The Digital Transformation

of Product Design:
How are design teams
using and planning for
design technology
fueled by data?

This research has been sponsored by Oracle

THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF PRODUCT DESIGN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Digital transformation has already begun. The time of localized, fractured,

siloed product development is coming to an end. Unified platforms and new

technology that pool data, allowing for input from diverse stakeholders – from

engineering, through supply chain, to operations, and even those external to

organizations are already being adopted.

This research has shown that while this transformation is underway, it's still in

its early days. Most development teams have access to their data (91%) but less

than a third can easily access it. This is in part due to most teams relying on

systems that lack integration (73%). Is it any wonder that 66% of teams admit

that they don’t have timely and accurate access to key-performance-indicator

data?

Despite adoption challenges, the participants in this study clearly believe in

the promise of data-fueled product development. When asked about the

various ways cloud-based PLM will enhance product development, they said

10 out of 11 benefits will have a moderate to revolutionary impact on their

business.

How exactly development teams will implement data-fueled technology like

machine learning, AI, and the digital twin has yet to be precisely determined,

but there is hope they’ll help prevent product quality failures and improve

service and maintenance.

What are teams sure about when it comes to digital transformation?

They want to trace data from new product development through to

commercialization. Lucky for them, that technology already exists. They just

need to add it to their technology stack.

The remainder of this report details engineering.com’s survey of 358 product

design professionals and the investigation that led to the findings above.

Written to help executives who oversee product design and product design

practitioners, you can use these results to benchmark your own product

design process and identify opportunities to better leverage data to achieve

better business outcomes.

Thanks for reading.

Roopinder Tara

Director of Content, engineering.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2

HOW WELL ARE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS USING DATA TODAY? 4

Most teams have the ability to trace a product throughout its lifecycle.

How easily they do that varies greatly. 5

54% of product development teams lack proper tools for tracking data

sourced as part of the development process. 6

Product development teams pay the least amount of attention to

external data sources. 7

Two out of three product development teams lack robust social tools

for collaboration. 8

Only 34% of product development teams have timely and accurate

key performance indicator data. 9

Less than 50% of product development teams believe they’re efficient

at passing data between steps of a product lifecycle 10

Product development teams are curious of new approaches and technology

enabled by data, but few fully deploy them 11

WHAT DATA-DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY ARE TEAMS LOOKING FORWARD

TO TOMORROW? 12

Teams anticipate PLM in the cloud to have a major impact on their

product development success. 13

The top priority for AI and machine learning is new product development

to commercialization 14

Product development teams hope to use AI and machine learning to

prevent failures and breakdowns. 15

Larger organizations plan to leverage digital twin sooner than smaller

organizations 16

DEMOGRAPHICS 17

Industries 18

Job Roles 18

CLOSING COMMENTS 19

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THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF PRODUCT DESIGN

How Well Are Product

Development Teams
Using Data Today?

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MOST TEAMS HAVE THE ABILITY TO

TRACE A PRODUCT THROUGHOUT
ITS LIFECYCLE. HOW EASILY THEY
DO THAT VARIES GREATLY.
Before you can draw insight from product development data, you have to
have access to it. The good news is that 9 out of 10 teams have the ability to
trace a product through its development cycle. How easily they manage that
varies, however.

The table below lists the means by which teams trace a product through its
lifecycle. The teams in this study were fairly evenly split between the three
levels of access.

32%
30%
29%

9%

A review like this We do not have a Such a review We currently have a

would not be system in place that would be possible, system in place that
possible for us allows for any time but would require allows us at any
review, but could significant effort to time to review each
produce such an produce as we do step of a product’s
analysis ad hoc using not have easy access lifecycle and also
data we have to the data we’d monitor that product
access to require in the field

Question: Do you currently have the ability to trace a product from ideation and requirements
gathering through to design, and finally through to manufacturing and commercialization and
servicing?

