PDF《Pentair》

s product quotation system, which was customized to fully leverage Solid Edge, combines parts purchasing and planned production. Using the center'

s product quotation sys- tem, purchasing team members can directly enter all supplier/cost information into the system and combine the data with the parts library, enabling them to easily and quickly produce a quotation. The intui- tive system significantly simplifies cost estimating as well as accelerates design approval. The team plans to further develop a costing system to realize addi- tional cost savings. Prior to the deployment of Solid Edge, Pentair'

s Beijing Product Automation Center had used 2D drafting software for product design. The plain, three-view drawings pro- duced using the 2D software are not de- tailed, negatively impacting designer effi- ciency and assembly worker productivity. Ke explains Using 2D drawings for the shop floor assembly process poses greater demands on operators. They must be able to read and understand the drawings, but the problem is that not all assembly work- ers are equipped with the same skill sets as designers. However, with Solid Edge, the operators see a 3D model of the product, which provides a more intuitive and thor- ough understanding of the product and helps them work faster and smarter. An easy-to-understand 3D model also plays an important part in helping advance prod- uct sales. Ke notes that when a sales- person is displaying a product to customers, a 3D model helps the representative better illustrate the benefits of the product. I am not particularly worried if corporate requires us to change the system since we have very clear and strong data management, adaption and transformation capabilities with the help of the integrated Solid Edge and SAP solution. Xie Ke General Administrator and Warehouse Manager Product Automation Center Beijing Office Pentair Valves &

Controls Corporate China Advancing design integrity through FEA Ke explains Pentair'

s introduction to Siemens PLM Software'

s Femap? software: When we first started to use Femap, it was to address a question a sister company had about a product of ours. We were working on the design of a fitting product. After the product was finished, the sister company in charge of implementation told us that they were disappointed with our product;

that they had some problems with installation. After some discussion with sister company representatives, Ke learned that they were now working on the design of a similar product;

however, the fitting designed by Pentair was slightly different from the new one in terms of shape and parameters, so they were concerned about whether Pentair'

s product could adequately bear the stress and torque force. Under such circumstances, Ke was uncertain of what to do to address the question or how to prove his own product. Back then, our products were completely based on designer experience, says Ke. We didn'

t have advanced design tools, and we didn'

t conduct analysis and verifi- cation on our products. What I could give them at that time was that we had always relied on experience and had not encoun- tered any problems over the years. But of course, they wouldn'

t buy that. The incident made Ke realize that a design approach based on personal experience, while exceptional, would no longer suffi- ciently meet the enterprise'

s design requirements, and the company needed to approach design data management on a larger scale. He also realized that dynamic product performance analysis was needed in order to improve product design and the research and development (R&