CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
20 September 2004
Implementation Investments
Tegron, Osgood Industries Gain Competitive Advantage in Marketplace With Autodesk Manufacturing Software
Autodesk Inc. continues to experience momentum in adoption and use of AutoCAD® Electrical by U.S. manufacturers to create, manage and share electrical design information. The software gives companies in the manufacturing industry the ability to create electrical controls designs by automating many of the manual processes. AutoCAD Electrical customers such as Tegron and Osgood Industries Inc., have significantly improved the speed with which accurate designs are produced.
Serving vertical markets ranging from food and beverage to steel production, Tegron is a leading control systems integrator that assists manufacturers with plant automation, plant information and plant services. The company sought to improve its competitive advantage in terms of quality and speed in resolving customers' challenges. Using AutoCAD Electrical to automate their controls design process, Tegron has established a foundation for consistent quality and adherence to global design standards, as well as much faster response to customer change requests-with far less labor involved. As a result, Tegron has achieved a permanent 80 to 90 percent reduction in design errors, and has trimmed typical drawing time from more than a day to just a few hours.
"Companies such as Tegron and Osgood recognize the value in automating the repetitive, detail-oriented aspects of controls design, so their engineers can focus on solving customer problems," said Robert Kross, vice president of the Manufacturing Solutions Division at Autodesk. "AutoCAD Electrical features and functions were developed to address many of the labor-intensive design tasks that electrical controls engineers often complete using AutoCAD."
Controls design is typically a labor-intensive process with many tedious and error prone design and documentation requirements. Tegron, a plant automation services provider, and Osgood, specializing in food packaging equipment, both depend on AutoCAD Electrical to automate complex and time-consuming manual tasks, from automatically generating PLC I/O drawings to updating schematics, creating panel layouts, automatically numbering components and tracking relay assignments. The potential for simple but costly errors in detail is minimized-and that reduction yields benefits from greater productivity to reduced expense.
"The impact of AutoCAD Electrical on Tegron's performance is dramatic," said Steve Voelzke, CEO of Tegron. "The software paid for itself in just six months and has given Tegron a time-to-market advantage we estimate is roughly 20 percent faster than our competitors."
For more than 30 years, Osgood has been making machines that fill, package, lid, and seal products in the food, dairy, drug, and cosmetic industries-where regulatory compliance and consumer safety are high priorities, and quality assurance can be a competitive differentiator. In an ongoing commitment to quality, Osgood chose to standardize their controls design process on AutoCAD Electrical, creating templates to ensure re-use of proven design elements; and automating cross-referencing of circuitry elements to reduce error. As a result, Osgood cut design costs by 25 percent, and reduced schematic and panel layout errors by 90 percent.
"Because the software automates a number of key processes and produces more detailed schematics, it's allowing us to do more for customers in less time," says Tim Hortaridis, a controls engineer with Osgood. "The time saved translates directly into lower expenses, and Osgood invests the time and money saved back into research and development, which helps us keep ahead of the market."
Historically, electrical engineers have relied on AutoCAD® and spreadsheet tools to devise control systems in parallel with product designers' work. As a result, teams must engage in a series of trial-and-error exchanges to arrive at controls that integrate properly with the product design. Based on the AutoCAD® platform, that electrical and product engineers share in common, AutoCAD Electrical can be integrated with business and engineering systems such as Autodesk Inventor Professional to facilitate rapid development of compatible electrical control and product designs. In conjunction with Autodesk Inventor Professional, AutoCAD Electrical can further streamline the development of accurate designs and pre-empt problems that otherwise might not show up until prototyping or production.
Become a member of the CIMdata PLM Community to receive your daily PLM news and much more.
Tell us what you think of the CIMdata Newsletter. Send your feedback.
CIMdata is committed to your privacy. Your personal information will never be sold or shared outside of CIMdata without your express permission.