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THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF PRODUCT DESIGN

54% OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

TEAMS LACK PROPER TOOLS FOR
TRACKING DATA SOURCED AS PART
OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
There are numerous sources of data that are fed into the product development
process. Some of these are thoroughly entrenched and common sense,
such as input from the design team. Others, rely on the latest technology, for
example the automated monitoring of social platforms and forums.

In total, respondents were asked about how they track data from seven
different sources. This data was pooled to produce the chart below. Amazingly,
54% of teams are either neglecting to track their data (no formal system, 18%)
or relying on 30-year-old (or older) technology (emails/spreadsheets, 36%) to
track critical inputs to the development process.

Integrated cloud-based system,

9%
No formal system,
18%

Commercial application
integrated with other
applications,
18%

Emails/ spreadsheets, Commercial application

36% used in a stand-alone
environment,
19%

Question: How does your company track the data from each of the following sources as part of
your product development process?

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS PAY

THE LEAST AMOUNT OF ATTENTION TO
EXTERNAL DATA SOURCES.
Survey respondents identified the type of system used to track data from
each of the seven sources below. The score to the right is the average
sophistication of data tracking across all respondents, where a score of 5
represents the most sophisticated system available (integrated cloud-based)
and 1 represents the least (no formal system).

As you can see, product development teams are using more sophisticated
systems overall to track internal data, while using less sophisticated solutions
for external feedback.

This result reveals a breakdown in product development data management.

Incredibly valuable external data is often scattered and harder to analyze. A
sophisticated system that makes the pooling and interpretation of this data
easier would be a major boon to most teams. This reveals an opportunity for
product development teams to gain advantages over their competition.

Internal input from

design 2.73

Internal input from

manufacturing 2.70

Internal input
from sales 2.69

Product usage data from

IoT connected products

2.66

Internal input from

customer service 2.59

Direct customer
feedback 2.57

Monitoring of external
platforms (e.g., social
media, forums, online 2.53
product reviews, etc.)

Question: How does your company track the data from each of the following sources as part of
your product development process?

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TWO OUT OF THREE PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT TEAMS LACK ROBUST
SOCIAL TOOLS FOR COLLABORATION.
Products aren’t developed in isolation. Today’s product development teams
need to take into consideration input from diverse stakeholders across their
own organizations and beyond.

Despite this, 22% of teams don’t have any social tools and aren’t
investigating their use. Another 11% don’t have them today but are
investigating their use. A combined 51% of teams have either limited (33%) or
robust tools for internal collaboration, but lack a means to gather external
feedback (18%). That leaves only 16% of development teams capable of easily
gathering feedback from all stakeholders. In a collaborative world, that’s a
very low percentage.

33%

22%

18%
16%

11%

We don’t use We don’t use We have limited We have robust We have robust

any social tools any social tools social tools, social tools social tools

and are not but see the internal only that are used that are used

investigating benefit and are extensively to extensively both

their use investigating collaborate, internally and

their use internal only externally

Question: How easy is it to collaborate internally and externally for new product development,
perform change management, and make changes based on the voice of the customer?

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ONLY 34% OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

TEAMS HAVE TIMELY AND ACCURATE
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR DATA.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) provide quantifiable measures that a
team can use to determine how well they’re fairing against specific business
objectives. Teams can then employ this feedback to inform their decision
making process. With more accurate and timely the data, the better the
decisions being made.

Despite the obviousness of the relationship between timely, accurate

information and decision making, only 14% of teams report using a dashboard
with real-time KPI data. Another 20% rely on reports that are produced and
circulated either on a set schedule or are produced ad hoc. That leaves 66% of
teams relying on old and often inaccurate data, or no data at all in the case of
25% of teams.

25%

21%
20%
20%

14%

We don’t track
We lack the Reports can be Reports that
We have a

KPIs
ability to track produced, but track KPIs are
dashboard

many of our they are not produced

in place that

KPIs and/or the readily available. and circulated,

allows us to

tracking in Accuracy and but they

check our KPIs

place is often timeliness are are either

throughout the

inaccurate and problematic delivered at a

business in

far from as no formal set interval or

real-time

up-to-date reporting their production

system is in needs to be

place. requested

Question: What best describes your company’s ability to measure key performance indicators
(KPIs) for cross-functional PLM processes (e.g. time-to-market and product life lifecycle cost)?

