PLM quick start at Preh Group

Data migration into the SAP Document Management System

"Innovative and competent“ – this is the slogan of the Preh Group. As a deliverer for automotive, electronics and engineering, the enterprise has a name with great tradition. 2156 employees in Germany, Portugal, France, USA, and Mexico develop and produce intelligent mechatronic products and components for the automotive industry and electronic branches. Driver's operating systems from Preh with their easy to understand operating interfaces and ergonomic designs help to achieve an optimal information management, reliability and driving comfort in modern cars.

The ultimate ambition of the management is the permanent improvement of the quality and ecological management system with the aim of getting a Total Quality Management (TQM) and resulting error-free strategies for products and services. Traceability, that means the customized and close tracing of constructional elements during the whole production and delivery process, is the most important challenge in the automotive branches. In connection with the strategic decision, to implement traceability for the material and process data back tracking together with SAP ERP, Preh decided for worldwide established standards in the archiving and document distribution fields.

Here a decision was made for a co-operation with SEAL Systems with their comprehensive SAP Integration for automatic document provision of production orders and purchases. For this target achievement the existing documents had to be electronically changed and transferred into the SAP document management system.

The administration of CATIA constructions is done with the system SmarTeam. Up to now released documents were stored in different directories and were made available by using an interactive process.

DMS boots trap loading in two steps

The SAP document management system is the basis for long term archiving of technical documents and their enterprise-wide distribution. Released 2D and 3D data are stored in the DMS. The filling is done with the DMS Loader from SEAL Systems.

The 2D data (format TIFF/G4) are loaded in a first step. In connection with this a document information record is created. In a second step the 3D data is loaded for it. This approach turned out to be advantageous for keeping network load calculable, because 3D model data can be very extensive.

For the loading process the file name is built from the material number and the CATIA document version. An ABAP checks, if a document information record is already existing. At an initial generation of a document information record an object relation for the material is created and the CATIA document version is taken as a classification item. If the document information record is already existing, a check is made by using the „document version“, whether it is a new document or not. If the document version is higher, a new version number is created by using the same document number.

Furthermore single TIFF pages can be automatically combined to multi-page documents according to adjustable rules. All process steps are logged, so the standardization department at Preh can control process reliability.

Complete print for production

A partial project target was achieved, after all data and documents were loaded, which are necessary for the assembly in the factory in Mexico. For viewing and printing of the documents within the SAP DMS all documents are stamped. Only documents are valid, which have this stamp. The distribution processes for these documents were changed accordingly. Documents without a stamp are automatically invalid. Now exemplarily for this factory the complete output of production documents in correct sequenced order was realised: forms and documents are stamped and printed in one single process operation.

"The Preh strategy for enterprise-wide archiving and provision of documents and drawings is based on the SAP DMS and the storage is performed on content systems. The optimized distribution of the information to the locations is done with a cache server“, the director of IT at Preh group Martin Limpert explains. „The implementation was carried out in co-operation with SAP and SEAL Systems. The pilot phase was started to achieve fast, revisable and presentable results. As a result of the „Proof-of-Concept“ the quick boots trap loading of the released documents for the production location Monterrey in Mexico was initiated. The outcome of this was the electronical conversion of up to now all 23,3000 documents of the Preh Group and the relation with the appropriate objects within the SAP DMS. Since August 2007 also 3D drawings are additionally loaded and associated in the SAP DMS. A further extension for the procurement processes is planned for 2008."

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