If your company develops consumer products, check out the great discussion on systems engineering for consumer product development on the Razorleaf Podcast, ‘Stay Sharp with Digital Engineering,’ Dassault Systemes Home & Lifestyle industry solution leader, Eran Reinshmidt and MBSE expert and Home & Lifestyle industry solution team member, Safae El Abkari, outlined the many advantages Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) offers manufacturers including requirements traceability in consumer products.
Hosts Jonathan Scott observed that the same model-based engineering approach trusted to send rockets into space now helps engineering teams. Co-host Juliann Grant asked what benefits MBSE offers for working faster with minimal rework. Eran and Safae explained that teams that deliver smart power tools, small home appliances, and other software-driven consumer products—leverage MBSE to manage ever increasing product complexity. Engineering teams now need the right tools to manage connected, software-drven products. The podcast discussion centered around ways to best integrate systems, trace requirements, meeting performance targets and more. Consumer teams that deliver smart power tools, small home appliances, and other software-driven consumer products—leverage MBSE to do their work faster and with fewer late surprises.
It’s difficult to track continuous product requirements changes without a shared system model. Siloed document-based tracking doesn’t automatically trace performance and features back to specific requirements.
Safae El Abkari
Solution Engineering Consultant, Dassault Systèmes
What are the advantages of an integrated systems engineering framework?
A new feature request arrives late. A supplier specification shifts. Compliance updates land mid-cycle. Suddenly, what looked like a straightforward product refresh impacts teams across disciplines: mechanical, electrical, software, test, and manufacturing all shift—but not always in sync.
That reality explains why MBSE for consumer product development now matters more than ever. MBSE brings structure to requirements that never stop changing
Listen to the full episode: Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering episode #119, to hear Eran Reinshmidt and Safae El Abkari—explain how engineering teams apply MBSE to complex consumer products to move faster, reduce risk, and avoid late surprises—without turning product development into an academic exercise.
Consumer companies frequently have teams of engineers working together across locations. That’s the situation kitchen appliance maker, Zimplistic faced with their teams based in the Philippines and Singapore. Engineers found it difficult to both collaborate on designs and share information with their manufacturing facility in Malaysia. Plus, data, often stored in siloed repositories, sometimes caused fragmented and lost information. To learn how Zimplistic engineers improved collaboration and workflows with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, read the case study.
Many companies still manage requirements through documents: spreadsheets, Word files, slides, and long email threads. That approach collapses the moment product requirements change. An MBSE approach offers an elegant solution.
Performance gains: requirements traceability in consumer products, real-time collaborations
As the podcast team discusses, an MBSE approach means each requirement lives in a shared system model rather than a static document. Teams have the advantage of connecting every requirement directly to:
• product functions and behaviors
• subsystems and components
• verification and validation activities
And, full traceability provides performancew gains with improved collaboration across locations and real-time access into product schedules, product dependencies and potential risks. This insight provides answers to critical questions such as:
• Are key stage gates and milestones being met on time?
• How does an engineering change order impact the schedule?
• Are we aligned with manufacturing planning and suppliers?
Many organizations adopt MBSE for consumer product development as products grow more connected and regulated. MBSE helps teams define and test product performance and material behavior. As products features require more software, sensors, connectivity, and automation, behavior becomes the hardest aspect to predict.
The advantages of MBSE and a shared system model
MBSE captures behavior in a shared system model so teams can:
• map workflows and interactions clearly
• identify dependencies early
• assess change impact immediately
• reduce late-stage integration churn
One example from the episode that resonates with many consumer manufacturers: how to best add a new function—such as a steamer feature to an autonomous vacuum. The need for requirements traceability in consumer products increases with complexity. Without traceability when adding a new product requirement to a design, how would engineers model the new feature and the impact of the change to interconnected systems?
MBSE supports full requirements traceability plus variant management and product line engineering. If applied to products such as power tools or small appliances manufacturers simplify variations, such as: corded and cordless, regional SKUs, tier variants (same platform different power levels), and connected versus non-connected versions.
The Razorleaf and Dassault Systemes teams outline how MBSE supports product line engineering (PLE). In short, they describe how MBSE supports maintaining a core system model and configure variants by turning options on or off—rather than redefining requirements and behavior for every release. Tune into the discussion to learn more.
Managing complexity with MBSE on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform
Eran Reinshmidt and Safae El Abkari outlined the challenges consumer product engineers balance, such as adding more capability while balancing:
• shifting consumer expectations around sustainability, repairability, and UX
• evolving regulations covering safety, noise, heat, and materials
• intense competition and compressed launch cycles
MBSE on the 3DEXPERIENCE ® platform for consumer product development gives engineering managers a practical advantage: an integrated systems engineering framework that aligns teams across disciplines and tracks changes. Interested in more practical examples to apply to your organization? Check out the full podcast episode, Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering episode #119.
Additional Links
What is Model-based Systems Engineering?
Smart Consumer Product Development
SOLIDWORKS and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for Consumer Products
I’m skilled in using storytelling to create content that informs and reveals the value that our solutions offer companies in solving complex challenges across the product lifecycle. I enjoy developing strategies around go-to-market, digital marketing, awareness, and SEO. Linkedin.com/in/emondro