Low cost data management set to deliver big rewards at Miller UK
1 min read
More efficient sharing and re-use of design data, better version control, better audit paths and the ability to transfer bill of materials (BoM) data directly into production MRP: those are construction industry coupler maker Miller UK’s goals for its Autodesk Productstream implementation. Brian Tinham reports
More efficient sharing and re-use of design data, better version control, better audit paths and the ability to transfer bill of materials (BoM) data directly into production MRP: those are construction industry coupler maker Miller UK’s goals for its Autodesk Productstream implementation.
Miller, which manufactures for the likes of Caterpillar, JCB, Komatsu, Case New Holland, Hitachi and Volvo, looks set to be one of the first in the UK to install the system – Autodesk’s new manufacturing data management solution – alongside its Autodesk Inventor Series 3D digital design software.
Working with Autodesk reseller Imass Design Solutions, Miller UK expects significant time savings – in some cases, reducing a day’s work down to minutes by eliminating manual data re-entry alone.
“We have seen rapid growth over the past few years. Inevitably, the amount of design data we need to manage and re-use has grown with it,” says Gary Thomson, Miller UK technical manager.
He makes the point that, without careful management, design data can become almost worthless, but that systems like Productstream enable design offices to solve their problem internally, without major investment – particularly if they’re implemented at the same time as Inventor CAD/CAM.
In fact, Thomson had used Inventor and worked with Imass before, so he was the driver behind the decision to invest in four seats of Inventor for day-to-day working alongside Miller UK’s existing Pro/Engineer seats.
“The growth of the company highlighted the need for design data to be carefully stored and managed from the very beginning of the design, in order to save time and resources further downstream,” he explains.
“I have worked with Imass for around seven years now and knew that they were experts in data management, as well as CAD, so would be able to recommend the best integrated solution. I also knew I could rely on their support to help maximise the value of our chosen solution and so justify the investment.”
