Industry Automotive and transportation Business challenges Dramatically improve the re-use of existing knowledge in order to shorten develop- ment and lead times Increase development flexibil- ity and agility Facilitate product innovation Keys to success Move to a completely digital process Leverage advanced 3D design using Solid Edge with synchronous technology Ensure accurate information management with Teamcenter Results Realizing designs once thought impossible, including an entirely new vehicle in 7 months Faster, more efficient devel- opment process Designs where “everything fits” the first time Spijkstaal Elektro BV uses Solid Edge and Teamcenter to deliver state-of-the-art utility vehicles; competitive edge realized in faster, more efficient development process Specializing in business-to-business opportunities Continuous development and adjustment is the philosophy of transport expert Spijkstaal Elektro BV. While many companies allow themselves to be driven by the latest development, Spijkstaal proactively seeks new product and market combinations within its specialist area: vehicles, and even more specifically, those for internal (horizontal) transport. Spijkstaal is among the leaders in a field where others are just now joining the bandwagon. In fact, the company has been developing and making electrically powered vehicles for the transport of goods and persons for dozens of years. Specializing in the business-to-business market, Spijkstaal produces vehicles that are essential for the logistical performance of customers and therefore must be extraordinarily reliable; moreover, their cost to operate and maintain must be exceptionally low. “It is with interest that we see the fast rise of electric transport vehicles taking place and we are delighted with the broad appreciation of electrically powered drives,” says Engineer Wim Solid Edge • Teamcenter www.siemens.com/plm Spijkstaal Elektro Transforming the development process while taking innovation to new heights Heijboer, general director at Spijkstaal Elektro. “When they invest in vehicles in the business-to-business market, companies look at economic profitability, since thinking ecologically must still pay for itself. We ensure that profitability and environmental considerations go hand in hand.” Delivering price, performance and profit Spijkstaal was founded more than 70 years ago. Over the years, the company has evolved from a rural blacksmith operation that made steel agricultural carriages into a modern and sophisticated developer of customized electric vehicles for com- mercial transport purposes. “Nowadays these are mainly platform trucks and tractors,” notes Heijboer. “Tractors have a towing capacity ranging between 1 and 30
Transcript
IndustryAutomotive and transportation
Business challengesDramatically improve the re-use of existing knowledge in order to shorten develop-ment and lead timesIncrease development flexibil-ity and agilityFacilitate product innovation
Keys to successMove to a completely digital processLeverage advanced 3D design using Solid Edge with synchronous technologyEnsure accurate information management with Teamcenter
ResultsRealizing designs once thought impossible, including an entirely new vehicle in 7 monthsFaster, more efficient devel-opment processDesigns where “everything fits” the first time
Spijkstaal Elektro BV uses Solid Edge and Teamcenter to deliver state-of-the-art utility vehicles; competitive edge realized in faster, more efficient development process
Specializing in business-to-business opportunitiesContinuous development and adjustment is the philosophy of transport expert Spijkstaal Elektro BV. While many companies allow themselves to be driven by the latest development, Spijkstaal proactively seeks new product and market combinations within its specialist area: vehicles, and even more specifically, those for internal (horizontal) transport. Spijkstaal is among the leaders in a field where others are just now joining the bandwagon. In fact, the company has been developing and making electrically powered vehicles for the transport of goods and persons for dozens of years.
Specializing in the business-to-business market, Spijkstaal produces vehicles that are essential for the logistical performance of customers and therefore must be extraordinarily reliable; moreover, their cost to operate and maintain must be exceptionally low. “It is with interest that we see the fast rise of electric transport vehicles taking place and we are delighted with the broad appreciation of electrically powered drives,” says Engineer Wim
Solid Edge • Teamcenter
www.siemens.com/plm
Spijkstaal Elektro Transforming the development process while taking innovation to new heights
Heijboer, general director at Spijkstaal Elektro. “When they invest in vehicles in the business-to-business market, companies look at economic profitability, since thinking ecologically must still pay for itself. We ensure that profitability and environmental considerations go hand in hand.”
Delivering price, performance and profitSpijkstaal was founded more than 70 years ago. Over the years, the company has evolved from a rural blacksmith operation that made steel agricultural carriages into a modern and sophisticated developer of customized electric vehicles for com-mercial transport purposes. “Nowadays these are mainly platform trucks and tractors,” notes Heijboer. “Tractors have a towing capacity ranging between 1 and 30
tons and platform trucks a carrying capacity of up to 41⁄2 tons.”
The range of applications for Spijkstaal is as diverse as it is interesting, but most importantly, it is quite successful. Heijboer explains, “Among other locations, our vehicles are used at Schiphol airport, flower auctions, in the cellars of champagne producers, military airfields and for transport on industrial sites. They are also used for the transport of meals in health facilities. With 65 staff members, we produce approx imately 350 vehicles. Our turnover is over 10 million Euros and we therefore hold a sizeable share of the market.”
Spijkstaal emphasizes a high value/high return-on-investment strategy. “Our customers opt for a good price/quality ratio and low operating costs,” says Heijboer. “We are extremely competitive on these aspects, and also because we respond to the customer’s actual logistical needs. We can nearly always predict that our products will be the most profitable, because the customer looks at cost per product moved. If you can make the best offer, you are definitely in business.”
Restructuring the design processHeijboer notes that the company’s enviable market position and profitability are the result of fundamentally changing the product development process.
