Darchem drives efficiency on data re-use

Thermal engineering firm Darchem says that using Autodesk Vault, the design data management tool in Inventor MCAD software, it has completed 20 projects in three months, and reduced time spent checking manufacturing details by 75% while cutting drawing time by one third. Design engineer Gerry Traynor points out that because Darchem designs and manufactures insulation and fire-protection systems for nuclear and petrochemical plants, stringent processes are essential. He says that by maximising the value of data, re-using where possible and passing it downstream to manufacturing, the firm is achieving almost 100% right first time accuracy. “Our work is very high level assembly and with a large team, we were constantly looking back over historical data to find components to fit or modify. With everything carefully managed by Vault this process is now significantly more efficient,” he says. Also, Vault has also helped to resolve network issues, reducing file loading time from minutes to seconds. “Another benefit is that I am able to view the status of each drawing, which means project management can be far more controlled,” adds Traynor.