Discover this article describing how one of our customers integrates SolidWorks solutions with ERP to optimize industrialization.
Vélizy, March 12, 2012 – “Customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, sustainable development… These are the challenges in order to ensure the quality of our products while reducing the environmental impact of our industrial activity”. This is the quality policy, even the credo, of the Signaux Girod group. To achieve its objectives, the company has deployed, throughout its product development process, SolidWorks® Premium, SolidWorks® Professional, SolidWorks® PhotoView 360, SolidWorks® Simulation, SolidWorks® Sustainability, SolidWorks® Enterprise® PDM and 3DVIA solutions Compose.
A complete set of tools fully integrated into the ERP, which makes it possible to design, at the same time novelties in the existing product offer, but above all, the “5-legged sheep” which will perfectly meet the needs of the customers and which makes the difference in the market.
Let’s take a look at the product life cycle at Signaux Girod…
A century-old company at the cutting edge of technology
The Signaux Girod group specializes in signage, road markings, street furniture and the enhancement of tourist heritage. Its core business in 1905, clock dial enamelling, has evolved over the decades, keeping its expertise in working with enamel and aluminum as a common thread.
Today, the group has an international presence with thirty-six sites in France, five specialized subsidiaries and nine subsidiaries abroad (Europe and North America). It has more than 1,200 employees for 2010 turnover of 129.6 million euros. It should be noted that the company remains, even today, a family adventure. www.signaux-girod.fr
A hundred-year-old know-how, expertise and notoriety, of course, but which are based on cutting-edge technologies to support the growth strategy.
The basis … The design
A design office, two engineering and graphic design offices, various complementary trades (sheet metal, mechanical welding, enamelling, gluing, surface treatment, lacquering, design, etc.), a team of 12 people and 10 positions of SolidWorks Premium, SolidWorks Professional, SolidWorks Simulation, and Enterprise PDM work.
Nothing very common? Yes, but…
“Our daily life is the specific project, the prototype, the” tailor-made “,” explains Jean-François Bourgine, Project Manager at the Signaux Girod design office. “We need to manage it from A to Z with the same solution. With SolidWorks, we go from design to manufacturing, including all phases of design. Time saving and security for the management of our data. “
Data management precisely …
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM has several key functions in the business. It is the data safe, the single repository for all services. But Signaux Girod does not stop there.
Integrated into the existing ERP, SolidWorks Enterprise PDM becomes one of the essential links for the transmission of information and the smooth running of the development cycle of a product. Some examples in brief:
• Access for all departments of the company to the same validated and traced information;
• Creation of a data card for each component of an assembly with information concerning it (file, weight, etc.), also integrating the manufacturing process and even its machining range.
In short: a direct and secure link from the design office to the workshop, and transversally via the ERP, to all the departments of the company.
How to meet the security constraints of customers?
“By simulating our assemblies from the moment they are designed,” Jean-François Bourgine replies. “Our products are installed outdoors and in contact with the public, so we must test and validate the mechanical resistance of load-bearing structures, in particular. “
All the products designed and manufactured by Signaux Girod are simulated with SolidWorks Simulation, wind and weather resistance calculations are also part of the files given to customers. It is even an imposed rule.
A quality policy based on respect for the environment
“The calls for tenders launched by local authorities increasingly take the environmental aspect into account,” indicates Jean-François Bourgine. “Eco-design, even if we are only at the beginning, is a strong differentiator. Companies that can already calculate their carbon footprint and report it in the response to the call for tenders have a clear competitive advantage. “
Signaux Girod, always at the cutting edge of technology, is therefore implementing the SolidWorks Sustainability module. And its use continues to grow.
SolidWorks at all stages of the product lifecycle?
We have seen, from the design stage to the workshop, the solutions of DS SolidWorks Corp. are ubiquitous. They are a “plus” for industrialization, but also at the commercial level.
Indeed, 3DVIA Composer is used to optimize and support the response files to calls for tenders and, thus, to multiply their chances of success. Like the Sustainability module, 3DVIA Composer allows the company to demonstrate that it is ahead of its market and reinforces its quality policy, certified ISO 9001 version 2000, and ISO 14001, a guarantee of the quality of its products and of its services.
The Signaux Girod group is advised and supported by Cadware.
