturers, except in their case, customers want even more. “Lighter, stiffer, faster, and better ride quality are common goals,” says Jay Maas, analysis engineer with Trek Bicycles. “We couldn’t have stayed ahead of our competition without pushing our analyses to the next level.” With over 1,600 employees and 1.6 million bicycles sold each year, Trek is North America’s largest manufacturer of carbon bikes.

To improve their product’s performance they have turned to 3D simulation as part of their PLM solution to reduce the number of design iterations. Using the Abaqus finite element analysis (FEA) application from SIMULIA to test and predict stiffness values in the virtual world. According to Maas “Using simulation to predict that weight and stiffness ahead of time reduced the number of make-and-break cycles necessary to get where we needed to be.”

Read the Case Study

The My Product Portfolio Industry Solution from Dassault Systèmes

Integrating product marketing with design and manufacturing in a global consumer goods company can certainly be challenging without an integrated PLM solution. The My Product Portfolio solution from Dassault Systèmes allows consumer goods manufacturers to collaborate on a global basis to shorten product time-to-market and improve communications between product managers, design engineers, and manufacturing engineers to develop and build products with complex product configurations and change orders. It also helps engineers simulate and test products without the need for destructive testing and streamlines the manufacturing and machining processes.

06 Mar 2018

Consumer Goods, Dassault Systèmes Ken Smith 0 comment

Adaptive to Join Dassault Systèmes at IHA Smart Home Pavilion

Adaptive Corporation representatives will be joining Dassault Systèmes at the “Smart Home Pavilion”, part of the International Home & Housewares 2018 Show. The show will be held March 10-13 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.

How Smart Kitchens will improve our lifestyle experience.

The Smart Home Pavilion will demonstrate how the future of housewares is quickly moving toward the smart home. Connectivity is being incorporated into nearly every corner of the home – from light bulbs to coffee brewers, from thermostats to ovens – connected products, once only a dream, are fast becoming a reality. Smart products too are making an impact – from Alexa to Siri, from vacuuming robots to trash cans – intelligent sensors are changing the way we live in, and interact with, our homes.

Listen to Dassault Systèmes session on Sunday, March 11 at 2.30 PM in the Smart Pavilion and watch a connected food robot come to life.

Susan Olivier, Worldwide Business Development for the Consumer Goods & Retail Industry at Dassault Systèmes, will lead a talk about How Smart Kitchens will improve our lifestyle experience.

When: Sunday March 11, at 2.30 PM
Where: Smart Home Pavilion, Hall of Global Innovation – Lakeside Center Lobby

Kitchens are becoming more and more intelligent, helping us improve our culinary skills like never before. With the rise of the Internet of Things, appliances are increasingly connected to each other, to the Internet and to our smartphones.

Discover the amazing journey of Nestor, a connected food robot, from initial market trends and customer requirements to freeform and detail design all using groundbreaking software applications. During our talk, we will show how industrial designers and engineers can ideate, design, engineer and produce smart kitchen appliances like Nestor by blending creativity and technical function.