Archive for January, 2021
Saturday, January 23rd, 2021
Integrating data exchange into the users’ working environment is the best way to ensure that they comply with data security and know-how protection rules. That’s why automotive supplier HBPO has integrated the OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange platform into SAP ECTR. In the future, it will be available not only for product developers, but also for other departments.
HBPO is a world leader in the development, design and assembly of front-end modules, i.e. those modules that give vehicles their face. The Tier 1 supplier also manufactures active grille shutters, center consoles and cockpit modules for major automotive OEMs. HBPO has stood for innovation, quality and customer proximity for nearly three decades, but has only operated under this name since 2004. Being a joint venture, 66.6% of the company is owned by Plastic Omnium and 33.3% by HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA since 2017. Currently, the module specialist employs around 2,500 people at more than 30 locations in Europe, Asia and America.
HBPO’s engineers manage their design data from different authoring systems using SAP PLM or the SAP Engineering Control Center (ECTR). ECTR provides standard integrations to the leading CAx systems under a uniform user interface. To meet the more demanding requirements in terms of IP protection and traceability of the exchange processes, the company introduced the OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange platform.
“PROSTEP was the only company that could offer us complete integration of the data exchange solution in the new environment,” explains Alexander Meier the reasons for the decision. He is responsible for supporting the company’s PLM landscape. Conformity to TISAX also played an important role. By using OpenDXM GlobalX, the strict security requirements of the VDA for handling confidential and personal data can be better met during operation.
PROSTEP delivers OpenDXM GlobalX with a plug-in that was developed in collaboration with DSC AG and is fully integrated with SAP ECTR. It allows users to send data from SAP ECTR to OpenDXM GlobalX and also to import data from there back into the system. Both the sending and receiving of documents can be largely automated, minimizing manual intervention.
The plugin is provided as a ZIP document and can be integrated into the SAP ECTR environment very easily. Analogous to the configuration of the user interface, the frontend-relevant settings can be configured on the file level. For example, HBPO has created various macros for exchanges that are still in progress or those that have already been successfully executed. Adjustments to the data model or classification, on the other hand, must be made in the SAP back end. “The configuration effort is kept within limits, however,” says Meier. “Overall, setting up the integration took no longer than a day.”
OpenDXM GlobalX is currently used primarily by engineers at HBPO. They create their exchanges for the project in question in the SAP ECTR environment, select complete assemblies or individual components in the preview window and copy them into the exchange package using drag and drop. In addition to native 3D models, the package can also contain data in neutral formats such as JT or PDF. Then they select the recipient(s) in the shipping order wizard and export the exchange package from SAP PLM to OpenDXM GlobalX. In SAP ECTR, they can track the status of their shipping orders at any time.
The seamless integration of the data exchange platform into the SAP ECTR environment ensures a high level of acceptance and also helps to ensure that users require very little training, as Meier sums up. “Setting up the data exchange authorizations was made easier by the fact that the data in SAP ECTR and also the accesses are organized on a project-by-project basis and that the integration can be adapted very flexibly to our authorization concept. Only employees who have access to the respective project and project data can create data exchange transactions.”
HBPO is very satisfied with PROSTEP’s data exchange platform and intends to make it available in the future to all departments that exchange sensitive data with customers or suppliers, as Meier concludes. This could be employees in purchasing, quality assurance or industrial engineering, but also in human resources. Since not all of them work with SAP ECTR, the company is thinking about implementing OpenDXM GlobalX’s MS Outlook integration as well.
By Daniel Wiegand
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Sunday, January 17th, 2021
A few weeks ago, Alstom completed the takeover of Bombardier’s railway division. However, the two companies already worked closely together beforehand on the development and production of the new generation of metros for the Paris transport authority. The former Bombardier sites use the OpenPDM integration platform to import the engineering data for production and assembly into their PLM environment.
Under the project name MF 19, the Paris Metro is getting a new generation of rail vehicles for the lines operated with steel wheels. The contract between the operating companies and the now “married” consortium partners Alstom and Bombardier Transportation provides for the delivery of 44 trains worth 530 million euros to be put into service between 2024 and 2026 – with the option of a further 410 trains. Alstom will essentially supply engines, drive chains, on-board electronics and IT security systems, while the former Bombardier site in Crespin, France, will be responsible for the design and production of car bodies, bogies, air conditioning and interior components.
