## Siloed Systems Kill Speed and Accuracy

Engineer to order (ETO) products require close collaboration between sales, engineering, and finance—which is difficult when each uses their own system. Challenges include:

- **Lost Revenue**  
Teams lose deals when complex customer requirements take longer to gather than RFPs allow.

- **Missed Delivery Dates**  
Project management and collaboration is hindered when sales and marketing are not connected.

- **Missed Profit Targets**  
Lack of visibility to real-time supplier information and cost leads to inaccurate quotes.

## Propel Connects Teams for ETO Success

### One Team

A single product thread with automated processes across product and commercial teams ensures frictionless collaboration with accurate data across the entire company. Product teams can use existing designs to accelerate timelines while iterating on customer requirements directly with sales teams—leading to faster and more accurate quotes.

### Project Management

Custom products require rigorous project management due to their complexity and individual nature. Multiple teams can be managed in parallel with product development to ensure deadlines, resource allocations, and decision-making are all centrally coordinated and working in concert to deliver projects on time and within budget.

### Accurate Financial Info

Access to real-time component cost information allows precise BOM cost roll-ups to ensure quotes meet profitability targets. Sales and engineering can efficiently collaborate to make decisions on higher cost versus lower risk component suppliers—and ensure risk is accurately reflected in the final customer quote.

### Custom Proposal Development

Reduce complexity of product development by seamlessly integrating CRM, CPQ, and ERP with PLM. Integrated change management, flexible BOM management, and integrated project management between sales, engineering, and finance allows you to quote quickly and accurately.

### Customer and Market Requirements

Ensure product teams have access to the needs, expectations, and preferences of customers, the broader market, and regulatory mandates so they can build the right products for the right buyers.

### Design Reuse

Quickly find equivalent design components so engineers can evaluate performance, quality, and customer satisfaction history while comparing cost across components and suppliers to make the best design choices.

### Document Management

Streamline document processes, enhance accessibility, and ensure version control with automated workflows that govern how documents are created, approved, secured, published, and accessed. Features include in-file text search, filters, e-signatures, and automated training.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**How does Propel’s custom product development solution enhance collaboration across different teams?**  
Propel’s solution, designed for custom product development, unifies product data, workflows, and communication on a single platform, allowing cross-functional teams—from engineering to marketing—to collaborate in, as, and when an issue arises. This improves efficiency, reduces errors, and ensures everyone is aligned throughout the product development process.

**How does Propel’s integrated PLM & QMS for Customized Product Development help reduce time-to-market?**  
Propel’s platform for CPD (custom product development) streamlines the entire product development process by automating workflows, improving data accuracy, and enabling faster decision-making. This helps companies accelerate innovation and bring custom products to market faster without compromising quality.