CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

17 March 2009

Implementation Investments

After CAD, Zucchetti Chooses PLM From think3

The Zucchetti Group S.p.A. is a leading manufacturer serving the high-end market for bathroom fixtures. In 2000, as part of its strategic growth plans, Zucchetti started collaboration with think3, a multinational software company operating in the CAD and PLM sector for over 30 years. The search for more highly developed shapes and forms led Zucchetti to adopt think3’s ThinkDesign, a CAD solution used initially to develop the innovative Isy collection designed by Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez. Recently the two companies have consolidated their partnership with the introduction of a new PLM project designed to improve product data management and the sharing of documents between various departments.

The Group, based in Italy’s Piedmont region, has been a family business for 80 years and today is managed by the third generation of the Zucchetti family. Over the years the company has consolidated its leading position in the high-end, luxury market and now has a rich, complete and varied range of bathroom fittings where top quality design is the keyword.

“Working on Isy we realised that in order to innovate in the true sense of the word we needed a tool which permitted a greater degree of creative freedom,” says Davide Scoccini, Technical Manager at Zucchetti. “After analysis of the various solutions offered by the market we opted for ThinkDesign because it is more oriented towards designer objects and is less rigid than the other products examined. With ThinkDesign we have been able to translate the ideas we want to communicate into the CAD environment and thus make them reality.”

Winning features of ThinkDesign include powerful functions for modifying solids and surfaces. ThinkDesign is easy to use, easy to learn and can handle complex design tasks. Global Shape Modelling (GSM³) is still the only tool which enables rapid, accurate changes with a high degree of precision to any type of shape, native or imported, in any stage of the design process. GSM³ accelerates interaction without limiting creativity and without the need to rebuild models.

Recently Zucchetti renewed its trust in think3 by entrusting the multinational software house with the implementation of their new TD PLM solution. TD PLM will be used to manage technical documentation, part codes and technical data. The need for this type of solution was discovered by the R&D department. New modular products brought with them a greater need for sharing data and designs between more people and for accessing the latest versions of documents.

“The project,” says Scoccini, “will be expanded in a series of steps. In the first step it is vital that we recover our historic data and enter the data archive on the system in order to have all the information available at the touch of a button. Implementing a PLM system will allow us to optimise store management, improve our in-house processes, and enhance teamwork through optimised process management and greater sharing of data between all the departments involved. It also facilitates the quality control process which is very complex at Zucchetti.”

Inserting data on the PLM system will speed up access and re-use of information thereby facilitating the harmonisation and standardisation of components. Dialog between the PLM and the existing ERP will make parts lists directly available in the management system without the need to copy data over manually. Given that a water tap has 50 to 60 parts it is not difficult to imagine that dispensing with manual copying will save time and reduce errors. In the coming two years further additions across company departments are planned.

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