How CPQ Drives Manufacturing Cost Reduction

The manufacturing sector is recovering from the downturn of the past few years, and Deloitte expects accelerated growth for the industry in 2023. But manufacturers still face several challenges, including the ongoing labor shortage and a fragmented supply chain. Both threaten profitability, even as revenues increase.

Manufacturing cost reduction strategies are critical for businesses to realize the full potential of this year’s opportunities. Manufacturers have little control over talent availability or the costs of raw materials, so they need to focus on eliminating inefficiencies across every part of their operation, well beyond automating production. For specialty manufacturers, cost reduction could be as simple as investing in and implementing the latest generation of sales software.

CPQ For Manufacturing Cost Reduction

Configure, price, quote (CPQ) is a sales automation platform that streamlines the entire process of customizing orders and generating customer quotes. It combines catalogs, price calculators, and quote document generation into a single platform that puts more control into the customers’ hands, freeing up valuable time and resources for sales teams and engineering departments. Here’s how implementing this one solution can lead to significant savings:

Automates configuration

Without CPQ, customers rely on sales to walk them through catalogs and configure their orders. CPQ platforms offer a customer-facing portal that’s pre-programmed with the entire product catalog and all of the variables and add-on options available for each item. Customers can build their own orders and request a quote without communicating back and forth with sales.

Replaces manual calculations

Because variables and other options are programmable into the CPQ platform, it can automatically calculate the prices of different configurations. This eliminates the need for manual pricing or the risk of running a fragile Excel spreadsheet formula to determine what to charge. Most CPQ systems even allow sales to program discounts and other price adjustments for specific dealers that automatically apply to the quote.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CPQ

Unlock the secrets to turbocharging manufacturer operations! Dive into our comprehensive guide, where we demystify CPQ, making optimization a breeze. Click now and revolutionize your manufacturing process.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CPQ

Unlock the secrets to turbocharging manufacturer operations! Dive into our comprehensive guide, where we demystify CPQ, making optimization a breeze. Click now and revolutionize your manufacturing process.

Reduces errors

Automatically calculating prices reduces the chances of human error in data entry and applying formulas, so there’s less probability of an incorrect quote going to customers. CPQ platforms are also built on pre-programmed rules and conditional logic, preventing customers from selecting product attributes that aren’t producible. Intercepting these common problems before they occur reduces the error rate for quotes.

Minimizes staff overhead

When sales teams use Excel spreadsheets and basic configurators to generate quotes, the process demands an incredible amount of attention. Custom orders often require a manual review of a customer submission form or even a phone call to collect the necessary information to produce a quote. Engineers must also review each order to ensure its viability before approving production. CPQ eliminates most of these manual touch points, allowing staff to spend less time sweating the details and more time on high-value, revenue-generating activities.

Speeds up time to quote

CPQ software improves efficiency at every stage of the configuration, pricing, and quoting process, adding up to incredible time savings. With manual processes, generating a quote can take days to weeks. But with all of these automations in place, the time it takes for a customer to receive a quote is reduced to a day, a few hours, or even less. In today’s competitive marketplace, being the first manufacturer to provide a quote to a customer can be the only factor in whether or not you win their business.

Maximizing Manufacturing Cost Reduction

To realize the full benefits of CPQ, manufacturers need a robust platform that’s fully customizable to their business’s needs. Configure One Cloud from Revalize easily integrates with operations for frictionless implementation and fast deployability. Users can recoup investment in a fraction of the time of other
CPQ solutions.

Configure One Cloud has a track record of dramatically reducing errors from the quoting process. The
convenient portal allows sales to process a higher volume of quotes in less time and effort. Configure One Cloud customers report an increase in overall sales volume by as much as 135% after switching to the platform.

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