Piping & Cabling Automation – ASIS-PCA
Company name
Atos S.p.A.
project title
Piping & Cabling Automation - ASIS-PCA
dimension and location
Large enterprise - Sesto Calende (VA)
PARTNER
Parametric Design srl
technologies
Atos is a company specializing in electro-hydraulics, producing hydraulic components and systems for industrial applications, explosion-proof for hazardous areas and stainless steel for corrosive environments and fluids. The Atos group operates in over 80 countries, with 9 production sites in Italy, China, the United States and India, and over 750 professionals who share a passion for innovation, technology and creativity.
The problem
The Atos Systems Division, which operates mainly in the industrial, marine and energy sectors, specializes in the design and production of power packs and blocks for any hydraulic application, environment and working condition. With such a broad application and sector spectrum, design plays a central role within the division, as each project is so specialized and tailored to the specific application that it is more often than not unique.
In spite of all the technologies introduced with parallel processes and applied resources, the systems division had reached its maximum performance limit using commercially available design assistance technologies. The high number of hours spent on pre-design at the bidding stage and design once the order was placed limited the competitiveness of the systems division in the global market.
The solution
The project led to the development of a design automation system for the configuration of hydraulic power plants, based on a modelling architecture using parametric and associative programming. Thanks to this system, starting from customer specifications, the complete product model is automatically generated, including BOMs and design drawings. This approach has drastically reduced design time, improving workflow in general and, in particular, optimizing the quality of pre-design at the bidding stage.
Technologies:
- Parametric and associative modelling software: PTC Creo Parametric for geometry configuration.
- Automation systems: based on ‘IF’ cycles for automatic generation of drawings and BOMs.
- Software integration: between Creo Parametric and SAP-PLM, to support the creation of the eBOM (Engineering Bill of Material).
- FEM simulation: for the structural analysis required for the configuration of the ‘Skid’ lifting points.
Desired Impacts
In the long term, the project will ensure an increase in operational efficiency by significantly reducing not only the passive costs associated with quotation, but also, to some extent, the active costs once the order has been placed, thus significantly improving the competitiveness of the systems division in the most competitive market segments. The automation of the design process, now defined no longer in hours, but in minutes, will make it possible to decrease time-to-market, improve the quality of the final deliverables and optimize the engineering of hydraulic systems and subsystems, in line with the requirements imposed by the Digital Industry 5.0 context.
Benefits for the company
The ‘Master-Models’ realised, allow multiple configurations to be supported in ETO-Engineer to Order mode, with the same timing and perceived quality derivable from approaches such as ATO-Assembly to Order and/or DTO-Design to Order.
Derivable outcomes are:
- Reduction of passive costs and Time to Market.
- Simultaneity of hydraulic system configuration processes as they are ‘computer-assisted
- Almost total reduction of design NON-Conformities in the system assembly phase.
- Automatic production of technical documentation accompanying the product:
- Commissioning, maintenance and use manual.
- Technical File.
- Manufacturing Dossier.
This methodological framework allows ATOS to approach, wherever possible, parametric and associative configurations for any type of product that can be specified by more than just technical rules.
The optimisation of resources now enables the company to offer tailor-made solutions with greater speed and precision, as well as creating all the prerequisites for expansion into new market segments.
