Engineer to Order & custom machine builder PDM | Flexible, Project based

Key takeaways

• Unlike the typical manufacture to stock manufacturing process, Engineer to Order is the process of building customized products to meet customer needs. This process is more common in the industrial equipment manufacturing industry.
• Engineer to Order teams can stand out by delivering projects with higher levels of customization, at a lower price, with faster delivery times. A good strategy is to automate and reduce uncertainty between projects where possible.
• Vistapoint PDM is an ideal fit for Engineer to Order teams because it allows teams to make changes quickly working from a local copies and integrating with CAD software, store project files all in one place, and simplify project collaboration.

Introduction

How does your company build products? Do you design and build a product to create inventory and sell in volume? Or do you design and build a customized product every time to fit the customer’s needs? The former is what we typically think of when we think of designing and manufacturing products. The latter has several challenges, especially when it comes to how you manage your CAD and project data. In this article we will explore the differences between the types of manufacturing processes, how Engineer to Order teams can stand out, the goals of an Engineer to Order team, and some key features to consider when selecting a Product Data Management (PDM) software.

What is Engineer to Order?

If you are not familiar with the terms, there are generally three types of manufacturing processes – build to stock, configure to order, and engineer to order.

1. Build to stock (typical) – This is what we generally think of when we think of designing and building products. In the build to stock process, engineers design a product that is built in bulk, stored as inventory, and sold as the same product to multiple customers. The product comes out of the box and fits the needs that different customers share.
2. Configure to order (hybrid) – Configure to order is the process of building several pieces or blocks of product configurations that are pieced together to create the final product. For example, if you have a configurable chair. You can select from different seat cushion types, what type of fabric, and the color. These are then assembled from already produced configurations and delivered to you.
3. Engineer to order (custom) – This process is customized based on the exact requirements of the customer. The Engineer to Order process is more common in the industrial equipment manufacturing industry where you might have larger machines that need to fit exactly in a facility or solve a particular problem.

According to a survey of 234 companies by Tech Clarity, product configuration is continuing to expand and grow with a majority of companies saying that product configuration/customization will increase over the next five years.

Differences between Engineer to Order data and typical product data

Customer specific data

The data structure of an Engineer to Order team differs significantly from that of a typical product manufacturer. ETO manufacturers have more customer specific data^[1]. You need to track customer information and specific documentation around how the customer works and what projects were completed for this customer.

Every project is different

Every project is different. Each project has a budget, timeline, and specific requirements that need to be captured and organized.

Sharing with external

There is more collaboration with customers and suppliers to complete the project, source parts, and make sure the project meets customer requirements.

Less control through ECOs and CIs

There is less of a need for very controlled changes through Engineering Change Orders and complex review cycles since the project is most likely going to go through less changes once it’s put in production.

Goals of an Engineer to Order team

There are three key goals of an Engineer to Order team - meeting customer requirements, delivering the project on time, and staying in budget.

The specific budget and timeline pressures from the customer vs traditional product manufacturing increases the need to get the project done faster while still maintaining a good level of quality. The level of inherent uncertainty in custom builds and human tendency for overconfidence often contribute to project overruns.

Meeting the customer requirements

Meeting the customer’s requirements as best as possible is not always easy. What initially seemed feasible might seem more challenging (while still within the budget) as the project progresses. Engineer to Order teams need to understand, analyze, and calculate accurately to meet customer needs.

On time

Customers want solutions on time. This can be challenging especially for projects that are more unique than what teams have completed in the past. The number of unknowns increases. It is hard to understand the timeline of projects as more complexity and uncertainty is contained in the project scope.

In budget

The reality for most customers is that they have a budget they need to stay within for the project. We want to make our customers happy, right? The project goal should be to have the project done within the budget.

How can Engineer to Order companies stand out?

Some of the top differentiators for engineer to order teams to stand out according to the survey by Tech Clarity include:

1. Better meeting customer needs
2. Level of product customization
3. Rapid Quotes
4. Price
5. Service/support excellence
6. Delivery speed

The top two differentiators: Better meeting customer needs & Level of product customization revolve around the offering of your company. If you can offer a higher level of customization that fits the customers’ needs then you can stand out from the competition.

Number 3 & 4 are focused on making sure that your team can efficiently deliver quotes fast and ideally look up previous similar projects that you could potentially base that information off.

Number 5 & 6 require systems that help you in deliver support and service fast and deliver the project fast. This requires organized documentation and efficient collaboration. A system that allows for organized documentation and efficient search for old project information is critical.

