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In the course of a full-scale introduction of SAP at the german company Bernhard Krone Holding GmbH & Co. KG, the company Krone GmbH implemented an extensive PLM concept. More than 115,000 documents, 110,000 of which were CAD models and drawings (Catia V4, CADAM), were migrated to SAP. By being intgrated into existing processes, the documents can now be used for materials management purposes as well as for internal and external production processes with the help of CIDEON Output Management.
The organization
For more than 100 years now the company Krone has been successfully marketing its high-quality multifunctional agricultural machines and utility vehicles. Krone is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of grassland harvesting equipment and Europe’s second largest manufacturer of trailers. In the field of agricultural technology, the company’s product range extends from straw cutters and press machines through to self-loading trailers and rotating plough shares. The good order situation has had a positive effect on the production and the staffing figures. This is shown in the fact that the company’s sites in the Emsland region have hired additional staff in the design and production departments. In the business year 2005/2006 the more than 2,000 people who work for the Krone Group achieved record sales of 978 million Euro. Sales of 1.1 billion Euro have been budgeted for the business year 2006/2007 – this represents a solid double digit increase. This makes Krone one of the leading companies in the metal industry of Germany.
The requirements
To enable the document distribution to keep up with the production figures and to allow for a further increase in production efficiency, Dr. Goy Hinrich Korn, head of the Organisation/EDP division of the Krone Group, has demanded that the ERP software must also include a document and an output management system for administrating the drawing and production order documents. A straw-cutting machine can require up to 5000 different documents from the design stage through to the production stage. To help save time and assure a consistently high quality, it is imperative that the required drawings, test reports, certificates and conformity documents can be retrieved quickly, easily and systematically, i.e. by pushing a button. These various documents and papers must be issued in various formats, in specified as well as optional sequences and with meta data imprints such as watermarks and heading or bottom lines for third parties outside the company (e.g. customers, suppliers and authorities). Using internal Benchmarking, CIDEON with its output management solution was awarded the contract.
The solution
A total of 35 CATIA V4 workplaces were completely connected to the SAP system by using a CAD integration solution. The integrated model-and-drawing administration supports different versions and the release processes. In addition, CAD/CAM drawings are transferred to the SAP system after being released.
The CIDEON Output Management integrated in the SAP PLM system creates the basis for the company-wide reprography (plotting and printing) work as well as for its email system and the use on a CD and file system. All necessary data can be compiled in the SAP DMS system and then plotted or printed in LAN / WAN or the Internet using one or several defined output devices. For all generations of the SAP® ERP software, the CIDEON Output Management which functions as an integration platform organizes a company-wide management for issuing a variety of technical documents. All documents which can be plotted and which are created in conjunction with a product during its life cycle can be duplicated with this system and issued on various media.
Just a few weeks after the first workshop in Emsland, CIDEON had already introduced the output management software per SAP-Transport, installed the software and adapted it to the Krone operating system and briefed the users accordingly. All maintenance work, trouble shooting and other support services will be carried out direct by telephone by the manufacturing company CIDEON.
The result
Krone can now issue all the documents relating to a production order with one single order number for the complete order by the push of a button. Michael Blume, EDP systems administrator at the Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone GmbH, confirmed that the savings in time is huge. Now it can be assured that all the documents which belong to an order will actually be complete – this was not always possible in the past.
Drawings can now be selected simply by using the material number available through the link between the material and the documents in the document information record. When more than one drawing has been retrieved, the system will automatically offer the user the version with the highest priority.
There are also benefits which relate to the purchasing and supplier area: During an SAP supported inquiry or the processing of an order the documents can also be sent by email in one step which prevents data from being lost.
With regard to output control, decisions affecting the piece list resolution are enabled by en-tering the parameters in the selection mask. When a corresponding mark or tag has been designated then not only will the drawing records of the selected materials be issued but also those for the complete subordinated structure lying below. Also with regard to change processes applying to the purchasing area, documents and piece lists which are affected by the change process and which can be allocated to a specific supplier will be issued. To allow documents to be verified and optimally selected, a record of the issued documents will al-ways be kept in the records of the processed order which have been assigned to a specific supplier.
According to Dr. Goy Hinrich Korn, “for the Krone Group this complete introduction of the SAP system belongs to the major strategic projects of the next ten years. With SAP we are placing our trust in a system which has been standardized and which therefore functions cost-effectively. This solution enables our company’s software to remain at the cutting edge of technology in the future while allowing us to continue to optimize our processes. CIDEON Output Management therefore represents an important cornerstone in this complex project.”
Helmut Jahn, Global Account Executive at CIDEON who is also the account manager responsible for the Krone Group adds: “Along with the fulfilment of the individual requirements in the document and Output management and the resulting benefits for the customer, we are always looking at completing projects quickly, safely and reliably.”
CIDEON Software, a subsidiary of CIDEON AG, is a software house with many years of experience and a large number of exclusive references in the programming, consulting, implementation and maintenance of software solutions which is specialized in SAP integration solutions.
As a worldwide leading SAP PLM development partner, CIDEON Software develops SAP PLM integration solutions for CAD systems and a wide range of its own products. The company’s many years of extensive experience in working in the SAP and Engineering environment constitute the basis upon which CIDEON’s range of solutions in the areas of output management, the automatic creation of spare parts catalogs and technical documentation have developed. The experience and know-how of its staff of 50 people in developing software and carrying out complete programming projects allows CIDEON Software to offer its customers the complete implementation of their specific projects together with a high-quality in after-sales support and customer service.
further informations at info@cideon-software.com
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