The Future of New Product Information Management in Manufacturing

Once upon a time, many companies could get away with developing new products in a linear fashion. Designers would come up with their product conception, then send this to engineering to be built out. Product information would then be sent on to manufacturing, procurement and suppliers, as well as sales, marketing, and any other downstream stakeholders, as production and distribution kicks into gear.

But as products have grown more complex, suppliers and manufacturers more integrated, and teams more dispersed, this linear development process has grown unrealistic. Supplier constraints may affect final designs, rapid iterations will need to be communicated across the digital thread quickly, and access to the latest product data will be essential to everyone.

As a result of all this, the most innovative companies have become those that know how to adapt to this approach to product information management, while those that don’t risk falling behind.

The Role of Engineering in Product Innovation

Product engineers have long been heralded as the source of new product innovation. After all, everything starts from their ideas. But with each part of the manufacturing process becoming more integrated, the relationship between innovation and the act of ideation is growing less distinct. Instead, engineering now plays an even more critical role in the introduction of new products.

Although engineering has always been important, companies that place it at the center of new product development better position themselves to create designs that are practical, utilize resources efficiently, and minimize risk. This is because product innovation is just as much about original ideas as it is about effectively managing and utilizing engineering data and resources.

A new product won’t be successful if it cannot first be manufactured. And even if it can, this success will be far from assured if the costs of labor, time, and material aren’t reasonable. By giving everyone equal access to engineering data, these factors can be addressed earlier in the new product development process, helping to make any new ideas not just innovative, but viable.

Current Trends in New Product Information Management

So how have today’s leaders learned to manage their new product information? By taking a comprehensive approach to how their product data and people interact.

This starts with empowering everyone by giving them access to high-quality engineering product data. Whether they use a PLM or PIM system, they will typically have some central platform for managing this information as the product goes from initial concept through design, manufacturing, and distribution. By ensuring everyone can view up-to-date data and track product iterations and changes, the company can achieve greater transparency and collaboration throughout the new product development process.

Unified communication tools are also key. While centralized product data is helpful, too many manufacturers make the mistake of holding onto their old methods of communication. The results can be confusing: dozens of emails sent each day, PowerPoints filled with screenshots of models and diagrams, chats and even phone calls trying to clear it all up. Instead, leading companies have begun integrating their communication tools alongside their data. This makes it much easier to reference specific data and documents, helping save valuable time otherwise spent searching for them and streamlining collaboration.

Finally, the most forward-thinking manufacturers are accelerating new product development by more fully embracing the digital thread. This means they are taking the next step after centralized data and unified communications and are working to create a unified ecosystem in which product data is unified and organized at every stage, from design and production to distribution and sales. Doing this solves traditional challenges to new product information management, such as dealing with multiple file types or security issues. Everyone can instead instantly access, view, and work with the product data they need, helping to keep product innovation moving forward.

The Future of New Product Information Management

As companies continue to look for advantages and seek out ways to develop successful products faster and more efficiently, the way new product information is managed will continue to evolve. Here are a few possible trends and developments for this field in the near future:

• Artificial intelligence: While it is already being used in some specific applications, AI looks to become an increasingly common part of product information management. Uses for it include the ability to automatically classify, tag, and enrich product information in order to improve accuracy.
• Increased automation: Managing product data properly can be a time-consuming job filled with lots of repetitive work. For this reason, the ability to automate manual tasks will only become more ubiquitous. Expect to see these features to become more complex and customizable as they advance.
• Predictive analytics: Using machine learning, more manufacturers will be able to conduct powerful analyses of past product data and consumer behavior in order to predict trends and pull ahead of the competition, such as by making last-minute strategic adjustments to their product lines or even creating new features.
• Sustainability initiatives: Expect to see the management of sustainability-related data (e.g., carbon footprint, material sourcing, and recyclability) become a key aspect of product information management. Companies will increasingly track and report their environmental impact and respond more directly to consumer and regulatory pressure.
• IoT integration: Particularly on the manufacturing and supplier sides of product data management, IoT-enabled devices will continue to become more common. For instance, they may be used to generate data on how efficiently new products are getting built and distributed. Or they could be integrated into the products themselves, producing real-time data on performance and user behavior.

Anark’s Role in Shaping the Future

At Anark, we firmly believe that the way companies approach new product information management will be one of the most defining factors for future success. This is why our Product Innovation Platform is designed to transcend traditional content management systems and deliver on the promises of what new product information management should become.

For example, our platform allows you to automatically sync with traditional PLM systems, as well as other important data sources, so that you always have a centralized repository of product information. But it also takes this a step further with automated recipes that you can use to instantly convert complex engineering data into forms everyone along the product lifecycle can easily consume. These recipes can also be used to create web-based technical data packages (TDPs) and 3D PDFs, giving stakeholders an easy way to consume new product info.

Collaboration is also a key part of our platform. With tools like real-time chat, document markups and editing, drag-and-drop file sharing, and more, you can finally put away your emails and PowerPoint presentations and start getting your questions answered. Save even more time with the ability to search through past conversations and link them to specific document edits, ensuring you always have the right context.

With our mobile-first approach and commitment to security, the Anark Product Innovation Platform will also play a key part in helping you fully embrace the digital thread. Whether you need to send new product information to stakeholders in manufacturing or field services, or even to suppliers and customers, our platform helps you eliminate barriers. Meanwhile, features like file-less and time-limited access help protect your most sensitive data without blocking access to those who need it most.

This is new product information management as it should be — and it’s paving the way for what it should become.

Conclusion

Anark is committed to driving new product innovation by making it easier to share and access information, collaborate, and send product data to those who need it most. Through our cutting-edge solutions, we are helping manufacturers work faster and more efficiently as they deliver solutions that meet customer demands. And we’re just getting started.

Start preparing yourself to meet the future challenges of your industry. Request your free demo today.