SKF
"SKF is organized into approximately 30 different business segments. As a global company, we must be able to share information among business units. For this reason, management agreed to implement a mechanism that will enable us to control the flow and exchange of information," said Jacques van Zijp, SKF's Group Project Manager

SKF is the world's leading manufacturer of bearings, seals, and related products. The company is comprised of more than 50 business units operating at over 130 sites around the world and employs close to 46,000 people. Jacques van Zijp, SKF's Group Project Manager, adds, "SKF is organized into approximately 30 different business segments. As a global company, we must be able to share information among business units. For this reason, management agreed to implement a mechanism that will enable us to control the flow and exchange of information."

When SKF implemented Pro/ENGINEER® as its CAD solution in 1996, they began discussions with Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) about a PDM system to address their information management needs. They discovered that PTC's new technology Windchill was the right solution to manage their enterprise-wide information.

Business Challenges in the Extended Enterprise
Like most global corporations, SKF faces many challenges in their enterprise product information strategy. Multiple legacy systems needed to be brought forward into more modern and efficient systems. Decisions are made across broad geographical locations, and information accuracy and sharing is critical. Beyond SKF departments, responsiveness to customers is key to their competitiveness. They required a structured, global data management solution to realize their vision.

SKF evaluated several information management products based upon the following criteria:

  • Reduce time and costs associated with specification and prototype processes
  • Improve quality and data storage of information
  • Improve trace-ability of the data associated with specification and prototype processes
  • Capture historical data used to validate the design of a bearing after delivery
  • Reduce IT costs in development, deployment, and support of a PDM system
  • Reduce cost and impact of organizational alignments

SKF found that Windchill provides the robust information solution that addresses these needs and delivers higher levels of efficiency through its innovative technology foundation. Windchill is rapidly configurable to solve business problems where product and process automation delivers significant benefits. It can be deployed toward focused business processes while providing the scalability to reach the extended enterprise.

The CSDP Initiative
The Customer Specific Development Process (CSDP) is an SKF common process that targets higher responsiveness to specific customer requirements. The objectives of CSDP are to reduce lead times and manage information more effectively toward error-free processing. Mr. van Zijp adds, "Windchill is the enabling technology for realizing these goals."

Windchill was applied to optimize the CSDP process of bidding against specialized designs and deliverables that respond to customer's unique requests. The goal was to reduce the response time from days to hours where each response is as unique as its request. "SKF identified the CSDP as a critical process that needed a significant enhancement," explains van Zijp. "We realized the need to reduce the time and costs associated with generating specifications and prototypes. Moreover, the trace-ability of information associated with a CSDP in a later process cycle or during the development of the product, is considered a major cost cutter. Improvement in these areas alone will positively affect business and help SKF maintain its competitive edge."

Windchill's time to deployment for the CSDP project was also very significant. Van Zijp explains, "We signed up to conduct a Windchill pilot project in October 1998, to be completed by April 26, 1999. Due to the rapid implementation and support by PTC, the pilot went so well that we completed the project with a month to spare and without adding more resources." SKF Implements Windchill to Manage Complex Customer Specific Development Processes

The Windchill Advantage
Windchill facilitates the efficient delivery of bearing-related information throughout the entire CSDP process. Now documents related to this process are managed consistently, and documents are easy to identify and access. Average search times for information has been reduced by 50 percent.

Using Windchill, CSDP throughput is much faster because serial tasks are handled in parallel and all information and documents related to the process are gathered in a very visible and well-organized manner. With Windchill Workflow, the right information is delivered to the right person at the right time.

Windchill "unites" all the CSDP sub-processes under the umbrella of one large process. Further, the technology maintains continuity between the various CSDP phases, providing global access to the related documents where necessary. A series of activities and business gates control the information flow throughout the process. The Lifecycle Managed PER form is used to record the data required as part of the CSDP. The system allows the modeling of bearing product structures. In addition, the system is integrated into the existing SKF intranet and existing SKF HTML pages allow access to Windchill functionality. Windchill appears as a seamless extension of the existing SKF information network. The CSDP project also required integration with Lotus Notes. Now users can access Lotus Notes Technical Development Manual from the Windchill Web environment.

Windchill in the SKF Enterprise
The pilot project has helped SKF assess its readiness and total cost of ownership for Windchill. Van Zijp notes, "We will initiate two to three-month long business-related pilots. These pilots will operate in production mode with real information. The next pilot will begin now and end in July 1999. In addition, SKF plans a worldwide Windchill launch.

"There is a profound benefit to Web-based technology versus having many, many clients, particularly in lieu of Y2K. The ability to manage business information available via a Web browser greatly reduces the total cost of ownership. In addition, Windchill is very secure. Organizations using client solutions must realize that company-sensitive data is so easily accessible. With Web-based technology, however, the risk of company-sensitive information reaching the wrong people is much lower.

"We are starting to reach our vision of paperless manufacturing. Windchill fits in the picture quite well. Using the Web is not new for us and perhaps that's why the Windchill pilot went so well. The infrastructure is established and strong. Soon, Windchill and Lotus Notes will co-exist. Lotus will be the e-mail backbone and the tool for collaborative groupware."

SKF also plans to integrate Windchill with its MRP systems to bolster its competitive edge into the next millennium. By integrating Windchill into its processes, SKF anticipates being able to improve its overall customer satisfaction and therefore reducing costs and increasing their return on investment.