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Product category: PLM and collaboration software
News Release from: Dassault Systemes | Subject: SmartVault
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 26 July 2002

PDM boosts functionality of PCB
manufacture at IFR

With over 6500 unique components and 640 PCBs in current use, IFR clearly has a tough task in managing vast amounts of product data associated with its wide range of mobile radio equipment.

"Exceeding expectations" is a much-hackneyed phrase often used in customer service claims in corporate mission statements But Peter McKenna, CAE Systems Engineering Manager at Stevenage-based IFR, uses the phrase unreservedly to describe the recent implementation of a product data management (PDM) system at the company

IFR is a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced wireless test solutions for communications, avionics, and general test and measurement applications.

It is also the largest supplier of test equipment calibration and repair services in the UK, operating four regional service centres including two UKAS accredited laboratories.

Approximately 450 employees are based at the Stevenage plant.

With over 6500 unique components and 640 PCBs in current use, the company clearly has a tough task in managing vast amounts of product data associated with its wide range of mobile radio equipment.

"We identified the need for a PDM system a few years ago", says McKenna, "but it wasn't until our Access-based manufacturing database started 'leaking' data that we started to search seriously for a solution.

The leaky database was causing us problems with our core business of PCB design and manufacture.

We also wanted to start linking documents and drawings and, as we couldn't grow the system, it was preventing us from moving forward".

A small team from IFR carried out an extensive review of the marketplace, looking at database options as well as PDM.

"The database option was rejected because of the development time involved and our experience of it growing into an expensive multi-headed monster.

We chose SmarTeam because its PDM offering looked attractive due to its ability to link easily with MS Word, Excel and AutoCAD.

We talked to a number of people who recommended the product and the reference sites were also impressive.

It has everything we wanted and we could see a clearly identifiable growth path that matched our requirements", adds McKenna.

IFR placed the order with SmarTeam's VAR - Solidbase UK - in November 2000 for SmartVault with a number of floating and fixed licences, Crystal Reports for management reporting and the AutoView viewing package.

SmartVault is a component of the SmarTeam server architecture and maintains security and control over all documents and drawings managed in the system.

It is a Windows NT server solution that provides high level security and authorisation.

"We gave ourselves a target of six months from placing the order to going live", comments McKenna.

"We set up a team of three - Ian Langley as project manager, Paul Darts representing PCB production and myself looking at systems administration and the PDM and engineering perspective.

We were confident about the system so went straight in without a pilot system.

The Solidbase package included a number of consultancy and training days and the first task was to migrate data from the Access database into SmartVault.

This took us about six weeks to carry out, mainly off-site.

The on-site implementation took just three days and went very well.

We kept the implementation small and simple and really wouldn't do anything different if we had to do it all again.

The few minor implementation difficulties encountered were sorted out quickly by Solidbase.

"The functionality exceeded our expectations, with features such as document redlining which were so quick to carry out that we wrote them in the training sessions.

We actually developed SmarTeam as we trained and proved it out.

Both senior management and the users are extremely impressed with the system, and it actually came in under budget and on schedule".

PCB Production Manager Paul Darts adds: "The additional functionality was a bonus.

Users are able to carry out quick searches on various attributes, link drawings to bills of materials (BOM), view all the manufacturing processes the PCBs go through, edit BOMs, change routings and so on.

We also have materials and components traceability and 'where used' capabilities, can produce management information in much shorter time, view documents and assembly information easily and redline drawings for manufacturing.

We weren't expecting to view or mark up documents, so it exceeded our goals.

IFR now has a greatly improved, more flexible PCB manufacturing process with a reduced number of operators".

The system runs on a NT server with dual P3 450 processors, 1Gbyte of RAM and SQL 2000.

McKenna says the company hasn't yet integrated it to its AutoCAD system but that isn't a problem with SmarTeam.

They are also planning to link the system with Mentor parts manager and MFG/PRO ERP system in the future.

"Depending on how we grow the system we will also implement engineering change management, probably using workflow techniques.

Build-control and configuration management are also areas to look at, and including automating document signoff is an interesting development area to.

For the immediate future we will be looking to implement Smarteam with Autodesk Inventor in our operations based in the USA and UK".

Other plans include the possibilities for collaborative product information exchange via the web with IFR's external PCB suppliers.

McKenna thinks SmartBriefcase is a nice idea and would link in with IFR's worldwide distribution network.

SmartBriefcase is a new web-based family of collaborative product commerce (CPC) solutions, that allow users to efficiently and securely exchange product design data with supply chain partners through e-mail or over the Web using a data exchange concept similar to the familiar "zip" file.

Based upon SmarTeam's open, XML-based iXF format, SmartBriefcase allows customers to package data in a self-extracting, executable file or "briefcase" to create a virtual workflow around various business processes such as data exchange with suppliers, outsourcing, documentation and more.

Automatically packaged by the sender and accessed through embedded executable files by the receiver, SmartBriefcase includes all of the product-related data, metadata and associated files required to accomplish a task - drawings, part data, part numbers, conventions and business rules.

The company is looking forward to an interesting period with Solidbase and SmarTeam to develop the PDM and web technologies with external companies and also implement SmarTeam in other departments, and so maintain IFR's leadership position in its markets.

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