JELD-WEN conducts a Vault Health check, improving overall data security and helping engineers complete daily tasks in just minutes

Overview

The JELD-WEN Research and Development center in Klamath Falls, Oregon is one of the locations where top engineers work daily to develop the latest innovations in windows and doors. The location is the epicenter for all innovation at JELD-WEN and has helped the business grow into a multi-billion-dollar manufacturer operating in 20 countries. The business has always been a leader in its industry and stays committed to finding new ways of working that keep the business ahead of its time. Maintaining that commitment means evaluating both internal and external ways of working.

Autodesk products play a key role in the daily workflows of engineers and other JELD-WEN employees. The team was currently working with Vault 2018 for data management. As JELD-WEN continued to create more innovative engineering solutions, the older software posed an increasing risk to project delivery snags and slower workflows. The JELD-WEN employees who managed Autodesk Vault data helped troubleshoot any issues by developing “on-the-fly” solutions that helped engineers meet tight deadlines when workflows weren’t operating as expected. The JELD-WEN team knew that a more seamless solutions was needed, and the ultimate goal was to upgrade to Vault 2020. After conducting a Vault Health Check with an Autodesk expert, the team feels confident about future upgrades, which could result in saved time for both Vault data managers and engineers at JELD-WEN.

Challenge

One of JELD-WEN’s key business initiatives is to “improve every day.” Vault was originally adopted by JELD-WEN for model data management in 2015. Engineers rely on this tool, paired with Autodesk Inventor, for accurate model data in order to quickly deliver best-in-class engineering solutions. JELD-WEN has years of legacy files stored in Vault, and was running into daily issues including errors, backup failures, and overall system slowness. Without the updated version of Vault, JELD-WEN engineers could sometimes spend hours checking drawings and files in and out of Vault.

Beyond daily workflow tasks, Vault’s key purpose was to ensure that all the data that the engineers created and stored was backed up should anything unforeseen occur. With an outdated Vault setup, JELD-WEN did not feel confident moving forward with an upgrade to Vault 2020 until they re-evaluated the quality of their Vault environment. The ultimate goal was to have Vault be an “invisible” piece of the workflow, rather than a tool that created roadblocks for engineers to navigate around.

“To have an Autodesk expert come in and identify where we put a band-aid on problems and identify that it wasn't the way to fix it—that was what I wanted to see. I wanted an expert helping us find the right way to do it and helping us fix the whole problem was key.”

—Kevin Miller, Images Manager, JED-WEN, Inc.

Solution

The team decided to conduct a Vault Health Check that would identify any issues at the root and set the stage for a successful Vault upgrade. A Senior Implementation Consultant from Autodesk worked onsite at JELD-WEN for three days conducting a Vault analysis. The goal was to analyze the Vault environment’s architecture, network, and maintenance. During the three-day visit, the consultant generated a 90-page analysis report detailing his findings.

The health check helped better standardize and organize the data in the Vault environment, ensuring the upgrade would be smooth and valuable data would remain secure.

Success

Tasks that previously took engineers up to an hour now only take a few minutes with Vault running more smoothly. Before the health check, some engineers at JELD-WEN almost completely avoided using Vault, and relied on other methods of data management and document output. Now engineers report that Vault’s improved usability has translated to almost all documents and data being managed on the platform.

Prior to the Vault Health Check, backups often failed completely and were unable to run. After completing the Vault Health Check and implementing Autodesk’s recommendations, backups are running seamlessly with an incremental daily backup and a full system backup every weekend. This promotes data integrity and prevents their JELD-WEN’s data from being compromised. It also reassures engineers that the work they do won’t be lost.

Above all, user confidence has increased which translates to better model delivery and improved project execution overall. With excellent back-end processes, JELD-WEN continues to achieve excellence in and lead the way forward in the window and door industry.

“We have a much better understanding of our current state, and the health check is the best thing we have done with regards to day-to-day operations in quite some time.”

 —Craig Klemz, Designer, JELD-WEN, Inc.