Through the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, the French Alstom Group expands its global footprint and becomes a world leader in mobility solutions, present in 70 countries, employing around 75,000 people and generating pro forma combined revenues of around €15.7 billion. At the same time, the acquisition expands Alstom’s portfolio of innovative rail technology products and solutions. The portfolio ranges from light and regional trains to high-speed trains and also includes new strategic products such as people movers and monorails. With a fleet of 150,000 rail vehicles, the company has the world’s largest installed base, which is also the foundation for expanding its leadership in the service business. In the signaling segment, it now ranks second in terms of sales.
Both sides need construction documents
Alstom and Bombardier have a long history of joint consortium projects. “Due to the often very large project volume, such projects are nothing unusual in rail vehicle construction,” says Edouard Hundemer, who is responsible for the OpenPDM project and end-to-end integration of MF19 engineering tools at former BT in the Bombardier Information Systems division. “However, a special feature of the MF 19 project is that both partners must be able to build the complete trains. They therefore need all the information and documentation required for assembly, even if not everyone manufactures all the subsystems.” In this way, the clients want to ensure faster delivery of the new metro generation.
Collaboration is a major challenge in the consortium project, and the merger of the two companies did not automatically resolve it because the IT landscapes have not yet been consolidated. “Basically, each partner wants to use its existing IT systems and methods for design and engineering, if possible, to avoid the cost of acquiring new systems and retraining its engineers,” says Hundemer. “At the same time, however, both partners must ensure the PLM paradigm of single source of truth when collaborating.”
To simplify collaboration, a separate development environment was set up for the MF 19 project at Bombardier’s Crespin site, which in a sense replicates the system and process landscape at Alstom. This makes it easier for the developers of the two consortium partners to synchronize their engineering data, which is particularly helpful in the early development phase with its large number of changes. For the new colleagues at Bombardier, however, it means that they must subsequently integrate the data into their own PLM landscape in order to maintain collaboration with suppliers and to be able to supply the downstream processes in manufacturing and assembly with construction documents.
The PLM landscape at the former Bombardier sites is relatively uniform, with two or three main systems. As the central PLM system, the “Rolling Stock” division uses the Siemens Teamcenter Enterprise (TCE) software, which is gradually being replaced by Teamcenter UA. Enovia 3Dcom, a CAD-related data management system, is also used to manage the CAD models. The mechanical assemblies are normally designed with the CAD system Catia V5 from Dassault Systèmes, which is also used at Alstom.
OpenPDM controls the data import
The data import into TCE or Enovia 3Dcom is controlled via PROSTEP’s PLM integration platform OpenPDM, which the new group division already used for the joint development of the ICE4 with Siemens. “We had good experience with the software during the ICX project and thus knew that it would work well on our side,” says Hundemer. “In addition, we could be sure that we met the EN standards in terms of verification requirements.”
The requirements in the ICX project for Siemens, however, differed significantly from those in the MF 19 project. In the former, OpenPDM supported both the export and import of CAD data and product structures in the ongoing development process, with the Catia files being converted into the neutral STEP format to protect intellectual property. OpenPDM also controlled the reconversion of incoming STEP files from Siemens into Catia format during import. However, in this case the company did not need the complete construction documents, as it only acts as a supplier of certain components. The trains are built by Siemens.
In the MF 19 project, the engineering data from the common development environment is to be integrated into the PLM world of the former Bombardier locations when a certain level of maturity is reached, in order to be able to use it for subsequent processes. For this purpose, they are provided in a coordinated format that OpenPDM can read. The PROSTEP solution imports the CAD and PLM data and maps them to the global data model of former Bombardier, which is quite different from the Alstom data model of the development environment. Part of the metadata moves together with the CAD files into the CAD-related data management, while the other part is created in TCE or updated after changes.
Data is imported at the push of a button
In principle, the import and mapping of data can be fully automated with OpenPDM. However, the former Bombardier team opted for a semi-automated approach in order to avoid having to immediately update every small change in the development in TCE or Enovia 3Dcom. PROSTEP has enhanced the solution so that it continuously compares the version statuses and informs the key users of changes. They can import new data sets or parts of them at the push of a button. OpenPDM also offers the possibility of importing files that have not yet been released, e.g. from long-running components, so that they can be used for request for quotations, for example.
