Creo Customer: System Logistics Tightens Up the Warehouse

By LINDSEY CHRISTENSEN | Published: DEC 14, 2011

When I think about warehouse operations, I think guys with clipboards checking inventory and the incessant beep-beep-beeeeep of forklifts backing up. But it seems those images are outdated. In fact, almost nothing about how products are managed from manufacture to your local store is what it used to be.

Take Coca Cola, for example. At one time, Coke had just a few different products. It would load pallets of single products on its trucks, and the driver would “pick” each order from the truck on delivery.  A couple cases of Coke, some Sprite, a few cases of Dr. Pepper, and so on.

That seemed to work just fine until the company began expanding its offerings. Coca Cola now bottles water, juices, teas, as well as a variety of soda products. All together, the company boasts a portfolio of 3500 products! Suddenly, it’s not so practical to ask a driver to pull a few cases of this and couple cartons of that when there may be dozens and dozens of different products to deliver to each retailer.

In the United States, Coca Cola began replacing its familiar side-loading vehicles with “order fulfillment system” trucks. These trucks are set up to carry each customer order in carts. The driver simply unloads a single cart—which may include dozens of different products—for each stop on the delivery route.

And who packs those carts full of individualized orders?

That’s where Systems Logistics comes in. We’ve featured Systems in a couple previous posts, so you may be familiar with Systems picking and packing automation. Coca Cola uses Systems Logistics technology for its warehouse operations, picking and packing orders with tight precision and speed. So fulfilling an order for 50 different products isn’t much more expensive than fulfilling an order with 3 different SKUs. All without enlisting the delivery driver or a beeping forklift.

Well, at least not in this video from The Product Design Show, in which Allison and Vince describe the Systems technology—and the CAD software used to create it, Creo.

Creo Customer: Liebherr Goes Big with Creo’s Direct Modeling Approach

By Geoff Hedges | Published: August 22, 2011

 

In these Creo Customer blog posts, we’ve talked about numerous manufacturers in all kinds of businesses: RKS guitars, Santa Cruz Bikes, the guns that shoot around blind corners. All very innovative and interesting products. But they beg the question, “does it scale?” That is, can Creo Parametric or Creo’s Direct modeling approach work on the big, big models and machinery?

 

They do. Just look at what Liebherr, Germany, is doing to unlock value with its construction equipment. Liebherr, a long-time user of direct modeling software, makes models that are large in size and large in assembly complexity. At the same time, the company demands enormous flexibility from its design software. We featured Liebherr in a recent blog post about the world’s tallest construction crane. Here, Allison and Vince tell more about its fast and flexible heavy equipment in this episode of The Product Design Show.

Creo Customer: Debenhams and the Tessellated Clamshell

By Geoff Hedges | Published: August 17, 2011

In 2009, Hopkins Architects unveiled the cornerstone of a new shopping development: The Debenham Department Store in Bury St. Edmund, Surrey, UK. As with all daring architecture, people weren’t sure what to think of it. Architects said the building was meant to look like a clamshell. Critics (and CAD designers will agree I’m sure) noticed it looked a bit tessellated. That’s because its smooth turban shape was composed of diamond-like panels broken up by glowing blue light.

Eventually, the rest of the project was completed, with surrounding buildings and plazas and, in context, the three-story Debenham Department Store looked smart, interesting, and contemporary. It has, in fact, become a landmark. But let’s talk more about those panels. Architects design what they will, but it’s companies like the CA Group that have to engineer that vision into bricks and mortar. Or, in this case, sand-cast aluminum. CA Group specializes in architectural cladding and says it believes this is the first time a building has used this approach to a façade. The cladding is composed of about 3000 different panels made up of 385 unique shapes.

“In order to create this amazing building,” says CA, “we needed to utilize our state-of-the-art 3D surfacing modelling software, similar to that used in the automotive and aerospace manufacturing industries. Architects work with very sophisticated CAD packages, and we needed to use a system that could accurately reproduce their designs and engineer complex forms and structures.” Which is a long way of saying “CA Group used Creo Parametric.” Get a look at CA Group’s work, as well as that of other Creo users in civil engineering, in this episode of The Product Design Show.

Creo Customers: Skeletons Key to Large Assemblies for JR Automation

By Geoff Hedges | Published: August 4, 2011

When economists talk about recovery, often they look to entrepreneurs as the next great job creators. That’s why I like the story of JR Automation in Holland, Michigan. It started as a guy in his shed in 1980, and today employs more than 200 people in a 120,000-foot facility near Lake Michigan’s eastern shore.

