Case Study
3D helps win business in a volatile market
Conn-Weld Industries Inc.
Working in Solid Edge lets machinery maker respond quickly when business is booming, and win orders based on fast turnaround rather than price
Adapting to industry’s ups and downs
Conn-Weld Industries Inc. manufactures custom engineered horizontal vibrating screens, incline screens, banana screens, dewatering screens and centrifuge machines and screens. The company also manufactures profile screens, profile centrifuge screens, urethane screens and sieve bends. This equipment is used in various industries which include: coal, coke, sand and gravel, pulp and paper, food processing, brewing and distilling, corn wet milling and many other processes. Conn-Weld’s products are typically very large. They are also fairly complex assemblies, some having as many as 2,000 fasteners. Conn-Weld also makes its own custom machinery, such as machine tools and welders, used in the manufacture of its products.
Conn-Weld’s business fluctuates to a large extent according to the ups and downs of the coal industry. Lately, for instance, high oil prices are increasing the demand for coal, so the type of machinery that Conn-Weld makes is in demand. But Conn-Weld has competition. With customers wanting delivery as soon as possible, contracts are often won by the company that can deliver soonest rather than the one with the lowest price. The ability to design and manufacture rapidly is critical for winning business. And because a mining company can lose a great deal of money when equipment is down for repairs, Conn-Weld must also respond rapidly with repair parts as well, sometimes in a matter of hours.
Because the ability to respond quickly is so important, management set a goal of decreasing the design cycle from six weeks to two. “Management told us we needed faster turnaround and we didn’t have the office space to add staff,” explains Leonard Lane, senior manufacturing engineer at Conn-Weld. “We had to change the way we were working so that we could design and manufacture this equipment more efficiently.”
Solid modeling brings efficiency
Working more efficiently without adding staff was accomplished by upgrading from a 2D design process to solid modeling. Conn-Weld evaluated a number of solid modeling solutions, including Solid Edge, SolidWorks , Iron CAD and Inventor. The company chose Solid Edge because it offered the best sheet metal modeling environment and the easiest method for generating bill of materials from digital assembly models. The transition to 3D evolved over time, which is something Solid Edge facilitates. Some users went to 3D immediately while others worked in 2D while they became familiar with the new software. “We were so busy, we didn’t want to upset the applecart,” explains Lane. “Because Solid Edge allowed us to move from 2D to 3D at a pace that met our needs, it was a smooth transition and we lost no production.”
Now, products are designed on-screen as 3D digital assemblies. Modeling in Solid Edge is as fast or faster than the old process of creating 2D drawings, in large part because once a component or subassembly has been modeled in Solid Edge, it can be re-used again and again in other products. Other time-saving features of Solid Edge, such as the automatic unfolding of sheet metal parts, save designers 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, many times each day. In fact, design output has increased by as much as a factor of five with Solid Edge, up from about 100 files per week with the old 2D software to 300 to 500 files per week today. Overall, since implementing Solid Edge, Conn-Weld has seen its design time decrease from six weeks to two weeks or less, meeting management’s target with an impressive 66 percent cycle time reduction.
Accuracy improves in two ways
Another important benefit of working in Solid Edge is an increase in accuracy. This is seen in the designs themselves as well as in the bills of material. Designs are more accurate now because assemblies are constructed on-screen where errors and interferences are immediately apparent. Because the designs are now accurate, the bills of material that are automatically generated by Solid Edge are accurate as well. In the past, errors in designs and wrong information on bills of material caused delays in production when parts didn’t fit or weren’t ordered when they should have been. Since implementing Solid Edge, production errors have been minimized and rework has been reduced by one-third. An added benefit to incorporating solid modeling into the design process was the ease of using FEA and CFD for design change evaluation.
The move to Solid Edge has been beneficial in positioning the company as a leader in its industry. “We went with Solid Edge to continue in our role as the industry leader,” says Lane. The move to Solid Edge has been helpful in winning contracts as well. “Now we can respond quickly enough to win jobs on speed,” says Lane. Finally, going to Solid Edge has allowed the company to handle an increase in business without a corresponding increase in staff. “Our business has gone up and we’ve added some people, but not nearly as many as we would have needed if we were still using 2D,” says Lane. “With Solid Edge, the staff we have turns out much more work. The bottom line? Solid Edge cut our design time two thirds, increased design output five-fold, reduced costly shop rework by one-third, while adding to increased business as we met new market demands.”
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Challenges:
- Respond rapidly to sudden market demand
- Decrease cycle time to win contracts
- Maintain reputation as industry leader
Keys To Success:
- Faster design process with Solid Edge® software
- More accurate assemblies and bills of material
- 3D models are leveraged by sales and shop floor
Results:
- Design time reduced by 66 percent
- Design output increased three to five times
- Shop rework down by one-third
- Increased business as more contracts are won on fast turnaround
Industry:
- Machinery & Industrial
Client's Primary Business:
Conn-Weld Industries Inc. manufactures vibrating screens, profile wire screens and other equipment for a variety of industries including mining, pulp and paper, sand and aggregate,food processing, brewing and distilling.
Solutions/Services:
- NX Design (CAD)
- Solid Edge
Client Location:
Princeton, West Virginia
US
"Because Solid Edge allowed us to move from 2D to 3D at a pace that met our needs, it was a smooth transition and we lost no production."
Leonard Lane
Senior Manufacturing Engineer
Conn-Weld Industries Inc