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LESS THAN 50% OF PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT TEAMS BELIEVE THEY’RE
EFFICIENT AT PASSING DATA BETWEEN
STEPS OF A PRODUCT LIFECYCLE
We broke down the product lifecycle into nine steps and asked the study’s
participants to rate their organization’s efficiency in passing data between
each step. Across all steps, the number of teams that rated their organization
as efficient or very efficient was 47%.

The table indicates what percentage of teams said they were efficient at
transferring data between each step.

That the least efficient flow of data occurs at the beginning and end of a
product’s lifecycle should trouble product development professionals. These
periods are critical for ensuring product development heads down the right
path, with internal targets (e.g. KPIs) being attenuated to and external needs
(customer requirements) being incorporated into the design process.

Gathering input to
requirements gathering 40%

Requirements gathering
to concept design 46%

Concept design to
CAD modeling 59%

CAD modeling
to simulation 53%

Simulation to
prototyping 48%

Prototyping to
manufacturing 49%

Manufacturing to
commercialization 49%

Commercialization and sales

to maintenance/support 40%

Maintenance/support to
input gathering for next 39%
development cycle

Question: There are many steps in the lifecycle of a product. How efficient is your organization
in passing information from each step in the process to the next, as defined here?

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS ARE

CURIOUS OF NEW APPROACHES AND
TECHNOLOGY ENABLED BY DATA, BUT
FEW FULLY DEPLOY THEM
The previous pages have shown that most product development teams are
still in the early days of adapting to the wealth of data now available to them.
Given this, the results in the table below are not surprising. Teams are trying
a great deal of new approaches/technologies enabled by data, but few are
fully deployed.

It’s a good sign that product design with a single unifying, integrated
platform is the most deployed technology. A single platform makes data
integration much easier, thus enabling the other technologies listed in the
table that much easier to try and deploy.

Product design with a platform

22%
(one unifying,
54%
integrated platform)
24%
16%
Product as a service 48%
35%
14%
Digitalization or digital

transformation
53%
33%
14%
IoT and data collection from

47%
connected devices

39%
10%
Model-based enterprise 46%
44%
8%
Augmented reality/
39%
Virtual reality

53%
8%
Digital twin 39%
53%
8%
Artificial intelligence 42%
50%
6%
Chatbots 30%
64%

n Deployed n Evaluating/Piloting n No Plans

Question: What approaches and technologies are your company considering for product
development?

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THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF PRODUCT DESIGN

What data-driven
technology are teams
looking forward to
tomorrow?

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TEAMS ANTICIPATE PLM IN THE CLOUD

TO HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THEIR
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SUCCESS.
PLM in the cloud is expected to benefit the product development process in
numerous ways. Respondents were asked to what extent PLM in the cloud
will impact their own business. They were given a five point scale ranging
from “no impact at all” (1) to “revolutionary impact” (5).

The table below shows the average scores across all respondents. As you
can see, teams are expecting benefits across the board, with 10 of 11 benefits
expected to result in “moderate“ (3) or greater impact to the business’ success.

Faster time to market 3.25

Improve collaboration
integrating end-to-end 3.23
processes

Improve product quality 3.18

Automating processes 3.15

Fueling continuous innovation 3.15

Reduced total cost

of ownership 3.13

Having product data visibility

across multiple disparate 3.11
systems

More intuitive user interfaces 3.08

No need for updates, always

working with the latest 3.07
technology

Anytime anywhere access

from any device 3.06

Enhanced security 2.85

Question: Here is a list of the anticipated benefits of PLM in the cloud. For each benefit, how
great of an impact would it have on the success of your product development?

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THE TOP PRIORITY FOR AI AND

MACHINE LEARNING IS NEW PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT TO COMMERCIALIZATION.
Product development teams answered resoundingly that when it comes
to prioritizing applications in need of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine
learning (ML).

