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case study

Use of 3D enables acute visualization and smarter decision making, resulting in a significant increase in new business

Summits Hygronics uses Solid Edge to deliver better products faster, virtually eliminating re-work

Use of 3D enables acute visualization and smarter decision making, resulting in a significant increase in new business

Summits Hygronics

Summits Hygronics, an ISO:9001-2008 company, offers a complete range of products and solutions for compressed air purification, gas generation and purification and industrial cooling systems.

https://www.airdryer.in/
Headquarters:
TamilNadu, Coimbatore, India
Products:
Solid Edge
Industry Sector:
Industrial machinery

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We chose Solid Edge because we were convinced that it would enable us to readily validate products across various operational aspects, including manufacturing feasibility, ease of assembly, etc.
Bala Kannan, Manager of Design & Engineering
Summits Hygronics

Specialist manufacturer possesses advanced capabilities

Summits Hygronics Private Limited (Summits Hygronics) offers a complete range of products and solutions for compressed air purification, gas generation and purification, and industrial cooling systems. Certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as 9001-2008 compliant, the company caters to many public and private sector industries in India, Europe, Middle East and USA. Summits Hygronics possesses full, in-house capabilities to produce all of its products. This includes state-of-the-art fabrication facilities, computer numeric control (CNC) machining centers, advanced test facilities, and product lifecyle management (PLM) technology.

That PLM technology is Solid Edge® software from Siemens Digital Industries Software. “Solid Edge really helps us in conceptualizing new products with better aesthetics for global markets,” says Rajmohan Sathyadev, director at Summit Hygronics. “It helps us to convince our customers of our strengths and capabilities in design, which are on par with any European or American manufacturer. We are not only using this software as a design tool, but also a marketing tool.”

2D dilemma

Like many manufacturers, Summits Hygronics used a classic 2D approach to design for many years. According to Bala Kannan, manager of Design and Engineering at Summits Hygronics, there comes a time when 2D is no longer adequate, especially with respect to overall product visualization and manufacturing assembly sequences. Moreover, the company is seeking to become a significant global company in its field through core technological advancement.

Summits Hygronics’ products typically consist of fabricated and machined parts. These include sheet metal, pneumatics, electronic and electric items. Until recently, design and research and development (R&D) activities depended on a 2D computer-aided design (CAD) system. The software had many limitations, including difficulty in creating assembly drawings (via placing the components in available space) as well as problems in creating piping and tubing lines.

Using 2D, it was also hard to visualize how the product would look after assembly, or whether it could be assembled at all. “With our 2D CAD system, most of our engineer’s valuable time was drained in doing clerical work and re-work,” says Kannan. “Creating a BOM (bill of materials) was time-consuming and too often full of errors. Using traditional 2D technology also meant manually calculating the frame, pipe and tubing lengths. It was especially challenging to effectively communicate intent with the vendors and customers. Another problem involved resource management as we weren’t always sure about the materials required. With 2D, there is no way to really know.

“To resolve these issues, we decided to upgrade to 3D CAD software.”

2D dilemma

Product validation/optimization

Summit’s Hygronics chose Solid Edge after seeing a demonstration. “Before selecting Solid Edge, we contemplated various other CAD solutions,” says Kannan. “We chose Solid Edge because we were convinced that it would enable us to readily validate products across various operational aspects, including manufacturing feasibility, ease of assembly, etc. A comprehensive 2D/3D CAD system, Solid Edge makes it easy to perform assembly-level editing. Use of the software also helps us optimize piping and tubing total length and cut length. With Solid Edge, we have significantly reduced the time required to complete product designs, with automatic drawing creation and BOM generation playing a key role here.”

“With Solid Edge, it’s easy to create an error-free BOM,” adds Kavin Karthikeyan, a design engineer at Summits Hygronics.

No need to know the history behind the model

“In general, new users do not understand the term ‘history free, feature-based modeling/editing,’ but when they use Solid Edge, the advantages of this capability become obvious,” explains Kannan. “Solid Edge is a good tool to speed up the virtualization process.

“This is especially true considering today’s frequent migration of manpower. Finishing an incomplete model with a new engineer or draftsman is difficult using conventionally 3D software. But, using Solid Edge with synchronous technology, we do not worry about the history behind the model creation. We simply assign a replacement engineer or draftsman to edit a particular feature according to requirement and to complete the ECN (engineering change notification) on time.”

30 percent increase in new business

Since the deployment of Solid Edge, Summits Hygronics is preparing 95 percent of the BOM during the design phase. Its design cycle improvement is significant. Most importantly, the company has realized a 30 percent increase in new business.

“With Solid Edge, our business opportunities have expanded; we are winning important new contracts,” says Raj Daniel, a senior manager of Heavy Engineering at Summits Hygronics. “We are now fiercely competitive and our quality has never been better.”

Kannan concludes, “Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Solid Edge is the key contributor to the positive changes at our company. I also applaud Siemens Digital Industries Software’s partner Shuban Technologies. We have known Shuban Technologies for a long time; we are pleased with all aspects of the company’s support and service.”

30 percent increase in new business
With Solid Edge, it’s easy to perform assembly-level editing.
Bala Kannan, Manager of Design & Engineering
Summits Hygronics