Leading crane company addresses the challenges of complex data management, control and access; substantially improves customer response and support

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1 Industrial machinery significantly improves product development operations through global partner collaboration using Siemens PLM Software s Solid Edge with Insight and Microsoft s Sharepoint Product Solid Edge Business challenges Effectively manage large amounts of part, assembly and configuration data to improve the speed, efficiency and precision with which users inside and outside the company can access the information they need Keys to success Solid Edge for innovative design Solid Edge with Insight for product data management across the enterprise Sharepoint for 24/7 internet access by distribution network Results Internal and external users with a specific need to know get immediate access to the right site and quickly locate correct and unambiguous information when they need it Significantly improved customer response/support Leading crane company addresses the challenges of complex data management, control and access; substantially improves customer response and support Huge commercial success Company () is the United Kingdom s (UK s) largest manufacturer of electric overhead traveling cranes (EOTCs) and a major exporter of hoists, components and controls to crane makers worldwide. What sets us apart from our competitors is our commitment to product development, notes, managing director at. For a medium-sized company in our market sector, we have a massive commitment to developing world-class products. Indeed, we spend more than 1million every year doing just that. We have a renowned commitment to support our customers with spares and after-sales service, and we go from inquiry to full quotation, specification and drawings in less than 10 minutes. With the huge commercial success of s new ZX, VX and LX range of hoists, the company wanted to better manage the large volumes of data generated by the millions of possible product configurations. To do this, implemented Solid Edge software with Insight data management solution, product lifecycle management technology from Siemens PLM Software; and Sharepoint

2 Results (continued) Greater product innovation Tight control over millions of possible product configurations Return on investment second-to-none What sets us apart from our competitors is our commitment to product development. software, a business collaboration platform for the enterprise and the internet from Microsoft. World-class cranes and material handling equipment Founded in 1946 by former Spitfire pilot Peter Street, has more than 60 years of experience in crane design and is now firmly established as one of the world s volume overhead crane and hoist manufacturers. From its Chapel-en-le-Frith factory on the edge of the UK s Peak District National Park, the company offers one of the largest ranges of factory cranes, portal cranes, electric wire rope hoists, electric chain hoists, jib cranes and mechanical handling equipment. Within the UK, the company designs, manufactures, assembles, installs and supports the company s products directly. Overseas, it operates through a network of third parties that are supplied with customerspecific complete knock-down (CKD) kits for assembly and installation on customers premises. A big challenge and an even bigger opportunity The advent of the new products that we are developing presented us with a big challenge and an even bigger opportunity, says, director of development at. He explains, The With Solid Edge, we are able to create accurate 3D models that enable us to check tolerances and provide trusted design information.

3 challenge was to manage our data in a much more sophisticated and effective way given the huge number of configuration combinations of our products. The opportunity was to improve the speed, efficiency and precision with which users inside and outside the company could access the data specific to them. Significant benefits of using Solid Edge has used Solid Edge to design its products for many years. With Solid Edge, we are able to create accurate 3D models that enable us to check tolerances and provide trusted design information, says Russell. It s fast, it s easy to use and the data and design information is managed in a very convenient way. We are able to produce interlinked documents from training manuals, to procedures, to detailed drawings and designs, through to rendering for documentation and marketing purposes. This is one of the massive benefits that you have with a full 3D model of your products created using Solid Edge. More to manufacturing that just good design There is more to a successful manufacturing business than good design, though. It is important that the substantial amount of information design data, product specifications and configurations, material and bought-in component specifications, fabrication drawings, customer orders and specifications is efficiently managed and access-controlled. wanted to allow different disciplines within the company and different organizations outside the company to access the data appropriate to their needs in a secure, controlled With Solid Edge, we are able to create accurate 3D models that enable us to check tolerances and provide trusted design information. It s fast, it s easy to use and the data and design information is managed in a very convenient way. We are able to produce interlinked documents from training manuals, to procedures, to detailed drawings and designs, through to rendering for documentation and marketing purposes. This is one of the massive benefits that you have with a full 3D model of your products created using Solid Edge. We are able to produce interlinked documents from training manuals, to procedures, to detailed drawings and designs, through to rendering for documentation and marketing purposes.

4 The beauty of using Solid Edge with Insight and Sharepoint is the way it has enabled this collaboration with all our partners all around the world. and easy-to-use manner. Access is through the familiar web interface so that each group of users has, what is in effect, its own web site, so that users can easily understand and navigate, without having to wade through lots of information that isn t relevant to them or that they should not be accessing, says Russell. The capability of Insight enables the documents to be moved to the right places at the right time, by the right people. He explains, Sharepoint allows our distribution network to access this vast amount of technical data 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We don t have to worry about copying files from different locations. The capability of Insight enables the documents to be moved to the right places at the right time, by the right people. Solid Edge with Insight provides the linking required for Microsoft Sharepoint and it enables the system to open files and save them directly into the virtual server system. It also controls lifecycle management and movement of data around the system automatically. Sharing with customers and suppliers Effective data management is essential to success. Being better able to manage our data in this way means that we could start to share it with our suppliers and our customers in a much more meaningful way, says Russell. The beauty of using Solid Edge with Insight and Sharepoint is the way it has enabled this collaboration with all our partners all around the world. In fact, we can t actually see any other way that it would have worked. Copying files to CDs (compact discs) or ing different documents was not the way to do it, as you completely lose control of those documents the minute they are sent out of your company. The structure and security capabilities of Sharepoint are very good, as they use the Microsoft security systems. They enable us to create various sites so different people from within our organization are able to see different areas, write to different areas, or edit different areas. This also enables us to write sites for external people to log into our company from the outside world, so we can control information through the supply chain and we can control information from our customers. With

5 Solutions/Services Solid Edge Solid Edge with Insight Sharepoint Customer s primary business designs and manufactures electric overhead traveling cranes. Customer location Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire United Kingdom Partner Prion Cutting Edge Oxfordshire, United Kingdom Without doubt, the return on our investment in using Sharepoint and Solid Edge products has been absolutely second-to-none. We wouldn t have achieved what we have, I believe, with any other products on the market. the Sharepoint system, only the right people are allowed to log on to the right site and they can see the right data at the right time and know that they have something that is correct and unambiguous. Return on investment second-to-none The implementation of Microsoft Sharepoint and Solid Edge was incredibly easy, notes Russell. With the help of our partner Prion Cutting Edge, we were able to implement this solution the basic parts of it in a single day. From that point on we spent just eight days customizing our system. Pimblett concludes, Without doubt, the return on our investment in using Sharepoint and Solid Edge products has been absolutely second to none. We wouldn t have achieved what we have, I believe, with any other products on the market. The return on our investment in using Sharepoint and Solid Edge products has been absolutely second-to-none. Siemens PLM Software Americas Europe +44 (0) Asia-Pacific Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. D-Cubed, Femap, Geolus, GO PLM, I-deas, Insight, JT, NX, Parasolid, Solid Edge, Teamcenter, Tecnomatix and Velocity Series are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. Sharepoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other logos, trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks used herein are the property of their respective holders Z /13 B