case study

Siemens Digital Industries Software solutions enable automotive supplier to reduce average product delivery time by 38 percent

IPAD uses Solid Edge, NX CAM, and Teamcenter to win more complex projects from existing customers

Siemens Digital Industries Software solutions enable automotive supplier to reduce average product delivery time by 38 percent

IPAD

IPAD is located in Lunca Corbului, Arges Romania and designs and manufactures equipment and machinery primarily for the automotive industry. Founded in 2001, the company offers solutions for automation, industrial design and mechanical processing. The company has 120 employees and is International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001/2008 certified.

https://www.ipad.ro/en/

Headquarters:
Lunca Corbului, Arges, Romania
Products:
NX, Solid Edge, Teamcenter
Industry Sector:
Automotive & transportation

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The large investments we made in the production area in modern machinery, the 3-axis, 4-axis and 5-axis milling machines, enabled us to quickly raise our production capacity.
Ion Pătrașcu, General Manager, IPAD

IP Automation Design (IPAD) is located in Lunca Corbului, Arges, Romania and designs and manufactures equipment and machinery primarily for the automotive industry. Founded in 2001, the company offers solutions for automation, industrial design and mechanical processing. The company has 120 employees and is International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001/2008 certified.

IPAD started as engineering company with one license of Solid Edge® software. Now it has a complete Siemens Digital Industries Software solution with 15 seats of Solid Edge, two seats of NX™ software for computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and 25 seats of Teamcenter® software, which is integrated with IPAD’s enterprise resource plann- ing (ERP) system. The firm uses NX CAM for 3-axis and 5-axis milling, electrical discharge machining (EDM) and turning.

The main business drivers behind this project were to enhance the firm’s ability to custom configure products, manage multidisciplinary projects (mechanical/electrical/automation/software), machine complex parts faster with a limited number of programmers, reduce time-to-market and costs and increase efficiency and productivity.

The company’s technical challenges included defining and implementing a digital thread from request for quote (RFQ), design, analysis, manufacturing, documentation and delivery to maintenance; training engineers to capture knowledge and increase re-use; creating postprocessors for computer numerical control (CNC) machines (milling 3-4-5 axis, turning, EDM), integrating Teamcenter with electronic computer-aided design (eCAD) and ERP, and enhancing product data management (PDM) processes.

IPAD’s aim was to satisfy customer demand for quality, reliable machines that support mass production processes; innovate custom machines, comply with regulations for automotive standards and safety for robotic applications, and reduce costs while increasing revenue growth.

IPAD needed to tackle these challenges because its operations included a multidisciplinary team working in a complex product development environment. Further, there were supplier delays for special components and limited time for manufacturing and assembly, and a short time to install the equipment on customers’ production lines.

IPAD selected three Siemens Digital Industries Software solutions to meet these challenges: Solid Edge, NX CAM and Teamcenter.

IPAD selected Solid Edge for its multi-CAD support, synchronous technology, efficient standard parts management, advanced sheet metal functionality and easy-to-use simulation.

It chose NX CAM for its superior programming productivity, advanced 5-axis functions, single interface for all machines, and machine-simulation flexibility in building postprocessors.

IPAD relies on Teamcenter for flawless interdepartmental information transfer supported by a digital thread, and a more efficient production process with access to all necessary information and ERP integration. Prior to this implementation, the projects were stored in several places, the versions could not be managed correctly, and it was difficult to find knowledge that could be re-used. Using Teamcenter enables IPAD to conduct concurrent design and manufacturing processes.

This technology enabled IPAD to simulate and validate the digital twin of products and processes, and calculate the resources needed to successfully finalize projects. It also enabled them to capture and re-use knowledge.

As a result of making these changes, IPAD reduced the average product delivery time by 38 percent (from eight to five weeks), increased productivity in the design department by 25 percent, and shortened the programming cycle times for CNC machines by 28 percent.

“The large investments we made in the production area in modern machinery, the 3-axis, 4-axis and 5-axis milling machines, enabled us to quickly raise our production capacity,” says Ion Pătrașcu, general manager of IPAD.

“However, this jump could not have been performed without the implementation of an end-to-end digital manufacturing solution, which is why we chose Solid Edge, NX CAM and Teamcenter.”

Further, IPAD was able to reduce rework and errors due to the seamless PDM/ERP integration, reducing commissioning time and costs associated with onsite installation.

Due to these improvements, and perhaps most tellingly, IPAD was able to procure more complex projects from existing customers.

Going forward, the company plans to implement NX CAM Robotics and the Process Simulate Virtual Commissioning solution in the Tecnomatix® portfolio.

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However, this jump could not have been performed without the implementation of an end-to-end digital manufacturing solution, which is why we chose Solid Edge, NX CAM and Teamcenter.
Ion Pătrașcu, General Manager, IPAD