Strategy for achieving Engineer to Order goals

Automation

Engineer to order teams can achieve more with automation of common project tasks. You could automate certain tasks with programming or using different tools to expedite communication. Around CAD data management, teams could automate creating versions, collecting comments, and storing information all in one place instead of spending time searching for information in different files or Excel spreadsheets.

Reducing uncertainty

Creating templates, more configurations, and reusing existing parts can help reduce the amount of uncertainty between projects. One tip from programming on how to reuse parts is to keep it (assemblies, configurations, etc.) as small as possible. This makes it easier to reuse for future projects. You don’t want to “re-invent the wheel” every project, but you also want to keep improving.

Key features of a PDM for Engineer to Order/custom build manufacturing

Performance

Since the goal of the team is to get the project done on time and in budget a top priority is that a system that supports an ETO team needs to be fast so that they can get their job done efficiently. This includes having the design files local and not on a network or having to download the files every time the file is checked out.

Collaboration

There are often multiple contributors to the project like the Project Manager, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. They all need to collaborate on the same design to get the project done.

Flexibility

A product data management system needs to be flexible to be able to handle different file types, different project structures, and different user levels to be able to handle the uniqueness of every project.

Integrations

To be able to expand with your company, you may want to integrate different systems in the future. A system that is open and easy to integrate to different systems is important to consider to be able to handle long term requirements.

Why Vistapoint PDM for Engineer to Order teams

Vistapoint PDM is ideal for small to mid-size Engineer to Order manufacturing companies because it is project oriented, fast, flexible, and simple.

1. Project oriented - You can easily create new workspaces for new projects. Workspaces come with a predefined template to have consistency across your project document structure.
2. Performance - You can store your files locally while you work on the project, then upload them and check them back in to create a new version and share with your teammates.
3. All in one place - You can store all your project files in Vistapoint to eliminate too many systems and keep a single source of truth for project documentation.
4. Simplicity - Vistapoint eliminates the complexity of traditional PDM systems so your team can simply get the job done on time and in budget.

Vistapoint PDM vs Traditional cloud file storage

Compared to traditional cloud storage and file management systems, Vistapoint offers several key differentiators. Vistapoint can manage references so that you can see the relationships between your CAD designs. Vistapoint can read the references stored in your CAD files and allow you to see them inside of Vistapoint. You can then manage them and work with them easily. Vistapoint has clear version control. To work on the files, you check them out, then other teammates know who is working on what parts of the assembly. When you check the part back in, it automatically creates a new version. This helps avoid any overriding changes to parts and avoid any conflicts.

Vistapoint PDM vs CAD vendor traditional PDM systems

Most CAD vendors already offer a PDM system. So naturally the first path an engineering team might be to consider the PDM system from the CAD vendor. But PDM systems from the CAD vendor have to meet the requirements of many different types of engineering teams, mainly engineering teams that work with products in a build to stock process. These teams work fundamentally differently. They were built for more control and are often large complex systems with many features lean teams don’t use. For teams that need to work faster, need cloud hosting, and work in a project-based workflow an alternative might be a better choice.

Future considerations of Engineer to Order teams

In this section I want to discuss some of the key things to consider for how our work might change in the future. I am optimistic on the possibilities, but bear with me and let me know what you think in the comments.

What do you need to consider as an engineer to order team to stay competitive in the future? Some obvious questions for teams that want to grow and need to keep their competitive edge include questions like how can we use AI? How can we keep up with increasing customer demand for faster and better?

I think there will be a growing category of software that engineering teams should consider in the future. Software used to be all about helping users with their current workflow. How can the software help them do their job faster. A new category of software will arise with the help of AI agents that can be integrated to access different systems. Instead of using software to help with a task, the software could then be another helper. You can break off small tasks for them to do. I think this will cause an even bigger demand for more specialized work. Smaller tasks that require less brainpower will be more automated through AI agents. For Engineer to Order teams for example, there is a lot of project management, project updates, and preparing packages to send to customers. This work could be automated so you can focus on designing. What do you think?

Conclusion

Engineer to Order teams have a different workflow and requirements than the traditional build to stock product teams. To stand out as an Engineer to Order team, you need to offer a higher level of customization, competitive pricing, with fast delivery times. This requires a PDM system that can help them meet these expectations so that teams can stay competitive. Engineer to Order teams need to make changes quickly, keep everything in one place, and keep it simple so they can get the job done. Consider Vistapoint PDM if you are on an Engineer to Order team looking to deliver great projects on time and in budget.