The kitchen and laundry equipment manufacturer Electrolux develops solutions with a focus on sustainability, and explains that through its adoption of PLM software it has helped them plan resources more effectively and be even greener
Design processes can be complex to manage, especially when it comes to coordinating multiple CAD tools and a team based in several locations around the world.
For the manufacturer of professional kitchen and laundry equipment Electrolux Professional, this challenge was even harder as the company configures its products based on the orders it receives, with thousands of customer-specific variants and options based on several product platforms.
The company makes about 5,000 product changes per year and has hundreds of ongoing product development projects across its three global business units.
Producing configured-to-order products is particularly sustainable as it allows to save materials and resources but, without an effective management system, the risk is that other resources can be wasted at other stages of the production, because of the lack of communication and coordination within the team.
To administer all these aspects of production and make sure all resources are used in the best way, Electrolux Professional says that it decided to adopt PTC’s Windchill product lifecycle management solution.
The software also allows to share information in real time, visualise, access and manage data dynamically, for multi-disciplinary teams spread around the world.
The Swedish catering supplier has entered a full digital transformation, in collaboration with PTC and its partner PDSvision, aiming to simplify the production and solve data complexities.
“We realised that we had more manufacturing locations than we ever had before, and they all differ in types of products, working methods and more,” said enablers director at Electrolux Professionals Lars Örnholmer.
The engineering, manufacturing, and service departments at Electolux heavily rely on several CAD and data management systems, including PTC Creo, Solidworks, Catia and Autodesk. Managing designs developed across multiple tools and software can be challenging, explains Örnholmer.
Electolux Professional was therefore after a solution to standardise the production, while, at the same time, allowing the design team to be creative and flexible.
The company found in PTC Windchill the tools they had been looking for, as it allows a modular design strategy, that can meet market demands as well as reduce data complexity.
“An important reason why we chose to work with PTC was that they focused on helping us work more efficiently,” says Örnholmer.
“PDSvision has brought valuable expertise and they gave us the attention and support we needed to be successful with PTC’s products,” he concludes.
