Automated generation of custom products
How Robatech, the Swiss specialist in adhesive application technologies, has created a product experience that impresses at every stage—from the initial request to the customized product.
- A company specializing in adhesive application technologies, founded in 1975 and headquartered in Muri, AG
- Production facilities in Switzerland and the Czech Republic
- Operations in over 80 countries
- 19 subsidiaries in 22 countries
- Approximately 700 employees worldwide
WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
Unlocking the full potential of 3D models
Automated product and quote generation for customer-specific configurations
Especially for traditional MTO products like Robatech’s spray heads—which come in countless customer-specific configurations—automated product and quote generation can drastically reduce the workload for engineering, sales, and production.
Robatech’s goal was to fully automate CAD documentation and quote generation using Intelliact and, through an optimal product experience, ensure that customers (or sales partners) can quickly understand, configure, evaluate, and order products.
Project challenges
Automated CAD generation based on assemblies and component models
Unified digital database for product experience
The key prerequisites for a consistent product experience are the seamless integration of development, manufacturing, and sales, as well as a unified digital database and structure. Accordingly, PLM was absolutely crucial for the successful implementation of this project.
Previously, Robatech engineers had to assemble the desired configurations using CAD whenever a customer, for example, requested a quote for a specific quantity of a nozzle type with a specific spacing. This alone resulted in an enormous amount of work just for quote preparation. Additional challenges that needed to be addressed:
- Handling data from various sources: PDM, ERP, portal, Excel
- CAD data for the spray heads was created manually in the CAD system, controlled via Excel
- Product searches were only possible via name/dimensions, no classification
- Pricing via Excel spreadsheets
- Extremely time-consuming change management
In addition, due to its numerous partners and subsidiaries, Robatech had a cumbersome ordering process involving various ERP systems, which deeply impacted the organization and even affected development.
Implemented by Intelliact
Head Designer: Efficient Search, Easy Configuration
Intelliact worked with Robatech to define the requirements for the new solution based on the business cases and developed the concept, design, and processes for the “Head Designer.” The new solution meets the following requirements:
- Efficient search for similar existing spray heads
- Simple configuration and creation of new customer-specific spray heads
- On-demand generation of 3D models and dimensional drawings via CAD for internal users (sales) and external users (customers)
- Directly integrated pricing
- Web-based application and integration into the internal portal solution
- Simple operation and login area
Another key requirement was that custom solutions could be efficiently retrieved and accessed for repeat orders. This also has the advantage of avoiding the constant generation of new part numbers.
Benefits for ROBATECH and for the customer
Efficiency gains, improved data quality and scalable processes
Streamlined ordering processes and automated quotation generation
Today, Robatech uses Head Designer to automatically generate 3D data and dimensional drawings from a customer-specific product configuration. Engineering is no longer involved in the process and thus has more resources available for developing new products. There are also benefits for sales and manufacturing:
- Using Head Designer, the sales team can quickly find existing products via the feature search and immediately has a recommended price available. Additionally, the immediate availability of product data increases the sales team’s flexibility.
- Work in production is more efficient, as sales, development, and manufacturing are anchored in a consistent data model, and all drawings and BOMs are uniformly formatted through automation.
Another plus: Master data maintenance for items and BOMs has been significantly simplified, and the effort involved in change management is now much lower.
Thanks to automation, Robatech customers benefit from fast response times and receive 3D models configured to their requirements on demand, complete with the corresponding recommended price. Unlike with standard solutions, they can not only configure products using predefined parameters but also create entirely new product variants based on their own specific requirements.
With this Intelliact solution, engineering, sales, and production are integrated into a single, end-to-end data model. On the front end, the solution connects PLM dashboards (where products are easy to find), configuration and quoting (where products are visualized and can be customized to customer specifications), and B2B commerce (with pricing directly integrated) for customers and internal users. In addition, tools such as CAD, PDM, and ERP are fully integrated in the backend.
Would you like to optimize your product experience? Intelliact supports you as a neutral evaluation partner—from defining requirements to successfully implementing the right solution.