One of the biggest challenges in the OpenPDM project was the mapping of the different data structures, as Hundemer points out. With the help of PROSTEP, however, they were able to overcome these challenges without any problems. Hundemer is very satisfied with the support he received from the collaboration experts: “It is always good to have a partner who understands his product in depth and knows how to implement it at the customer’s site. The people from PROSTEP were always approachable and often the ones who had the solution ready. This made the ramp-up much easier.”
Standard solution for collaboration
Although – as is usual for large companies – a large number of stakeholders and external service providers was involved in the project, whose coordination was also made more difficult by the Corona pandemic, the implementation and testing of the new integration solution, including going live, only took a good six months. The project partners were of course able to build on the experience and preliminary work from the ICX project. The software did not have to be installed from scratch either, because the French locations simply access the existing instance in one of the company’s data centers.
The aim is to provide the departments with a uniform solution for collaboration in joint ventures and consortium projects, as Hundemer concludes. “In the Information Systems department, we have developed a strategy for integrating partners and suppliers into the extended company, in which OpenPDM plays an important role. We will therefore certainly continue to work with PROSTEP.” Possibly, the solution will even be expanded so that in addition to CAD and PLM data, requirements can also be exchanged via OpenPDM in the future.
By Mirko Theiß
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Monday, January 11th, 2021
Although there is already a large number of projects involving digital twins under way in the maritime industry, there is no common industry-wide understanding of what a digital twin is and no uniform approach to implementation. These are the results of a survey on the digital twin conducted by PROSTEP among shipyards, operators, suppliers and classification societies.
Everyone is talking about the digital twin – even in the shipbuilding industry. But is there something like an industry-wide understanding of what companies in the maritime industry mean by the term “digital twin” and what they expect from it? To find out, PROSTEP conducted a cross-enterprise survey of shipyards, operators, suppliers and classification societies. Due to the novelty of the topic, we assumed that companies have different ideas about the digital twin.
The objective of the survey was to shed light on what companies in the maritime industry understand the digital twin to be, to record the status of current or planned applications and solutions with their potential and challenges, and also to see how the companies organize collaboration in the context of the digital twin. Managers from more than a dozen shipyards, operators, suppliers and classification societies, representing different sectors of the maritime industry from cruise, containers and cargo to naval engineering, navy and public agencies, were surveyed.
For many of those who participated in the survey, the digital twin is at best a vision and at worst a marketing buzzword. It therefore comes as no surprise that there is no common industry-wide understanding of what a digital twin is; there are however some remarkable similarities. Almost without exception, respondents across all segments of the industry associate the digital twin with the digitalization of their product or the asset to be operated but not with the digitalization of the production systems. Almost all respondents also believe that this digital twin does not end when the product is handed over to the customer but also accompanies the operating phase.
On the whole, it appears that respondents from the supplier segment have somewhat of a head start over other segments of the industry when it comes to the level of maturity of digital twin projects. Many are in the pilot stage or are already being used productively. It is also the suppliers who are calling the loudest for standards that will enable them to integrate their digital representations with other systems in the overall system that is a “vessel” and exploit the potential that the digital twin offers.
The companies have different reasons for addressing the topic of the digital twin. From an engineering perspective, primary focus is placed on optimizing designs based on insights gained during operation, the early testing of functions and providing support for downstream business processes with the help of 3D product models. In the operating phase, improved planning and remote support for maintenance and inspection tasks as well as the optimization of operating parameters are key drivers for projects currently underway. Initial use cases in manufacturing include the virtual approval of work, the early training of personnel in the construction phase of a vessel, and the optimization of manufacturing processes.
For the majority (over 70 percent) of the companies surveyed, improving service quality is the most important potential offered by the digital twin; this is followed by supporting new business models and improving the development process. As far as suppliers in particular are concerned, the main benefit is the ability to avoid subsequent costs and work resulting from development errors. For operators, on the other hand, the digital twin offers significant potential for increasing capacity utilization, reducing operating costs and improving sustainability, e.g. by reducing emissions.
Increasing collaboration in the context of implementing and using digital twins is seen throughout the industry as posing the greatest challenge – along with a lack of standards and the availability of appropriate models, which are of concern to suppliers in particular. With the exception of a few suppliers, the vast majority of the manufacturing companies surveyed do not work together with partners on digital twin projects at all or do so rarely. Most operators, on the other hand, already use digital representations of their ships to optimize operation of the vessels together with partners and customers, and they access digital service and maintenance offerings from partners.
