Case Study
Upgrade to solid modeling supports global expansion plans
PARI Ltd.
2D CAD’s limits had become hindrances to growth
World-class automation and robotics
PARI is India’s largest automation company headquartered in Pune, India, with more than 600 employees and eight facilities worldwide. The company began operations in 1990 with only three people. It has experienced a cumulative annualized growth rate exceeding 70 percent for the last six years though innovative solutions and a focus on complete customer satisfaction.
PARI has provided more than 700 automated solutions worldwide in areas such as gantry and robot-based machine tool tending automation lines, assembly automation including inprocess verification (IPV) machines, and final gauging systems and assembly lines. The company is well known for its welding automation lines. It has also provided solutions for sheet metal and forging press automation; high technology, custom-designed projects for the aerospace industry; final vehicle assembly lines and BIW lines; cutting and deburring machines; and various types of conveyors including EMS and overhead power and free conveyor systems. The company has a very strong and loyal customer base in industries such as automotive, aerospace and defense, white goods, machine tool OEMs and engineering equipment manufacturing.
Growth made 2D limits obvious
PARI’s design team now includes more than 120 people but when the company started, it had only a few designers who used “the only viable 2D design tool available,” according to PARI’s managing director, Mangesh Kale. “With our tremendous growth, the 2D tools soon started becoming a bottleneck,” Kale explains. “This was because 2D provided no parametric design functionality or associativity. The latter was a problem because we started creating inconsistent outputs, leading to quality issues in final assembly.”
The company experienced other limitations of 2D as well, such as: the difficulty of visualizing complex geometries, which lead to design errors; limited reusability of designs, which limited standardization; and no way to re-use 2D drawings for finite element analysis or kinematics simulation. “In short, the 2D methodology hit its limit for achieving the desired speed of design cycle,” Kale adds. “An improvement was most essential.”
Comprehensive software selection process
After an exhaustive survey of possible 3D solutions, PARI performed a thorough feasibility study by conducting a pilot project with three potential solution providers. Selection criteria included: support; suitability of the software for PARI’s needs; initial investment and projected investment for future upgrades; stability of the solution provider; deployment speed; scalability in terms of design size; compatibility with supporting applications such as CAE and PDM; commitment and track record of the solution provider for speedy enhancements to its products; willingness of the solution provider to incorporate suggested enhancements; accessibility of PARI to the solution provider’s development team; and the population of software in PARI’s geographical region.
“In many ways, two of the solutions, Solid Edge and its competition, were neck-and-neck,” explains Kale. “We had almost decided to go with the competitor of Solid Edge because at the time it included special functionality for designing Weldment” PARI actually had a purchase order ready for the competitor. Then they learned that Siemens PLM Software was about to release a version of Solid Edge that met PARI’s needs, so PARI was able to go with the software they really preferred. “When we looked at total cost of ownership, we knew we preferred Solid Edge,” Kale says. “And Solid Edge has a very solid presence in India. We decided to trust Siemens PLM Software that weldment functionality would soon be available and they honored their commitment. We now have about 80 seats of Solid Edge.”
Expanding the solution beyond CAD
PARI is one of the largest Solid Edge users in its market segment in India. Kale notes that the transition to 3D went well, in spite of initial concerns on the part of designers. “Some were worried that working in 3D would take longer,” he explains. Thanks to Solid Edge’s ease of use, that has not been the case. “Most people have trouble working in 2D now,” Kale adds. The transition to 3D was facilitated by Siemens PLM Software. “PARI is extremely pleased with the post-sale support and the commitment of the Siemens PLM Software team,” Kale says.
PARI has experienced many benefits since upgrading to Solid Edge. The better visualization made possible by solid modeling, combined with the ability to do kinematics studies and finite element analysis (using Femap® and Solid Edge models), has reduced design errors more than 30 percent. This is the most significant benefit of the transition, according to Kale. “We do a lot of first-of-a-kind, custom jobs and errors are not acceptable when you’re working half-way across the globe,” Kale says. “With Solid Edge, we can simulate complex mechanical interactions of moving robots and eliminate problems while a design is still in the virtual stage.” (The company has recently begun using Tecnomatix Robcad from Siemens PLM Software for offline robot programming as well.) Another benefit of Solid Edge has been the ability to re-use CAD data, which has accelerated the design cycle by more than 50 percent.
PARI’s success with Solid Edge has convinced the company to make this technology part of its future development plans. Management is considering linking the Solid Edge data to the ERP system. They are also planning to implement product lifecycle management technology so that all of the company’s six locations have consistent design data. In acquiring Solid Edge, PARI got what its designers needed to support the company’s global expansion. “With Solid Edge we got everything we needed at a very reasonable cost of ownership,” Kale concludes.
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Challenges:
- Scaling up engineering throughput
- Maintaining a growth rate of 70 percent year on year
Keys To Success:
- Upgrading from 2D CAD to solid modeling
- Validation using FEM and simulation tools within Solid Edge® software
- Robot simulation software
Results:
- Reduced design errors
- Faster design cycles
- Ability to re-use design information saves time and money
Client's Primary Business:
PARI Ltd. is a global provider of robotics and automation solutions.
Business Initiatives:
- Commonization & Re-use
- New Product Development
Solutions/Services:
- Femap
- PLM Components
- Solid Edge
- Tecnomatix
- Tecnomatix Robotics & Automation Planning
- Velocity Series
Client Location:
Maharashtra
India
"With Solid Edge we got everything we needed at a very reasonable cost of ownership."
Mangesh Kale
Managing Director
PARI Ltd.