CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
November 2005
Product News
Configit Software Extends it Offering of 3rd Generation Product Configurators into the PLM Market
Virtual Tabulation® is a patented product configuration technology developed by Configit Software. It simplifies the implementation and maintenance of product configurators. While in the past Virtual Tabulation has mainly been used to provide clients with high performing sales configurators in connection with ERP-systems, recent interest from large global industrial manufacturers has shown its value also for solutions integrated with product data management systems by providing commissioning and maintenance solutions. Based on the business benefits observed from these solutions, Configit Software now extends its offering into the PLM market space.
"A market survey revealed that although many PLM solutions do provide some configuration capabilities they typically have not received proper attention as an important component", says Henrik Reif Andersen, Professor and CEO of Configit Software. "They therefore do not only lack satisfactory performance and user friendliness but are also costly to implement and maintain. Our Virtual Tabulation technology has proven its value by solving these problems, so we are confident that we can significantly enhance the existing solutions implemented by PLM clients."
The Virtual Tabulation technology is capable of dealing with large sets of product variations using an efficient method of first computing all the billions of valid combinations and then representing them in a compact loss-less representation. Earlier 1st and 2nd generation product configurators developed in the 1980'es and 1990'es have been expensive to implement, hard to maintain, and difficult to use because of the underlying rule-based and constraint-based technologies.
With Virtual Tabulation a new type of table-based solutions can be implemented based on existing product data in the PLM system. Usability is guaranteed through realtime interaction that guides the user while ensuring 100% compliance of the configurations with the product data from the PLM system. An immediate application is for sales support when accurate quotes are important and difficult to ensure.
Another application area is in managing the complexity of product variance in product development. For instance, the new BMW 7-series has more than 1017 assembly variations. This variance is made up of an external variance as seen by the customers, and an even larger internal variance on parts and subassemblies required for efficient and correct production. This high level of variety imposes complexity costs not only along the logistics and production chains but also in the sales processes.
"With a product configurator as an extension to a PLM-system, this complexity can be managed. A product configurator allows for the engineers to explore the variance and make trade-offs in order to minimize costs while still offering the most flexible product lines as demanded by the market. For instance, by removing rare combinations, fewer variations of parts will be required and as a consequence the development and logistics costs are reduced", Henrik Reif Andersen concludes.
Configit Software, a Copenhagen-based independent software vendor, is offering third generation configuration solutions for companies with product configuration needs. The configurators are used for exploring the variance in product development, for sales configurations, and for maintenance, service and overhaul of complex products. A standalone version of the software tool can be freely downloaded in a trial version from the company's web-site http://www.configit-software.com . Configit Software is currently developing integrations to leading PLM-systems.
Become a member of the CIMdata PLM Community to receive your daily PLM news and much more.
Tell us what you think of the CIMdata Newsletter. Send your feedback.
CIMdata is committed to your privacy. Your personal information will never be sold or shared outside of CIMdata without your express permission.