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Success Story

Breaking the Status Quo: Poly-Tex

Breaking the Status Quo: Poly-Tex

Customer challenge

Poly-Tex, a manufacturer and retailer of greenhouses and display systems, already used Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD, but they struggled with data organization. This created a lack of efficiency in their design processes. They recognized the need to organize and categorize their design components and to secure important data. After a software demonstration of Vault Professional, a product data management system, the decision was made to purchase Vault Professional from our technology team. In order to implement the new system efficiently and get the most out of it, Poly-Tex asked Applied’s Vault expert to come onsite and facilitate the installation, configuration, data migration, and training for Vault administrators and users. Due to recent departures and transfers, they did not have the staff to be able to tackle this transition on their own while keeping up with their day to day projects. Because of the workload, Poly-Tex also wanted to automate common design projects.

Project goals

The primary goal of this project was to improve efficiency of Poly-Tex’s design processes through streamlined data management solutions. They needed to eliminate rework from saving over each other and start properly documenting change orders and routing them digitally for better communication on projects. Lastly, they wanted better communication between Engineering and the shop floor. As always, as we were working hand in hand with the customer, project goals grew and we were also able to help them automate commonly designed models.

Solution

Applied worked closely with the design team at Poly-Tex to optimize their workflow, which included setting up an engineering change order (ECO) process with automatic approval routings. Applied helped connect the shop floor workers to Vault via the Thin Client which is a read-only feature for viewing and sharing Vault data in a web browser. This removed a design bottleneck and gave them access to the latest released drawing versions instantly. Applied also supplied engineering support throughout the transition period. This need came up after recent staffing departures and transfers which left Poly-Tex understaffed to meet their workload. Our Design engineers constructed drawing templates, start parts, and borders to help standardize the documentation process at Poly-Tex. These items organized their data and increased design efficiency.

Business outcome

Poly-Tex successfully implemented Vault Professional and was able to eliminate rework from saving over each other. They felt that, due to Vault Professional, they were able to save themselves 150 to 200 hours of rework per year. Their ECO process has been streamlined and has proven to effectively save them time on all change orders. Lastly, the shop floor is communicating with engineering effectively and assured they are seeing the latest models. Applied’s Engineering staff also developed some automation within the existing product lines at Poly-Tex, taking advantage of the iLogic capabilities in Inventor. These types of projects can take a little time to set up, but can really pay off with increased efficiency and reduced time to market for new designs once the iLogic rules and forms are completed. Basic input values from the customer can be entered and models/drawings can be generated within minutes versus hours or days.

Conclusion

Applied Engineering has the flexibility to go above preconceived notions of service. While most companies may have helped via online messages or over the phone, we were able to send some of our experienced employees to Poly-Tex’s site to ensure their data was transferred correctly and completely and to answer any questions they had. As a follow up each year Applied Engineering ensures that Poly-Tex’s systems are updated with the latest version of Vault software and verifies data integrity.

Project summary

    Duration & delivery

  • 90
  • 2020-11-01

    Autodesk solutions

  • Vault Professional
  • Inventor

    Services provided

  • System Integration
  • System Implementation
  • Configuration & Deployment
  • Custom Application Development
  • Data Migration
  • Product Training

    Customer industry

  • Design & Manufacturing
More success stories

Standardizing the Design Process: Solid Comfort

SolidComfort is a specified casegoods supplier for world-class brands including Marriott (Fairfield Inn & Suites and TownePlace Suites), Hilton (Home2 Suites and Hilton Garden Inn), Best Western, and My Place. They were struggling to meet design deadlines and realized their processes varied significantly between members of the engineering team. They were lacking in version control and document management, and their team was using different versions of engineering software. The customer was also in the process of implementing a new ERP system but didn’t know how best to connect all the different applications throughout the Engineering and Manufacturing process.

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