In principle, all the companies are in favor of a higher level of collaboration when it comes to implementing and using the digital twin. Many, however, have reservations when it comes to protecting their intellectual property and see contractual ambiguities with regard to digital content. This means that every company is trying to exploit the potential of the digital twin with their own benefit in mind. There is also no uniform approach to dealing with this topic in the individual segments of the industry, and a different approach is taken for each application scenario. There is a risk that the digital twin projects will lead to the creation of new data silos.
The results of the survey provide a basis for recommending action that can be taken by companies in the maritime industry. Perhaps the most important is collaborating with other companies in the context of implementing and using digital twins. Companies that actively collaborate with partners are usually able to implement their projects faster.
We recommend that companies tackle concrete projects that offer economic value added. Collect the data you need for the project at hand but avoid creating new data silos by linking the data that you have collected according to clearly defined rules. The digital components for the digital twin are available in most companies in the form of models, data and IT systems. You just need to clarify how you can best exploit this potential to meet your business needs. Our many years of experience with digitalization initiatives in the shipbuilding industry means that we are in a position to help you do this.
By Lars Wagner
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Thursday, January 7th, 2021
The HARTING Technology Group, one of the world’s leading suppliers of connection technology, made use of PROSTEP’s PLM strategy consulting services last year. In this interview, Dr. Kurt D. Bettenhausen, member of the board responsible for New Technologies and Development at HARTING, discusses the company’s digitalization strategy and the need for action in product development.
Question: Dr. Bettenhausen, could you give us a brief introduction to HARTING?
Bettenhausen: HARTING is a leading global provider of connectivity solutions for the transmission of data, signals and energy in automation technology, mechanical engineering, robotics and, particularly important, in railway technology. We also supply entire checkout zones and provide the automotive engineering sector with actuators, magnet systems, etc. Our big growth market there is power transmission for electric vehicles with on-board charging cables, as well as charging cables and connectivity solutions for charging stations. We are a tier-1 supplier to the VW Group, supplying for example a cooled fast charging solution for the Porsche Taycan.
Question: HARTING has successfully defied the coronavirus pandemic and saw a slight increase in revenue last year. What factors played a role in this success?
Bettenhausen: First of all, close proximity to customers and to the markets and responding quickly to their requirements. The second factor is a strong sense of responsibility. We have ensured that our employees can work safely, be it in the office, on the production floor, in the testing laboratories or in logistics, and thus maintained our ability to deliver at any time. The third factor is that we quickly adapted all our market communications.
Question: In which industries and markets are you experiencing the greatest growth?
Bettenhausen: One area is undoubtedly electromobility, which really took off in Germany last year, thanks in part to financial support measures. This is where we recorded the highest rates of growth percentage-wise. But we have also enjoyed growth in the fields transportation/railway technology, automation and logistics. The fact that we are able to grow in a time when many companies are shrinking means that everyone has made a contribution.
Question: You recently established a cooperation with MIT. What kind of impetus do you hope this will provide?
Bettenhausen: We hope to find partners for collaboration and co-creation. MIT is one of the top addresses worldwide when it comes to thinking outside the box. With its hardware sector, the ecosystem in the northeast of the USA is a deliberate counter-pole to Silicon Valley. Companies that are part of this ecosystem via the Industrial Liaison Program are able to come together more quickly with the aim of solving tasks or developing initial prototypes.
Question: How innovative is HARTING? How “young” are your products on average?
Bettenhausen: We have a large number of new products in every sector. But we also continue to develop the products that our customers have known and valued for years. Countless variants of HARTING’s HAN connector, which we patented at the end of the 1950s, are still available today. It is constantly being expanded to include new modules, such as ID modules and current sensors, and new power ratings.
Question: What challenges does HARTING face in product development? How global is your product development?
Bettenhausen: We have globally distributed teams to ensure that we drive development forward close to and together with our customers, even though development is still primarily carried out in Germany. This means making note of customer requirements in a quick exchange and developing innovative answers ourselves.
Question: Aren’t connectors standard products?
Bettenhausen: We cover a whole range of connectors. The basis is provided by standard connectors from the catalog. They have a modular concept and you can configure them to meet your requirements. Then there is the Customized Solutions division, where we develop complete solutions together with customers. The jumper cables between two railcars are a good example. Every railcar manufacturer has its preferences as to what it wants to exchange and how it wants to exchange data, signals and power.
