DriveWorks CPQ for manufacturers

DriveWorks CPQ lets a salesperson, dealer, or customer configure a custom product in a form, get a price and a quote document immediately, and trigger the SOLIDWORKS models and drawings without waiting on engineering. It fits manufacturers whose products are variations on rules their engineers already know.

What CPQ means in a manufacturing shop

CPQ stands for configure, price, quote. In a shop that builds custom or configured equipment it replaces this loop: a customer asks for a variant on Monday, engineering gets to it Thursday, and someone else quoted on Tuesday.

With a configurator, the questions engineering would have asked are in a form, the answers engineering would have given are in rules, and the quote comes out while the customer is still on the phone.

How DriveWorks does it

DriveWorks started as SOLIDWORKS design automation, and that is what makes it a different kind of CPQ: the same rules that price the product also drive the models and drawings.

Configure. A form asks the questions, and rules validate the combination as it is entered, so an order that cannot be built cannot be quoted.
Price. Rules calculate price and cost from tables in the project, or read them live from the ERP.
Quote. DriveWorks generates the quote document and can email it.
Then engineer. Once the order is released, DriveWorks Autopilot generates the SOLIDWORKS models, drawings, and bills of materials unattended.
In a browser. DriveWorks Live serves the same forms to sales teams, distributors, dealers, and customers on any device, with no CAD and no local install.

The DriveWorks feature comparison lists what each product includes.

When DriveWorks CPQ fits

Your products are engineered-to-order or configured-to-order: variations on rules that experienced engineers carry in their heads.
You design in SOLIDWORKS, so a quote and its drawings can come from one set of rules.
Quote turnaround is measured in days, and the delay is engineering time, not customer indecision.
Sales asks engineering the same questions on most orders.

When it does not fit

Every job is truly one-off. If no two orders share rules, there is nothing to configure.
A plain catalog. If products do not vary, an e-commerce store is simpler.
The rules are not known yet. A configurator encodes decisions; it cannot make them. Sometimes the first deliverable is getting engineering to agree on the rules.

Who should use the configurator

Internal sales first, almost always. Dealers and distributors next. Customers last, and only after an honest look at product complexity and what a wrong self-service order costs. Should your configurator be customer-facing? works through those questions.

What makes a configurator stick

Start with a product line that is simple, independent, and used by many people. How to choose.
Make the form look like yours. DriveWorks Pro forms can be themed with a stylesheet. How to style DriveWorks forms.
Connect it. A quote that still has to be typed into the ERP has only moved the bottleneck. DriveWorks ERP integration.

Common questions

Is DriveWorks a CPQ system?

Yes. DriveWorks Pro is used as a configure, price, quote system for manufacturers. Unlike most CPQ software, the same rules also drive SOLIDWORKS models and drawings, so the quote and the engineering output come from one source.

Do salespeople need SOLIDWORKS to use a DriveWorks configurator?

No. Sales, dealers, and customers fill in forms through DriveWorks Live in a web browser or through DriveWorks User on the desktop. SOLIDWORKS is only needed where models and drawings are generated, which is normally an Autopilot machine.

Can customers use a DriveWorks configurator directly?

Yes, DriveWorks Live can be exposed to customers. Whether it should be depends on product complexity, the cost of a wrong order, and how ready your customers are for self-service.

Can DriveWorks CPQ connect to our ERP or CRM?

Yes. DriveWorks Pro can read and write SQL Server and ODBC data and call web services, so prices can come from the ERP and released orders can create items, BOMs, and sales orders there. Base 10 has shipped integrations with SYSPRO, NetSuite, Acumatica, Infor XA, QuickBooks Online, and HubSpot.