Product Specification Management

Product Specification Management for Process Manufacturing

The way in which a discrete product, such as an airplane or a medical device, is designed and manufactured varies greatly from the way in which a process product, like a bottle of cough medicine or a frozen pizza, is designed and manufactured. It should come as no surprise, then, that the types of systems and solutions used by these two sectors can differ depending on the capabilities and features needed. Product Specification Management systems are solutions designed to meet the unique data management needs of the process manufacturing industry's product design and manufacturing planning processes. Product Specification Management systems cover all the processes used to develop, configure and manage product specifications, from raw materials to intermediate materials and all the way to the finished product and packaging.

In addition, Product Specification Management solutions support formula management, a particularly critical process for food products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, with features to optimize recipes, create and manage the workflows to make changes to formulas and recipes, create and configure formula variants, manage labeling content, plan inventory for scale-up and validate formulas to support production and regulatory needs.

Product Specification Management systems also manage the data needed to ensure consistent adherence to industry standards and to global and regional regulations. This includes various workflows and approval processes, which are implemented to maintain the quality of the products being developed as well as to enhance currently existing product lines. When integrated with supplier networks and material management solutions, Product Specification Management systems drive efficient sourcing and inventory optimization processes across the supply chain. All in all, a successful Product Specification Management solution enables users from different groups such as R&D, engineering, quality and manufacturing to access up-to-date product and process data, see changes, give feedback and collaborate efficiently within a single and secure system.

Functionalities of Product Specification Management Systems

Product specification management
Intellectual property management (product and methodology)
Product variation management
Formula and recipe management
Supplier and internal collaboration tools
Electronic laboratory notebook
Regulatory and quality data management

Benefits of Product Specification Management Systems

Centralize product management of all specifications
Reduce time-to-market with flexible, automated and efficient processes
Enable collaboration and communication across different groups
Improve traceability of data and audit trail
Minimize inventory and material costs
Reduce time-to-market
Reduce product liability risks
Ensure consistent quality and brand protection
Drive paperless manufacturing

Engineering's Expertise

Our team has been designing, implementing and integrating Product Specification Management solutions to customers across different process industries for over a decade. Successful solutions protect and manage all product-related intellectual property including characteristics, quality, formula, recipes, production methods as well as any other areas critical to the manufacturing and business success of our customers' products. Our expertise spans the entire system implementation lifecycle and includes experience helping our process manufacturers transition from their current (often paper or static electronic document-based) systems to a much more efficient, integrated and streamlined manufacturing process with tighter controls to enforce their organizational standards.