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Software slashes product-development costs

Jan. 1, 2004
Using think3's fully integrated 2D/3D/PDM solution, Hydrocontrol cut design and development time on this directionalcontrol valve by 50%.

Using think3's fully integrated 2D/3D/PDM solution, Hydrocontrol cut design and development time on this directionalcontrol valve by 50%.

To obtain ISO certification and improve overall quality, Hydrocontrol, Bologna, Italy, needed to optimize its design and product-development processes. Manufacturing hydraulic components such as directional-control valves, hydraulic remote controls, pressure-control valves, flow-control valves, selector valves, and gear pumps, the company faced bill-of-material errors, invalid configurations, issues with managing new part numbers, and high productdevelopment costs.

Hydrocontrol's management knew that implementing a fully integrated 2D/3D CAD/PDM solution would correct these problems as well as overcome several other design and production issues. In addition, management felt a fully integrated CAD/PDM solution would speed the generation of sales proposals.

Benchmarking its former software against other systems, Hydrocontrol selected think3's products because they offered a transparent 2D/3D environment — a single integrated 2D/3D/PDM solution that is easy to learn and use.

Since implementing thinkdesign, thinkteam, and the product configurator, Hydrocontrol has improved design and product quality, part standardization, and reuse. Furthermore, the company is saving 50% of its engineering time by automatically generating models, drawings, and bills-of-material. These changes have not only led to a more efficient and leaner manufacturing process, but they have also helped decrease product-development costs.

"By using think3's product configurator to automate Hydrocontrol's design-to-order and configure-to-order processes, we've reduced our product-development cycle times for new configurations by 75% and achieved a 75% reduction in resources to manage the billsofmaterial. We also achieved significant cost savings due to the automatic generation of accurate manufacturing drawings and bills-of material," declares Dante Ibatici, vice president of engineering at Hydrocontrol.

Today, using think3 technology, all of Hydrocontrol's products are rigorously tested. The company performs detailed tests and studies including finite elements analysis, where areas subjected to high mechanical stress are pinpointed and checked to ensure product quality and reliability.

think3
Cincinnati
think3.com