Cutting-Edge Of Virtual Design

Arburg’s product range and the modular design of its machines place high demands on IT services.

Virtual propduct management improves time to market and increases development-to-delivery.

Arburg is a leading manufacturer of injection molding machines located in Lossburg, in the Black Forest region. Arburg’s product portfolio includes Allrounder injection molding machines with clamping force from 125 to 5,000 kN, Multilift robotic systems, complex automation solutions and a range of peripherals. Arburg has been incorporating Dassault Systèmes’ solutions for 15 years, and currently relies on CATIA, ENOVIA and 3DVIA Composer for its product development needs.

Standardizing IT

Arburg’s product range and the modular design of its machines place high demands on IT services. Under the motto “securing the future with process optimization using standard IT solutions,” CIO Andreas Dümmler and his 60-person IT team work closely with the operations department to radically rethink the company’s IT infrastructure and improve the way the business is run.

For example, Dümmler advocated using standardization to help the company meet extremely short delivery deadlines. By building a process-oriented IT infrastructure with virtual product management, Arburg has dramatically improved time to market and increased development-to-delivery speed two-fold.

In the area of application integration, the company primarily focused on implementing configuration management based on unified data management.

Virtual Product Development

From the very beginning of development, Arburg engineers used CATIA to construct their machines virtually. The system stores every revision precisely. The interfaces between CAD/CAM information and the procurement and ordering system ensure a 3D view of every Arburg-developed component.

In addition, designers and design engineers can simulate all production steps, from design to final machine and display a 360-degree view of their models.

Additionally, with CATIA’s unique rendering abilities, engineers can test the effects of various materials and external conditions over the life of a product.

For instance, an engineer may wish to experiment with a new hybrid metal coating for the robotic arm of an injection molding machine. By using composite analysis features from CATIA, the engineer can see how this exterior will stand up to extreme temperatures, electrical damage, flooding and chemical exposure. This can save countless time and money as Arburg no longer needs to test physical prototypes and make minute changes in materials composition until a desirable result is achieved. The benefits are palpable in terms of ergonomics, operations and safety.

“Thanks to our digital mock-up approach, design engineers need to make fewer physical prototypes and can verify, at minimal cost, whether special customer requests are feasible,” says Dümmler.  ENOVIA compiles the information so that anyone in the company involved in a particular project can use the same resource and process data and communicate in 3D.

“Three-dimensional images are more understandable than any list or tree structure, significantly facilitating collaboration between all parties,” said Dümmler.

Creating Product Documentation Faster

For technical documentation, Arburg uses 3DVIA Composer.

“We generate the technical documentation directly from the CATIA files using 3DVIA Composer, which saves us a lot of time,” says Klaus Mayer, Head of the CAD/CAM Development department. 

In addition to three-dimensional repair instructions, 3DVIA Composer also automatically generates spare-parts lists that customers can access for online ordering. 

While technical documentation may seem like a less glamorous solution compared with 3D product design and simulation, 3DVIA Composer performs a vital service for Arburg’s customers.

Because companies are increasingly comprised of branches and employees located across the world, language barriers pose diverse challenges for collaborative product development.

By providing repair instructions that involve 3D visual models, 3DVIA Composer allows companies to completely bypass any confusion and respect the dialectal differences of its entire staff.  After all, a screw and a bolt look the same no matter where a person resides.

Looking Forward To PLM V6

Arburg’s investment in virtual product development is paying off. Because its PLM solutions help the company design and manufacture injection molding machines faster than the competition, Dümmler looks forward to working with Dassault Systèmes’ latest version of its core PLM suite – V6 – and to furthering the relationship Arburg has established with Dassault Systèmes.

“We need a partner who will protect our investment and help us move forward over the long term because they know how designers work,” says Dümmler.

At this point it’s easy to see that mutual trust between Arburg and Dassault Systèmes, along with the shared goal of technological innovation, has helped Arburg remain on the cutting-edge of the injection molding manufacturing market for the past fifteen years, and will no doubt ensure its success well into the future.

For more information visit www.arburg.com