How a product configurator prevents order errors

With a standard product, an order error is annoying. With made-to-order products it is expensive: the product has already been made when the error is found, and it has to be made again. That costs material, workshop hours, an extra delivery and, most painful of all, the customer's trust.

Where order errors come from

Almost every error we come across at customers falls into a few groups:

A combination that can't be made. An option that technically doesn't go with another, but is sold anyway.
Missing information. Nobody asked for the opening direction, the colour or the connection size, so the workshop has to phone around or guess.
A wrong price. An old price list, a forgotten surcharge or a discount that no longer applies.
Retyping. The quote is entered into the ERP system by hand, and somewhere a digit goes wrong.
Interpretation. Free text or a quick sketch that the customer meant differently from how the planner read it.

How a configurator prevents them

A product configurator deals with each of those sources at the moment the choice is made, not afterwards:

Rules while choosing. Options that don't fit can't be selected, with a short explanation of why. In the example on our home page, glass doors are only possible up to 2000 mm high.
Required questions. The order is only complete once everything production needs has been answered.
Calculated instead of filled in. Dimensions, quantities and the bill of materials follow from the answers. Nobody has to work them out.
One source for prices. Prices and discounts live in one place, with start and end dates. Everyone works from the same list.
No more retyping. The order goes straight to the ERP, with bill of materials, routing and article codes.
See what you order. A 2D drawing or 3D model changes with every choice, so the customer can see for themselves whether it is right.

Start with the errors you already know

The knowledge to prevent errors usually exists already; it just sits in heads instead of in a system. A practical way to start: take last year's complaints, credit notes and remakes. For each error, ask which rule or which required question would have prevented it. That list is the start of your product model.

Also measure where you stand today: how many orders had to be redone last year, and how long does it take from enquiry to quote? Then after the introduction you can see in black and white what the configurator delivers.

New to CPQ? Read What is CPQ, and when does it pay off? first.