As everybody in manufacturing knows, the pressure to deliver new products to market is relentless. Most of us feed the beast using product lifecycle management (PLM) tools that help us get from concept to launch and improve our engineering and production processes along the way.
But nowadays, that’s not enough. In an increasingly complex and competitive environment, technical and non-technical teams need to work closely together, uniting people, processes, and data to get better products launched faster than ever before.
So, what’s the solution? Collaborative work management software. That’s the basis of a fascinating white paper authored by experienced manufacturing experts at Wrike, one of the world’s leading work management platforms.
Typical product development process problems
Wrike supports household-name manufacturers and manufacturing teams all around the world, including Electrolux, L’Oréal, and House of Design.
That means that they see first-hand the most common challenges faced by the industry, particularly when it comes to product development. These include:
- Inefficient, manual processes
- Poor organizational structure
- Lack of visibility across departments and functions
- Siloed teams and inadequate collaboration
- Incorrect timelines and avoidable delays
- Failure to fully monitor product development progress
- Inefficiencies across the development process
- Missed deadlines, opportunities, and profit margin
In fact, in a survey conducted by Fictiv.com, 45% of senior decision-making manufacturing professionals agree that reducing operational inefficiencies is a top priority. Sound familiar?
When the status quo slows you down
To find out if your PLM tools are falling short, take a minute to complete Wrike’s “Is your status quo still good enough?” quiz in their white paper, “Accelerating Product Development in Manufacturing With Collaborative Work Management.”
This simple checklist includes a short selection of questions to help you get to the bottom of the problems you’re experiencing with your product development process. For example,
- Is your intake process unstructured?
- Do you have poor visibility into resource availability?
- Is your planning, testing, and validation system unreliable?
- Are you spending time on quality initiatives that aren’t collaborative?
- Do you experience difficulty tracking and correcting product issues?
If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, it might be time to review your choice of manufacturing software support.
A new way to accelerate product development
Wrike’s collaborative work management software is the perfect complement to PLM tools. It seamlessly connects your people, processes, and product data, unifying all your operations in one easy-to-use platform.
That way, you can streamline your entire manufacturing workflow from concept to design, development, prototype, production, and launch. It can empower teams at every stage, allowing them to:
- Tailor processes with custom workflows and intake request forms
- Optimize resource allocation with real-time dashboards
- Use AI to automate repetitive tasks and scan for risks and recommendations
- Speed up time to market with expert manufacturing templates
- Visualize project timelines using Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and more
- Access in-depth data insights and generate detailed reports
- Ensure complete collaboration and project visibility with cross-tagging
It makes sense that an industry as complex and multidimensional as manufacturing would need more than just one type of software. By augmenting your chosen PLM tools with Wrike’s powerful collaborative work management platform, you can turbocharge your pace of product delivery — putting you well ahead of the competition.
If you’d like to read more about how Wrike has transformed the way companies like Fitbit and Siemens are turning fresh ideas into new products fast, download the free white paper, “Accelerating Product Development in Manufacturing With Collaborative Work Management.”
Prefer to see for yourself how it works? Try Wrike for your manufacturing team now.
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