When delving into the world of variants, many different terms quickly surface that only seem to be directly related to one another. Some of the terms used are variant management, product configuration or complexity management.

The term variant management means, among other things, the management or administration and thus control of the variants of products. A variant of a product can also be referred to as a characteristic. For the initial consideration, it is irrelevant whether the variants already physically exist in the warehouse or whether there is only a theoretical description of the variant. The complexity of variant management aims at the precise description of the characteristics of the respective product versions in order to distinguish them from one another. Well-defined product variants are often also identified with unique product codes or type codes. The possibilities of mapping the properties are diverse and can vary considerably depending on the type of product.

Within this framework complexity management also plays a role. Many manufacturers of multi-variant products are overwhelmed by the amount of parts and assemblies that are used in these products. In this context, supplier processes also play a role and need to be considered as well. Which buyer wouldn’t be happy to know that three departments are actually ordering the same screw from different suppliers at different prices. Optimizing this supplier process is worth pure money. However, using software solutions for this purpose will only help if the underlying data structures are standardized. Nevertheless, individual customer requirements, extended legal regulations, global framework conditions, sustainability considerations, operating conditions and much more lead to increasingly complex product characteristics.

The term product configuration describes processes in which specific variants or characteristics of products are found or put together. Hence product configuration builds on the knowledge and data structures of variant management. The product configuration can be seen as an interface to several areas. A product configurator can for instance help end customers to find their individually designed products, significantly simplify the preparation of quotations for sales representatives working in the field, support the controlling process or serve as a master data base for product development. As a CPQ system (Configure Pricing Quote), the product configurator can resolve all dependencies between product components and thus provide constructible solutions. Dependencies do not only include the hard constraints and exclusions, but also optimizations, recommendations and validities based on a wide range of assumptions and parameters.

CREALIS® PDM (Product Data Management) is a system that enables the structured storing of variant information. At the same time it offers many functions to define dependencies in a simple, clear and understandable way. It is irrelevant whether the models are based on small-scale, nested BOMs or a more modular view is to be built up. The question of whether this can be described as variant management then depends on the respective point of view. CREALIS® CPQ builds on the PDM structures and offers a convenient and comprehensive configurator application with all necessary functions such as conflict handling, authorization and role concepts, market-specific product catalogues, price calculations, document generation and much more.

If you have questions about variant and complexity management or you are considering product configuration — get in touch with us. We bring a lot of experience from numerous projects in various industries and can offer you a solution for your problems.