Many companies are making the transition from 2D to 3D design. This is especially true in the manufacturing industry where 3D models and assemblies are of strategic importance for Engineers who need to communicate design intent to the shop floor and customers. This need is expanding now to Sales and Marketing who need to represent products accurately in catalogs and brochures.
Making the transition can be a lengthy process that requires a considerable amount of training - especially when the 2D and 3D products are on two different product platforms. Managing different CAD files can also pose a challenge unless there's a single document management solution in place that supports cross platform integration. Synergis Adept helps manufacturing companies provide access to key information throughout the product life cycle. From managing revisions for work in process to managing the engineering change process; to collaborating and sharing data between multiple departments in house or off shore, Adept ensures the latest and most accurate information is distributed to the shop floor, clients or contractors.
Customer Success Story
Ferrotec Increases Productivity by 75 Percent with Synergis Adept EDM Software: Enables Document Access to Facilities Worldwide
Ferrotec (USA) Corporation, based in Nashua , New Hampshire employs more than 100 people in the United States and 3,000 worldwide in the design, manufacture, sales and marketing of vacuum feedthroughs, magnetic liquid, thermoelectric and other products, which are used in the processing of silicon wafers and raw materials. Ferrotec began using Synergis Adept(r) EDM software in 2002. It currently has 30 licenses that are used by Engineering, Documentation, Sales and Customer Service, Purchasing and Planning, Manufacturing and Manufacturing Engineering, the assembly floor, Quality Control and Repairs.
The company recently conducted its own Return on Investment (ROI) analysis to determine time saved through the implementation of Adept. They calculated the time employees spent in a variety of tasks, including looking at microfilm; searching for a printed out documents; checking on the status of work; emailing files to individuals who do not have access to their network; and in general, searching for information. All totaled, these tasks accounted for about 160 hours per week.
"Using Synergis Adept, we reduced these tasks to 40 hours per week. That's a 75 percent savings," said Dave Anderson , CAD supervisor, Ferrotec." "In speaking with our Engineering, Purchasing, and Documentation Groups, we estimated that 80 percent of the manual work is gone."
"We went with Adept because it met or exceeded all of our requirements. The cost was relatively low compared to having someone do it for us from scratch and it was a lot less support intensive. Adept's capabilities in addition to its CAD integration with Autodesk Inventor and Mechanical Desktop offered the most value. For us, it was key that the system supported Autodesk products."
Improved Project Management Processes
On average the five designers and drafters work on two to three projects simultaneously for a total of 12 projects at any given time. Moreover, the six engineers could be working on more than that, because they are more involved at the quotation level as well as involved in the production and document creation for their particular customers.
Anderson says, "Adept mainly expedites our design time and our ability to get documents into Manufacturing's hands."
Advanced Planning Contributes to Successful Single Weekend Implementation
"By the time the Synergis Account Executive left we had everything buttoned up. Documents were in place, all the drawing, parts and assembly relationships were intact and we were ready to go live that Monday," said Anderson. "A lot of the reason for our speedy implementation was that we had all our ducks lined up in a row here. ... we've got processes and procedures for just about everything internally and a lot of that facilitated the ability to get Adept up and running.... We pretty much turned on the switch and it started working that weekend."
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