Summary

EDA has been involved automating quotation production, engineering design, drafting and parts reservation for this company. The program starts with an MS-Access interface and uses both Excel and Synthesis for engineering calculations. Synthesis uses the calculations to produce bill of material lists, assembly drawings, detailed fabrication drawings, and detailed parts and labor quotations. Quotations with scaled assembly drawings can be produced in 15 minutes (from 2-3 hours) and manufacturing drawings can be produced in less than two hours (from 12-40 hours).

Engineering bottleneck

"Probably our single biggest reason for getting into the automated system is to cut down on the high engineering costs and the bottleneck-the time required," said Jeffrey Christensen, President and General Manager of the AFECO company of Algona, Iowa. Mr. Christensen has primary responsibility for sales and quotations for the 20-year-old company, which designs and manufactures material handling equipment, such as conveyors, and related specialty equipment.

About four years ago, the company realized that some changes needed to be made.

"Our costs were escalating to a point where we were not being competitive in the industry," Mr. Christensen said.

Two possible solutions were determined: reduce costs or move into development of more specialized equipment that other companies couldn't provide.

"Actually we took both routes. We went with the automated design to reduce our costs, and we also got into some more sophisticated specialty equipment."

Automation search

The company purchased a CAD system and began their search by looking for a "canned" program, one that would come right out of the box with the features they needed, but found nothing suitable.

Next, a software development company was approached with the problem. Their costs proved to be prohibitive, particularly if AFECO wanted to ensure company security by keeping the program exclusive.

The company's next step was to purchase Synthesis and attempt, unsuccessfully, to develop an automation program on their own.

"We struggled here for a couple of years trying to put a program together ourselves," Mr. Christensen said, but "we didn't have anybody we could completely devote to doing that."

This led AFECO to engage the services of Engineering Design Automation, Inc. to develop the program. EDA began working with Daniel J. Wittenberg of AFECO to construct a program that would automate nearly all of the company's design and drafting tasks, as well as associated paperwork such as quotations and bill of materials generation.

The system automates design and drafting of the company's three types of belt conveyors as well as screw augers and two styles of dumpers. It covers everything from the initial customer quotation to the final layout and parts drawings used in the actual manufacturing of the conveyors.

"Right now we get the quotation, we get the to-scale drawing, we get all the piece part drawings, we get a bill of materials, we get a labor list of all the hours required in each work center, and then an outside purchase list also," Mr. Christensen said. "Eventually, when we integrate with the database, we plan on having the system also generate shipping tickets and the invoices."

The main program interface is a form-driven MS-Access database, which allows quotation information to be stored for easy later reference. Dumper design also includes data from Excel worksheets (designed by Chris Brown of AFECO). The interface also includes specially designed standards menus. It is designed to be used by those with a minimum of engineering knowledge.

"I'm a typical case-I'm not a design engineer, and have never done design work, but I probably do 75 percent of the quoting right now on the system. I know enough about it to sit down and answer the questions properly," Mr. Christensen said.

Automation benefits

The benefits of automation begin with dramatic time savings, and include greater accuracy and efficiency in manufacturing.

A standard belt conveyor would normally take a minimum of 20 hours to complete the design, the material lists and the shop drawings. The automated system can produce all these components in 30 minutes or less.

In addition, the accuracy of engineering and design cuts down on manufacturing time, and helps eliminate costly mistakes.

"By standardizing the equipment and standardizing the piece parts that go out to the fabrication shop, the guys that are actually doing the building, it's cutting their fabrication time because everything always looks familiar to them-it's always built basically the same," Mr. Christensen said.

"And, because the computer is generating the parts list and shop drawings, after they've been proofed or tested they always come out right. There are almost no mathematical errors, so pieces don't get cut the wrong length, or at the wrong angle. It automatically reserves raw materials and orders purchased materials, so you don't forget to order something."

In addition to the cost savings through greater efficiency, faster customer response time is an important bonus in a competitive market.

"I just got off the phone with a fellow who was looking for a belt conveyor," Mr. Christensen said. "I told him, 'In half an hour I will have you a to-scale drawing and a price quotation,' and he basically didn't believe it.

"I told the secretary to hold all my calls for half an hour and I sat down and within 20 minutes I had the quotation and the drawing. He had the fax in less than half an hour."