SECTORAGENT for Manufacturing

Design — Product Development & Engineering

Customer-Led Product Design Work Flow

Concept

Build

Customer-facing agent embedded in the manufacturer's web portal that translates customer requirements entered in natural language (voice or text) into precise technical product specifications, searches the existing product catalog for matches, generates 3D prototype designs for custom requests, and routes finalized specifications to engineering for review.

HARTING reduced product configuration time from 15–20 minutes to 1 minute and prototyping cycles from weeks to minutes using this pattern.

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Agentic behaviors

  • Accepts unstructured customer inputs (spoken needs, rough descriptions) and maps them to structured product specifications
  • Searches product catalog autonomously; presents matched products with 3D visualizations
  • If no catalog match: generates a preliminary custom design prototype without requiring an engineer in the loop
  • Flags ambiguous inputs for customer clarification before proceeding
  • Routes finalized custom designs to engineering team in PLM for feasibility review

Features & capabilities

Natural Language to Spec TranslationConverts customer free-text/speech into structured technical specifications (dimensions, materials, tolerances, compliance)
Product Catalog SearchQueries live product catalog via API using translated specs; returns ranked matches with images and data sheets
3D Prototype GeneratorGenerates preliminary 3D CAD model via integration with CAD system for custom/non-catalog requests
Design Refinement LoopInteractive multi-turn conversation allowing customer to refine prototype iteratively until satisfied
Specification ValidationChecks generated specs against manufacturing feasibility constraints and regulatory standards
Engineering HandoffCreates a structured design brief in PLM and notifies the assigned engineer when customer approves the concept
Multilingual SupportAccepts and responds in customer's preferred language

Agents powering this workflow

Reusable AI capabilities from our Agent Store.

Conversational Design Configurator Agent

Conversational Configurator · Build

Generative CAD/Prototype Agent

Generative Design · Build

Structured Data Q&A Agent

Structured Data Q&A · Build

Who benefits

  • External Customers (primary)
  • Product Design Engineers (review/finalization)
  • Sales Engineers

KPIs impacted

Customer satisfactionProduct configuration timeEngineering cost per designQuote-to-order cycle timeRevenue from custom products

Required connectors

Configured per-organization in the Control Tower once this workflow is enabled for your team.

Product Catalog & R&D DatabasePLM / CADCRMERPCustomer-Facing Web Portal

Configurations & Options

Set up in the Control Tower once this workflow is enabled — shown here so you know what to expect.

Configurations

  • Maximum auto-quoted price before ERP confirmation ($)

Options

  • Require engineer review before manufacturing commitmentWhen on, a credentialed engineer must review generated 3D prototypes before any manufacturing commitment. When off, prototypes can proceed to manufacturing without engineer review.

Governance requirements

  • Customer PII handled per GDPR/CCPA — no storage of personal data beyond session unless consented
  • Generated 3D prototypes must be reviewed by a credentialed engineer before any manufacturing commitment
  • Pricing outputs require ERP confirmation before being communicated to customer
  • All design handoffs logged with full audit trail in PLM