Business Challenges
NTS recognised the challenges in maintaining, managing, and disseminating technical product information using traditional methods like folder structures, Excel files, and emails. They saw implementing a PDM/PLM (Product Data Management/Product Lifecycle Management) system as a strategic move to address this. However, this implementation needed not to hinder the flexibility of their existing processes and solutions.
This requirement posed one of the major challenges for NTS, alongside other significant objectives such as realising efficiency savings, establishing a 'single source of truth' for information, and creating a well-managed environment for handling technical product documentation. These goals were essential to streamline their operations and enhance productivity while maintaining the agility and adaptability of their processes.
Keys to Success
As digitalisation becomes increasingly prevalent in the market, the risks of not embracing this trend are substantial. For NTS, the escalating complexity of products, the critical need for efficiency, and the tightening of regulations and customer expectations underscored the necessity for a streamlined PDM/PLM system to manage projects effectively.
With their rich market experience as a guiding force, NTS initiated the implementation of Teamcenter® Foundation. This process involved gradually integrating new PLM/PDM functionalities, which have already demonstrated significant effectiveness. The creation of a shared knowledge environment has been a key achievement. It enables NTS's development and engineering teams to comprehensively capture and manage various resources related to business planning, engineering, manufacturing, and service.
These accomplishments result from a close and constructive collaboration, where even the most challenging issues were addressed directly. A crucial step in this process was the definition of processes and their associated data models before developing solutions.
Results
The outcome of the implementation encapsulates a series of positive improvements within the organisation. This includes increased internal efficiency by significantly reducing time spent searching for information. Moreover, automated engineering output checks led to substantial enhancements in output quality.
Seamless collaboration among diverse disciplines enhanced communication and cooperation while reducing project management costs. These enhancements empowered the organisation to undertake more complex and large-scale projects while simultaneously reducing project timelines.