Question: What does this wide range of products mean in terms of your digitalization strategy?
Bettenhausen: It has to offer an appropriate level of flexibility. An off-the-shelf digitalization solution only offers us help with our standard products – we need flexibility for everything else. It begins with our colleagues, who first have to understand the task for which they are supposed to provide a solution together with the customer. PLM tools that offer a corresponding level of flexibility are needed to plan and produce this solution.
Question: In which fields of activity are you driving digitalization forward?
Bettenhausen: If you want to produce a modular HAN connector down to a batch size of 1, all the processes from ordering to production through to logistics have to be digitalized systematically. This is why we keep a close eye on everything to do with enterprise software. Here at HARTING, we don’t realize a project and then leave it as it is for all eternity. It’s like the lathes we were introduced to in the apprentice workshop but no longer use. The same applies to digitalization: We use it, develop it further and launch the next stage whenever it makes sense and is needed.
Question: And what about digitalization in the context of product development?
Bettenhausen: Digitalization of product development alone won’t help if we can’t get our products out there. That’s why we have an outstanding mechanical engineering department that can perform certain special tasks in-house. Product development has come a long way over the last ten years. The big players in the PLM sector have come out with complete solutions that can be used to simulate the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of the products to be designed and break the digital twin down to the levels required by production.
Question: What role does PLM play in your digitalization strategy?
Bettenhausen: We think in terms of three core processes: development, production and sales. Development includes all the steps from designing the products to designing the production systems to making the resulting product data available throughout the entire value-added chain.
Question: What does your PLM landscape currently look like? What are the cornerstones?
Bettenhausen: The cornerstones are currently management of master data and the 3D drawing chain. The aim now is to take the next step with an upcoming PLM project.
Question: Am I right in assuming that you don’t want to reveal which systems you are currently using?
Bettenhausen: Yes. However, I can tell you that we are using two of the leading products for PLM and ERP.
Question: If you are using two leading systems, why did you need PROSTEP’s PLM strategy consulting services?
Bettenhausen: We wanted to prepare for the next round and not, so to speak, “stew in our own juices” and be dependent on the information provided by the vendors. A PLM project is about the processes, the organization and only at the end about the tools. When it came to preparing for the project, it was important that we get an opinion from a largely neutral third party and see whether our own assessment was right. PROSTEP was a big help. The consulting took place before I joined the company. I only joined in time to see the presentation of the results and thought it a great success. An appropriate roadmap had been drawn up indicating how we can further develop three interwoven aspects, namely processes, organization and tools, in the coming years.
Question: In which processes is there a need for action?
Bettenhausen: A review of the current distribution of tasks in the core process development indicated that we need to develop it further. This was confirmed by our own assessment.
Question: Can you say specifically what you want to develop further?
Bettenhausen: Collaboration between the different disciplines….
Question: Do you mean mechatronics and system development? You want to achieve a more integrated development process?
Bettenhausen: We want to add new functionality to the electromechanical design process and integrate the various disciplines involved more tightly into it. In a further step, we want to integrate simulations into the design process rather than carrying them out in parallel with the design.
Question: You are the chairman of the VDI’s Digital Transformation Committee. What does transformation mean for HARTING? Or to put it another way, are you still digitalizing or are you already transforming?
Bettenhausen: I use the term “digitalization” to refer to the availability of data and information in digital form. We at HARTING have already come a long way in this respect. The next step is to see whether we can do the same with our processes and our organization and as highly efficiently as we intend. That is the aspect of transformation that we are currently working on.
Mr. Bettenhausen, thank you very much for talking to us.
(This interview was conducted by Michael Wendenburg)
About Dr. Bettenhausen
Dr. Kurt D. Bettenhausen has been the member of the board responsible for New Technologies and Development at the HARTING Technology Group since September 2020. Prior to this, he was Chief Technology Officer at Schunk, a manufacturer of gripping systems and clamping technology. Bettenhausen studied electrical engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where he also completed his doctorate. He then gained his first job experience at Hoechst AG, parts of which were taken over by Siemens in 2001. Bettenhausen worked for Siemens for over 17 years in a number of different management positions, his last as Senior Vice President of Siemens Corporation in the USA.
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