Spijkstaal had been developing and implementing its products against ever tighter schedules. With it becoming increasingly difficult to effectively manage the design-through-manufacture process, management decided to assess its overall operation.
“We were able to rapidly learn Solid Edge while simulta neously re-using existing 2D drawings in 3D design. In fact, this worked like a dream. This was most apparent in our new design, the electric refuse collection vehicle. Thanks to Solid Edge the vehicle developed from a concept to a mobile product within seven months – something that would have been considered unthinkable before.”
Wim Heijboer General Director Spijkstaal Elektro
This was long overdue according to Heijboer. More and more problems were occurring with the old 2D environment. He notes, “Recently, we made a plan for our engineering. We studied the possibilities for improvement, made the necessary decisions, placed the orders and prepared our people, and finally we implemented the new engineering process. Within a year we had a new active engineering process with the correct software to support that process.”
The technology behind Spijkstaal’s advanced new operation – Solid Edge® software with synchronous technology and Teamcenter® software, preconfigured for rapid deployment and fast return on investment – are both from Siemens PLM Software.
Heijboer notes that it had become risky to produce special products using 2D, because re-using knowledge wasn’t viable, so work was repeated. While the company remained strong, it took a proactive stance to ensure that any risk to its image would
be eliminated upfront. Management was highly aware that its market position could be jeopardized if a better process and supporting technologies weren’t imple-mented soon. “We were looking for an environment in which we could design without errors and revert to existing products when designing special products,” says John ten Kate, draftsman and designer at Spijkstaal Elektro. “The knowledge we acquire during the service life of products must flow back during the development stage and must be available for future designs. This is only possible with an intuitive CAD system in combination with a PDM system. For us, Solid Edge and Teamcenter were the only fit for our requirements.”
Achieving the unthinkableSpijkstaal employs five people in the engineering department. Each person is responsible for his or her own projects. “We all started converting into 3D old drawings that were necessary for the current projects,” explains ten Kate. “We were able to rapidly learn Solid Edge while simultaneously re-using existing 2D drawings in 3D design. In fact, this worked like a dream.”
Heijboer describes the immediate value: “This was most apparent in our new design, the electric refuse collection vehicle. Thanks to Solid Edge, the vehicle was developed from a concept to a mobile product within seven months – something that would have been considered unthinkable before.”
“Our use of synchronous technology lets us develop products faster and more efficiently. This level of design flexibility will help us develop new products to capture more market share.”
Wim Heijboer General Director Spijkstaal Elektro
“With Solid Edge, we can now explore new design concepts and virtually test ideas before production, an impossible task in 2D.”
John ten Kate Draftsman/Designer Spijkstaal Elektro
Customer’s primary businessSpijkstaal Elektro BV is an independent Dutch company, with annual sales of approxi-mately € 10 million. The company produces electric vehicles for sale in the Netherlands and various other European countries. Spijkstaal products are used mainly at flower auctions, airports, car factories, manufac turing companies, hospitals, care institutions and munici-palities. www.spijkstaal.com
Customer locationSpijkenisse Netherlands
“Teamcenter delivers critical structure in the company’s new process.”
Wim Heijboer General Director Spijkstaal Elektro
Another important part of the value of implementing Solid Edge is significantly improved customer communication. “The strength of a 3D application is that the customer is able to rapidly get a grasp of how the design is put together and operates,” says ten Kate. “It makes communication clearer, and customers know at an early stage what they should expect. This is particularly advantageous in the case of special orders.”
However, ten Kate also emphasizes the increased insight achieved during development: “Now, we can work in much more detail. Everything fits. The quality of the finish is even greater. With Solid Edge, we can now explore new design concepts and virtually test ideas before production, an impossible task in 2D.” For example, using Solid Edge, Spijkstaal carries out analyses to validate steering wheel movements with different levels of resistance. According to ten Kate, “With optimal design reliability, the chance that unwanted surprises may occur is minimal.”
Synchronous technology amplifies design re-useIn the meantime, Spijkstaal has started using the synchronous modeling technology within Solid Edge, which makes it possible to produce and modify designs faster. That’s because the construction history of a design is no longer an issue. “We have already performed the necessary tests with synchronous technol ogy,” explains ten Kate. “We are very enthusiastic about it.”
He explains, “The re-use of designs, above all, is undoubt edly one of the biggest advantages, because designers can work with models developed by their colleagues. This also greatly facilitates the execution of special orders.” Deadlines are always tight with special orders. According to ten Kate, this is where synchronous
technology shows the most added-value, because the freedom to adapt designs to different needs has such colossal benefit potential.
Teamcenter improves workflow“Teamcenter delivers critical structure in the company’s new process,” says Heijboer. A secure release procedure now ensures the use of the correct data throughout the change process. In addition to the designs, the supporting documentation, product information on purchase parts and the parts lists are also managed in Teamcenter.
“We are utilizing an electronic exchange with our ERP system,” adds Heijboer. “This is an achievement in efficiency that further increases the profitability of our Solid Edge and Teamcenter investment.”
Realizing the biggest bangHeijboer notes, “The real profitability lies in the new design process based on Solid Edge. It allows us to produce designs that were considered impossible before.” He concludes, “Our use of synchronous technology lets us develop products faster and more efficiently. This level of design flexibility will help us develop new products to capture more market share.”