The company designs and manufactures systems that perform countless tasks–usually integrating sophisticated robotics.  Machines may stamp barcodes on PVC pipe, weld multiple points on dozens of different parts, or produce complex aerospace assemblies. Each project is different, and every client has a unique set of needs, says JR Automation.

That may be why the company keeps more than 60 engineers on staff. It may also be why the company uses Creo Parametric “to the fullest extent.” For example, if a design changes, Creo Parametric makes sure data is automatically propogated downstream and updated in tooling and manufacturing. JR Automation even uses Creo Simulate to analyze and simulate virtual prototypes of its designs. In short, the company manages the entire product lifecycle of its automated lines from concept design to manufacturing.

In this edition of the Product Design Show, you’ll hear about the big picture, that is, JR’s largest and most complex assembly lines. How do multiple engineers work on a single system without stepping on each other’s toes? How do you start a project before every last detail is hammered out? Hint: It’s all done with skeletons (and some excellent file management). Vince and Allison explain ….

Creo Customers: Sony Ericsson Consolidates on Creo for Product Design

By Geoff Hedges | Published: June 15, 2011

 

Sony Ericsson is standardizing its product design on Creo! We’re hoping this will be the first of many like announcements in the year ahead. Let me tell you something about Sony Ericsson’s design philosophy and structure, and why I think it made this trail-blazing choice.   

 

Sony Ericsson is a global provider of mobile multimedia devices, e.g., smartphones, PC cards, and accessories. The company products combine apps for mobile imaging, music, communications, entertainment, etc. As such, consumers look to Sony Ericsson as a source of communications and fun. Mobile providers look to Sony Ericsson as a source of compelling business opportunities.

Philosophy

Open Sony Ericsson’s web site, and you’ll see a very design-centered organization. According to sonyericsson.com, design “is integrated into every step of the process – intelligent features, user-friendly applications, innovative materials and, of course, an attractive visual appearance.” Good design should trigger all your senses, says the web site, with both a left-brained approach to usability and a right-brained approach to creating an “innovative, explorative … appeal to the emotions.” In short, the company believes designs inspire its customers.

Structure

Behind each Sony Ericsson device, there’s a global company with corporate functions in London; product development in China, Japan, Sweden, and Silicon Valley, California; manufacturing in China; and sales and marketing all over the world. The company works with leading global mobile operators to offer a broad choice of handsets and apps for customers.

You can see Sony Ericsson’s strategy and structure might lead to a lot of diversity. That’s mostly a good thing. But with CAD systems, not always. At the company’s UX Creative Design Centers, the Sony Ericsson worked with multiple CAD tools across its sites. For example, in China and Japan, designers worked with Pro/ENGINEER. In Sweden and the United States, Siemens UG NX was the house system. That’s why Sony Ericsson explored the idea of standardizing its global platforms for mechanical and electronic design. And after benchmarking, the team selected PTC and Creo for their mechanical design applications.

Streamlining design

PTC’s director of Electronics and High Tech, Mårten Gustafsson, says the consumer electronics industry specifically is highly competitive and complex, and its tough climate puts companies in a position where they need to “more effectively leverage, manage, and collaborate around product data.” The Sony Ericsson UX Creative Design Center is up for the challenge. Creo is now part of an enterprise where the future of mobile communication and entertainment takes shape – where industrial designers work alongside human interface designers, color and material designers and graphic designers. We look forward to our continued relationship with the company, and the broader use of Creo in product design.

Creo Customers: Mmm. Donuts. Industrial donuts

By Geoff Hedges | Published: August 2, 2011

Like so many things in life, the better food processing machinery works, the less most of us think about it. But if you’re somebody who eats, the lines that prep and package your food determine your day-to-day quality of life. A well-engineered system directly impacts your pocketbook, your health, and even your “footprint.” Here’s what I mean:

• Affordable groceries. A system that can quickly process high volumes of produce keeps food costs down.
• Safe food. A system engineered to stay clean prevents food-borne illness.
• Less waste. A system that’s adaptable can respond to trends and innovation, for example, demands for greener packaging.

That brings us to Creo customer, Fritsch Gmbh, specialists in machinery for baked goods. Fritsch  engineers and manufactures systems for producing pretzels, croissants, pastries, pizza, and toast. The company even makes an industrial donut machine.

Fritsch says food machinery is a fast-moving industry with a lot of spikes in demand. The company uses Creo’s direct modeling tools from PTC in part because temporary design help can catch on quickly, without compromising quality or deadlines.


This episode of the Product Design Show features Fritsch and the engineering behind the machinery. Allison and Vince talk about legislation, hygiene concerns, and market forces shaping food processing lines. Plus, they describe how engineers unlock productivity by relying on libraries of parts and assemblies to respond to industry demands. Now if only they’d tell me where to get some of those industrial donuts….