CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

20 February 2007

Implementation Investments

CoCreate Software Drives Innovation in Plastic Bag Production

CoCreate Software Inc . announced that the use of Model Manager in the development of the new Starlinger ad*starKON 60 manufacturing plant has resulted in resource savings.

Starlinger, long recognized as a world's leading supplier of machinery and plants for woven plastic bag production, continually develops and perfects successful concepts in bulk packaging. Through its constant modernization, optimum quality and comprehensive service, the Austrian company achieved success on the global machinery market. Another critical success factor is efficient development. In this area Starlinger relies on the services of CoCreate -- it implemented Model Manager for universal data management in the autumn of 2005.

One year later, the company can now present a further packaging innovation in the form of the ad*starKON 60 manufacturing plant. The system, which was developed from scratch in OneSpace Modeling and Model Manager, achieves a 50% increase in the throughput of bags produced. Not only that, but nonproductive periods have been reduced to a minimum, allowing the machine to be used almost 24/7. In addition, the products can also be used for bulk materials that have to be transported in hermetically sealed bags.

"Without the almost simultaneous implementation of Model Manager, it would have been impossible to build the new plant in the scheduled time. We would have needed at least two more workers to monitor and compare the various components," reports Norbert Neumuller, manufacturing design engineer at Starlinger. "Once we had defined the naming conventions, finalized the usage concepts for Model Manager and finished testing, things happened very quickly."

Up to 10 developers were working on the ad*starKON 60 at the same time. One part of the team worked out the 3D models for the plant's components, while the others were responsible for creating production-based drawings. In total, around 12,000 different components were constructed between the autumn of 2005 and June 2006.

"Previously, we often finalized components on the basis of outdated information, which meant a lot of reworking," explains Neum|ller. "With ad*starKON 60 we were able to eliminate those sorts of errors. This is certainly one reason why the project was so successful."

Model Manager has now become established as Starlinger's core system for data management, allowing the company to further optimize its cross-departmental processes. The recycling rate has risen and the number of unprofitable versions has decreased, both of which have resulted in increased productivity in development.

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