An Interview with Mark Keenan, President of Technicon: Discussing Bill of Material Configuration and CPQ

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An Interview with Mark Keenan, President of Technicon: Discussing Bill of Material Configuration and CPQ

About sixteen years ago, I joined Technicon.  At that time, we came out with one of the leading CPQ products for large manufacturers in North America.  My background revolved around some of the aspects that can be associated with CPQ such as CAD and mechanical engineering.  By selling Intel products, I also got a good feel for the complexities and issues in generating quotes and the proposal process for manufacturers.  Since then, for the last sixteen years, we have been deploying systems for very large manufacturers in North America.  Companies like Eaton, Borg Warner and Phillips are Technicon customers.  Today, Technicon is a leading CPQ provider in North America. 

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Applied PLM: Design Automation

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Applied PLM: Design Automation

An Interview with Scott Heide, CEO of Engineering Intent - PPLM:  Welcome, Scott.  Thank you for spending some time with us.  We are happy to have you bring additional perspective to our topic of CPQ.  Before we start, give us a quick backgrounder as well as what you are doing today.  Scott:  I started out with an interesting educational combination, both engineering and computer science degrees.  After I graduated with a master’s in science from MIT in the mid-80s, I immediately joined a company that was a pioneer in engineering automation called ICAD.  They developed the concept of what was then called “knowledge-based engineering,” now more often called “engineering automation,” and were able to deliver some eye-opening applications to a wide variety of high-end customers.

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Matching CPQ with the “To-Order” Spectrum

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Matching CPQ with the “To-Order” Spectrum

CPQ can be implemented in a range of product configuration options.  As a starter for your strategic planning, here’s a generally accepted definition of “To-Order” options that will be your strategic choices. Assemble-to-Order (ATO) – products with standard sets of predefined features and options.  The customer selects specific features and options to develop the unique product configurations.  Orders are typically processed by an ERP system, for example, computers ordered over the Internet.

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