SUCCESS STORY
Superior Essex Communications Replaces Home-Grown PLM System with Fusion 360 Manage
Customer Challenge
For many years, Superior Essex used an internally developed system for managing the test requests of new products and storing documents.
“Our products need to meet certain specifications, and an engineer within the company developed the system we used to submit the test requests, store results, and get the information needed to create reports that verify compliance,” said Rod Kron, Materials Analyst, Superior Essex. “As the company grew and the engineer who designed the system moved to another role, managing the system became a bit challenging.”
To eliminate the challenges of working with a homegrown system and to automate the entire product development process, Superior Essex decided to look at industry leaders in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technologies for a solution.
Project Goals
Superior Essex needed a tool that:
1. Offered more flexibility, enabling customized workflows and the ability to make changes post go-live.
2. Allowed the workflow followed on the homegrown system to be mimicked.
3. Offered a Cloud solution which would not require the Superior Essex IT to get involved and take time away from other projects.
Solution
After a few online discovery calls, the IMAGINiT team proposed an Autodesk Fusion 360 Manage solution comprised of:
- Leading a scoping session to understand the current business processes of Superior Essex, the existing workflow, and data collection
- Identifying and securing the appropriate licenses of Autodesk Fusion 360 Manage software
- Creating a project plan/mobilization document
- Building a custom New Product Introduction (NPI) workflow, Test Request, and Tests workspace with the same functionality as the homegrown system
- Implementing out-of-the box Vendors, Items and BOMs, Documents, and Equipment Management workspaces
- Fine-tuning the system based on user feedback
- Conducting a three-day training session for the onsite administrators and an IT professional
Business Outcome
“We went live with a small group in the product development center to test the system for about six weeks, and it worked just as expected,” said Rod. “We are now rolling it out to developmental engineers, production engineers, manufacturing engineers, laboratory technicians, the commercialization group, sales, and procurement, and are training each group on the components relevant to their jobs.”
When discussing the Fusion 360 Manage improvements over the company’s previous system, Rod stated that:
1. Administrators could easily set it up; unlike many other systems
2. Engineers transitioned easily because the customized workspaces are almost identical to those in the old system
3. Hyperlinks make navigating the system much smoother
4. Uploading documents of all types to the Cloud provides another layer of security against document corruption
5. It is easy to delegate tasks & track progress
Conclusion
“We will continue to run both systems for a few more weeks, as we have older projects still in process,” said Rod. “As all groups transition their projects onto Fusion 360 Manage, we will gain additional efficiencies, as we will be able to identify scope creep early and take steps to keep projects on track.”
Project Summary
Delivery Date
2021-07-01
Project Duration
60 days
Autodesk Solutions
- Fusion 360 Manage
Services Provided
- Configuration & Deployment
Customer Industry
- Design & Manufacturing