“Having 3DEXPERIENCE makes sense especially on bigger projects where we would not be able to survive without it”
—Peter Randall, Senior Engineer
Due to a rapid expansion of MAN Energy Solutions South Africa's team, they found themselves in need of collaboration and a team-wide toolset available even during the hard lockdown of 2020. They also required a data management solution within a scalable system that is immediately available and can be adapted to the team working style.
MECAD implemented 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS Premium to solve their challenge.
MEET MAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS SOUTH AFRICA
MAN Energy Solutions South Africa is part of the MAN Energy Solutions Group. They design, manufacture, and refurbish rotating equipment such as turbines, compressors, pumps and have an extensive presence in the Marine Propulsion and Power industries as well. Their main customers are in the industrial manufacturing, power generation, and marine propulsion sectors.
The large-scale operations where MAN’s customers utilise their equipment are complex and require optimised performance. Therefore, apart from the original equipment supply, MAN ES also offers after-sales services including refurbishment and modification of existing equipment.
To deliver quality functional equipment, the design team regularly reverse engineer, design, and manufacture new parts. Each product leaving the facility must allow for improved performance, be reliable, and be easy to maintain. Some customers will supply drawings while the team also must design and present improvements for other customers.
GROWING DURING TOUGH TIMES
With the high demand for their services, MAN ES had no choice but to expand their engineering team. When new members join a team, it’s a challenge to bring everyone up on the same page and keep them there. This is doubly difficult given how companies are facing challenges due to COVID- 19 regulations as well as lockdowns. Traditional tools often fall short when engineering teams try and collaborate, and they are left using disparate tools to try and share ideas and keep abreast of projects. The MAN ES team already used SOLIDWORKS as an integral part of their daily workflow and wanted to keep using it while also addressing the new challenges.
MAN - Energy Solutions SA designs produced using the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is an innovative solution that helped to solve the problems of rapid expansion. Collaboration has been made easier by several tools that can be accessed on any device. For example, the message boards and direct communication allow the team members to keep track of projects while working from home or anywhere else they find themselves, no longer keeping the team office-bound.
What made this solution unique for them was the CAD-aware nature of the platform. Simply link to the actual file in question, view it directly in a browser, and make markup and comments on the design with ease.
THE POWER OF DATA
When you’re working in a team, the need for data management becomes apparent. You have to control which version of files people are editing, finalised designs need to be approved by the correct team member and you need to ensure manufacturing has the correct revisions they need when it comes time for production or procurement.
MAN ES was in exactly this position, needing a good data management system to control who is editing what files and approving designs. What made their need unique was the urgency for an available, usable tool as soon as they purchased it; 3DEXPERIENCE delivered on time with ease of use for MAN’s specific business applications.
The Platform builds on years of lessons learned from both the Enovia and SOLIDWORKS PDM data management systems. The team at MAN ES was able to take advantage of these industry best practices included “out-of-the-box” in 3DEXPERIENCE, reducing their time to usage significantly compared to more traditional systems.
This system has allowed them to easily keep track of who is editing files with a simple “lock” feature, allowing them to collaborate on the same assemblies and designs. Submitting designs for approval is done easily, either from SOLIDWORKS or any browser, and powerful notification settings allow approvers to know when designs are “waiting” for them, without getting unnecessary pings for every activity or design change. “Having 3DEXPERIENCE makes sense especially on bigger projects where we would not be able to survive without it.” Peter Randall, Senior Engineer at MAN Energy Solutions South Africa (Pty) Ltd.
Further, while the team had recently expanded, they couldn’t justify expensive servers and software, only to have to upgrade and repurchase many of these items when the team grows further. The instant access scalability of 3DEXPERIENCE, along with its easy user management features, allows new members to join with very little work needed from an admin and IT perspective while keeping costs low.
ADAPTING TO THE TEAM
Many systems today only allow users to work in the way the system envisioned, with little customisation and adaptability. MAN ES needed a flexible system, that can be adapted to their way of working. The Platform provided exactly this.
First, all interfaces in the platform are fully customisable, dragging in apps as needed and building out the ideal interface. The team then shared these as common interfaces both internally and externally, ensuring all the relevant information gets carried across and nothing is lost in long email chains or some low-quality video calls. One such way regularly utilised by the team is detailed 3D renderings, all part of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Previously using only 2D drawings made it difficult to communicate design outcomes to stakeholders. “It definitely helps to relay information to customers if you can give them more information.” Yuvera Chinsamy, Engineer at MAN Energy Solutions South Africa (Pty) Ltd. 3DEXPERIENCE allows the team to display 3D designs and simulations to their customers. Being able to virtually visualise the planned modifications and designs,
speeds up the approval process by stakeholders.
This customisation is more than skin deep; they were able to meet all their requirements with a customised backend, allowing custom revision schemes, approval states, and processes. Additionally, they were able to map all their custom attributes to the platform, making finding items based on properties, which can be quite complicated when you have a complex name or serial number, extremely easy.
DRIVING FUTURE EFFICIENCY
MAN Energy Solutions SA is still in the process of mastering all the tools and options of 3DEXPERIENCE and can broaden the utilisation to include collaboration with other departments. The latent power of cloud data management promise to elevate the effective output potential of the design teams and allow smooth future expansions.
Read more about the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform
3DExperience® Works - MECAD Systems
ABOUT MAN Energy Solutions South Africa
The history of the turbo division of MAN Energy Solutions South Africa (Pty) Ltd. goes back to April 2001, the diesel division was founded in March 2009. A merger of these divisions took place in May 2010 and sales in that fiscal year exceeded 230 million.
Today MAN Energy Solutions South Africa (Pty) Ltd. employs around two hundred people. It has six facilities in an area of around 12,000 square meters (workshop facilities and offices) in the region. The main facilities are located in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa, the centre of the Mining, Steel Manufacturing, and Petro-Chemical Industries. MAN ES’s commitment to Workmanship and Integrity has enabled it to be regarded as a leader in its diversified fields.
More information
www.man-es.com/global/south-africa