Introduction

In our previous blog, we discussed the need of using IT in the wire & cable industry in relation to market developments.  We will now explore the specific business domains in the wire & cable industry that can benefit from Information Technology. Based on our experience in the wire & cable industry we will focus on those business domains where we often find opportunities to improve business performance by investing in IT, starting with Product Engineering and Quoting.

The objective of Product Engineering and Quoting is about creating successful quotes at a minimal effort. We need to process Requests For Quotation (RFQ’s) efficiently while converting a high percentage of the quotes into orders. As the win ratio in the industry typically is around 10-20%, it is important to use the resources that process customer RFQ’s efficiently.

IT can certainly contribute to the success of a company in this area. Industry specific engineering and quoting software can automate the complex costing calculations and keep the designs consistent and up-to-date. This software can automatically produce a high quality data sheet, 2D or 3D drawings, quotations, etc. This results in significant savings for the company and at the same time the sales organization becomes more responsive to customer requests.

Modern workflow capabilities enable an efficient routing of the tasks throughout the organization, further reducing the turnaround times for customer RFQ’s.

The engineering software, when integrated to ERP and MES systems, will also enable the automatic and real-time distribution of product data across the company. The availability of up-to-date product information in all parts of the company is crucial to support and leverage product and process innovation and stay ahead of competition.

Dozens of our customers use CableBuilder to establish efficient and consistent procedures in their engineering processes. The time needed to create new designs and quotes can be reduced to minutes rather than hours. Mass updates of product data became an automated routine rather than a time consuming task. The integration to CableERP sends all product data (Item data, BOM, Routing, Drawings, Work Instructions) to the ERP system with a single click of a button.

By reducing costs and becoming more responsive to customer needs, IT can help improve margins in the business domain Product Engineering and Quoting.

In our next blog we will discuss how IT can contribute to Sales and Invoicing.