CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
28 September 2007
Implementation Investments
Grimme Halves Development Cycles With CoCreate OneSpace Modeling
CoCreate Software Inc. announced that Grimme Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Damme, Germany has adopted the CoCreate OneSpace Suite to systematically digitize product development. As such, the company has shortened development cycles dramatically and expanded its product portfolio for new markets.
Grimme has produced top-quality equipment for the sowing, care, harvest and storage of potatoes for over 70 years. The company also offers innovative sugar beet harvesters.
CoCreate sales partner, ASCAD, implemented the software and also takes care of user support for Grimme.
With over 1100 employees around the world and annual revenues of around 200 million Euros, Grimme leads the global market in potato technology. The group, which also owns subsidiaries in Damme (Ricon and Internorm), three sales companies in England, France and Russia, and a subsidiary in the US, produces around 5000 agricultural machines annually.
The company exports equipment to 70 countries around the globe. Products such as Grimme's large harvesters are highly customer-specific and frequently configured with a wide range of models and options. In fact, developers and design engineers at Damme regularly face the challenge of adapting machinery because of the complex interplay between climate, soil and weather conditions in different regions. "As a global player, we have to build a piece of equipment that will work everywhere and under all conditions," says Klemens Kalverkamp, Grimme's Managing Director and Head of Technology.
To react faster and more flexibly to the needs of new customers in new regions, the company implemented CoCreate OneSpace Modeling and its Dynamic Modeling based approach to product design. With the CoCreate software, designers work free of design history. That means anybody can use and modify designs without worrying about previous modelling steps.
Plus, the OneSpace Suite includes key modules that streamline all of Grimme's work. With Sheet Metal for OneSpace Modeling, the company's CAD software communicates seamlessly with Trumpf laser-cutting machines and sheet metal folders.
Today, Grimme develops all its agricultural machinery in 3D CAD, including hydraulic lines and wire harnesses. The company also uses the model data for finite element calculations, production and assembly, and automatic generation of technical documentation.
CoCreate's 3G PLM solution, which comprises OneSpace Modeling, OneSpace Model Manager and a range of additional modules, has played a large part in Grimme's success in halving development cycles over the past five years. The quality of the equipment, too, has improved considerably. Virtually all the components Grimme produces for its machines fit together perfectly -- with no adjustments required.
"Without a 3D system like CoCreate's OneSpace Modeling, we couldn't even begin to harness the complex functionalities of our equipment," says Kalverkamp.
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