The rules are what stops a configurator letting people order what cannot be manufactured. Almost no manufacturer has them written down: they are in the foreman's head, in a technical-office notebook and in the orders that went wrong. The five classes of rules there are, how they are drawn out in two meetings and put in a table, how the customer sees them without having the door shut on them, and how they are tested, published and changed later without programming.
Every manufacturing rule we have ever programmed fits into five drawers. With examples from the open demos.
Minimum and maximum width and height per series and opening, maximum weight per sash, minimum height of a railing, maximum load per level of a shelving bay, maximum length of a pergola depending on the wind in the area. They are the first to be written and the ones that generate most warnings.
If the gate weighs more than so much, the motor is the big one; if the tank is for chemicals, it carries a bund; if the window has a roller shutter, the box takes height off the sash; if the enclosure exceeds the panel width, one more panel. A rule of this class changes another choice or calculates it.
A colour that only exists in one series, a glass that does not allow an opening type, a fabric that does not go with a headboard, a finish that is not supplied in a market. What cannot be chosen does not appear, or appears explaining why.
The anchors of a railing, the protectors of a shelving bay in a forklift area, the power supply of an LED strip, the sill of an external window. The customer does not choose it: the configurator adds it and counts it on the order sheet.
How many posts and glass panels for 8 metres of railing, which power supply for 12 metres of strip, how many boxes with wastage for 14 square metres of tiles, how many pallets fit in the lorry, what output for a 90-square-metre home, the weight of each sash and, in the technical ones, the cutting list. They are the rules the technical office does by hand today. See technical configurator with cutting list.
Two meetings, one table and one person who reviews it. It is the part of the project that depends most on you.
With whoever manufactures in front of us, we go through each family asking the same thing: which sizes, what does not go with what, what goes in on its own depending on the use, what is calculated. Out come the limits, the dependencies and the mandatory items. It takes a morning.
Bring three or four orders that had to be remade. Each one is a rule that was missing or that nobody had written down. It is where the odd exclusions and the “the foreman knows that” cases appear.
Each rule with its condition (“sash width greater than 1,200 in series X”), its warning in the customer's words and its way out (another system, one more panel, request a study). The table is reviewed by whoever knows the rules; then it is programmed. See what a manufacturer needs for a 3D configurator.
The rules carry a version: you know which rule was in force when each order was placed, and a change is tested before going to the website. If a limit changes because a supplier changes, the row changes, not the configurator.
A rule that only says “no” loses the customer. One that says “no, but this way yes” sells.
Rules are not taken as good because they sound right: they are tested against orders already manufactured.
Two or three orders already manufactured are put into the configurator: it has to accept them, calculate the same and produce the same sheet. And two or three that went wrong: it has to stop them. Those cases are stored and run again every time a rule is touched. See how a technical configurator is validated.
The rules go to the website with a version; every order records which version it was placed with. If a customer asks why their March order allowed a size that today does not, it is written down.
Changing a limit, a weight, an exclusion or a mandatory item is editing the row from the panel and testing; it is included in maintenance. A new class of rule (a calculation that did not exist) is a development and is priced separately. See 3D configurator maintenance.
Development starts from €6,500 for a visual configurator of one product family; most manufacturer projects fall between €14,500 and €35,000, depending on catalogue, rules and integrations, plus maintenance from €190/month. Rules with a warning and a way out are at the level with rules and price; cutting-list calculations, at the technical level.
There are more short answers in frequently asked questions about 3D configurators and who we are in 3D configurator company.
What stops people ordering what cannot be manufactured: size and weight limits, dependencies (if this, then that), exclusions (this does not go with that), mandatory items depending on the use and calculations (how many posts, which power supply, how many boxes, the cutting list). They are programmed with yours.
It is normal. They are drawn out in two meetings with whoever manufactures: one going through the catalogue family by family and another with three or four orders that went wrong. They end up in a table with one row per rule (condition, warning, way out) that you review before programming.
A warning on the spot, in their words, with the way out in one click: another system, one more panel, another glass, the big motor. What cannot be chosen is shown greyed out and explains why. When there is no way out, they can request a technical study with what they had configured.
They are tested with your orders already manufactured: the configurator has to accept them and produce the same sheet; and with the ones that went wrong: it has to stop them. Those cases are stored and run again every time a rule is touched.
Yes. Changing a limit, a weight, an exclusion or a mandatory item is editing the row from the panel, testing and publishing with a version; it is included in maintenance. A new class of rule, such as a calculation that did not exist, is a development and is priced separately.
Development starts from €6,500 for a visual configurator of one product family; most manufacturer projects fall between €14,500 and €35,000, depending on catalogue, rules and integrations, plus maintenance from €190/month. Rules with a warning and a way out are at the level with rules and price; the cutting list, at the technical level. Details in the price of a 3D configurator.
Try breaking the rules in the open demos: a sash that is too wide, a railing that is too low, a tank for chemicals without a bund. The configurator warns and suggests the way out. No sign-up, with sample products, at configurador.grup3d.es/demo.
With your rules in front of you? Bring three orders that had to be remade and in a 20-minute video call we will draw out the rules that were missing and put them in the table. No commitment.
Would you rather talk it through? Call us on 662 061 421 or write to grup3d@grup3d.es.
What a manufacturer gathers to build a 3D configurator: catalogue with references, sizes and rules, price list, photos of finishes, 3D or drawings, and real orders.
Read →The documents a 3D configurator generates and who receives each one: quote PDF, order sheet, workshop sheet, drawing, cutting list, DXF and CSV.
Read →The index with one card per configurator, filtered by sector, with their open demos.
Read →For manufacturers and for those who sell without a factory: what we do, how, and at what price.
Read →Price, code, cutting lists, online shop, mobile, AI and every sector.
Read →The three levels, what each one includes and what is priced separately.
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