Integration of customer based features in digital mock-ups

The development and the enhancing of industrial goods require customer knowledge as a permanent input in R&D and production processes. The origin of the customer knowledge - the customer itself - usually just stays in contact with the business units marketing, sales and service. Several studies illustrate that in most industrial Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) there remains an informational gap between customer oriented and product oriented business units. As a consequence valuable customer knowledge is neglected during product development. To improve this situation a concept for a solution is developed that enables businesses to utilize customer data from CRM systems in existing CAx systems. The solution utilizes feature technologies that are modified for the inclusion of customer based features. Hence, the voice of the customer can be used to enhance product development and manufacturing processes. A proof of concept with a prototype that is built upon a standard CAD system and a standard CRM system demonstrates the feasibility of realizing the solution.