In ranking the six priorities below, the difference in average ranking from
#1, new product development to commercialization, was greater than the
distance from #2, governing data and managing change control, to #6, digital
manufacturing.

1 New product development to commercialization

2 Governing data and managing change control

3 Risk management

4 Predictive maintenance

5 Products as services

5 Digital manufacturing

Question: Rank the following primary uses for machine learning and artificial intelligence as
they may apply to your business.

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS HOPE

TO USE AI AND MACHINE LEARNING TO

PREVENT FAILURES AND BREAKDOWNS.

Respondents were asked to rank six uses for AI and machine learning as they
applied to each respondent’s business. Predicting quality failure to improve
product development was the most popular response, ranking as the first or
second for 42% of all respondents in the survey. “Predicting product launch
success” was ranked first or second by 25% of the respondent.

1 Predict quality failure to improve product development

2 Predict and improve manufacturing uptime and throughput

3 Target specific design activity based on feedback

4 Improve predictive maintenance

5 Create product(s) as a service offering

5 Predict product launch success

Question: Rank the following primary uses for machine learning and artificial intelligence as
they may apply to your business.

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LARGER ORGANIZATIONS PLAN TO

LEVERAGE DIGITAL TWIN SOONER

THAN SMALLER ORGANIZATIONS.

Sensors enable connected products to generate massive amounts of data

for analysis. This data can be fed to a digital twin of the physical device.
Digital twins allow for a number of benefits, ranging from the simulation of
manufacturing lines to improved service and maintenance. The larger your
organization and market share, the more data you have access to.

Only 53% of small organizations (<$100M in revenue) currently have plans for
the digital twin compared to 65% of larger companies (>$100M in revenue).
Small or large, the objectives planned for the digital twin vary greatly as
shown in the data below. This suggests that product development teams have
not yet settled on the best applications for digital twins. This will likely change
as their adoption increases and best practices are revealed.

Improve service and

maintenance 49%

Monitor manufacturing
lines during production 39%

Provide relevant product

usage data back to
product development 37%
to improve the next
generation of products

Report product failure 37%

Virtual prototyping in
design to avoid or delay 34%
physical prototypes

Simulate manufacturing
lines set up during 30%
product development

Question: Rank the following primary uses for machine learning and artificial intelligence as
they may apply to your business.

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Demographics

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INDUSTRIES

n Industrial 41%

n High Tech 29%

n Aerospace and defense 8%n

Consumer Goods & Retail 5%n

Services 4%

n Life Sciences 3%

n Other 10%

N = 358

JOB ROLES

Directors, VPs, Managers Sr Engineers Engineers Technicians & Other

& C-Suite 18% 24% 34% other design team 6%
13% members
5%

N = 358

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CLOSING COMMENTS

The goal of this study was to determine how product development teams are
currently managing their data and how they expect to put that data to use as
the digital transformation of product development intensifies.

Regarding data management and utilization today, it seems most teams are
finding it a bit of a challenge, as the following findings showed:

• Only 32% of teams have access at any time to product data across the product
lifecycle and when deployed in the field

• 54% of product development teams lack proper tools for tracking data
sourced as part of the development process

• Only 34% of product development teams can check their performance

against key performance indexes (KPIs) in real-time.

Despite current struggles, or maybe because of them, product development

teams are positive on the future of integrated product lifecycle management
(PLM) in the cloud. When asked about how the anticipated benefits of PLM in
the cloud will affect their businesses, the respondents said 10 out of 11 benefits
will result in moderate to revolutionary impact on their product development.

Engineering.com would like to thank the participants of this study. By sharing

their knowledge and allowing others to see how they compare, they have
enriched the entire product development community.

Thanks for reading.

Roopinder Tara
Director of Content, engineering.com

This research has been sponsored by Oracle

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is no longer a discipline hidden
in the product engineer´s garage. Given today’s complex business
environment, modern companies need a fresh approach to quickly
improve product development functions and integrate them across
the end-to-end supply chain. To learn more, visit oracle.com/plm.
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