How Schaeffler Overhauled the Design Review Process with CoLab
There was nothing wrong with Scheffler’s design review process… until they realized just how complex their products and processes had become. See how Schaeffler rebuilt their design review process in small steps, which led to massive downstream improvements.
- 30%shorter lead times
- 8 figuresannual cost savings
- $3Msavings in one VA event
- 4Xfaster supplier reviews
- 15%COPQ improvement
- 2Xfaster design cycles
The Challenge: A Broken System Costing Time and Money
Prashant Reddy, Director of Engineering Digitalization doesn’t mince words. The Schaeffler design review process was cumbersome, error-prone, and outdated. This problem only magnified as Schaeffler products got more and more complex.
Their engineering teams felt stuck in a cycle of manual work, disconnected tools, and costly oversights.
As Schaeffler’s products evolved from simple mechanical components to complex, multi-disciplinary systems, it became impossible to track everything manually. This led to repeat errors, milestone delays and costly rework.
They needed a fundamental shift. And that’s where CoLab came in.
The Solution: Asynchronous Design Reviews in One Place
Schaeffler knew what they needed to do. To eliminate inefficiencies and repeat errors, they needed to bring their design reviews into a single, transparent platform. This is what CoLab provided, plus much more.
Now, teams could:
Consolidate all feedback in one place
With CoLab, all design markups, decisions and discussions are housed in one place. Teams no longer have to search through spreadsheets, PowerPoints and emails to find the rationale behind design decisions. Every issue and its context is both captured and clickable from a single issues list.
Collaborate asynchronously
With CoLab, you can share a model with any reviewer – even if they don’t have a CAD license. Anyone you invite can open the model right from their email.
You can even send links to specific markups. So, when someone clicks the link, they’re taken to that exact spot on the model. Schaeffler found this capability reduced the reliance on meetings and sped up approvals.
Give continuous feedback
With CoLab, reviewers can discuss issues in the context of the model at any time. You can add images, simulation results or any other references that help reviewers understand the why behind the markup.
This means everyone knows exactly what they should be working on for any given review. And no review stops for a single person.
Scale effortlessly
CoLab’s interface is meant to be intuitive and easy to learn, even for non-CAD users. For Scheffler, this made onboarding fast and easy. So, a 25 user pilot quickly grew to 90+ users.
The Impact: A Global Transformation
What started as a small pilot quickly gained momentum. Schaeffler rolled out CoLab in phases:
🔹 25 initial users quickly grew to 90+ users.
🔹 Regional adoption followed, as internal teams saw the benefits firsthand.
🔹 Global expansion is now underway. With Germany’s engineering team running their own pilot, Schaeffler is on track for a worldwide rollout involving both suppliers and customers.
“Innovation doesn’t happen in a big bang—it happens in small steps.”
Ready to learn how CoLab could help your team revamp the design review process?
Better products start with better design conversations.
If you’re ready to see how CoLab can transform the way you review designs, here’s how the process works.
