Enhancing Their Edge on Efficiency by Leveraging Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Published 13th June 2008

Edge Products Case Study:

“With nearly 100 top level SKUs and more than 2000 parts in our database, we recognized the need for a system that would require us to be more rigorous in our change control process and provide the kind of history and documentation that is necessary to ensure the quality to which we are committed.”

- Gerrit Kruitbosch, Vice President of Engineering, Edge Products


Manufacturer of Automotive Modules and Programmers uses PLM to Streamline Parts Databases, Product Documents and Interdepartmental Communication

Customer
Founded in 1999, Edge Products has become the premier name for aftermarket performance electronics for the gas and diesel truck, and Jeep markets. Edge has been named three times to the Inc. 500's fastest growing privately held companies, and was noted as Utah's fourth fastest growing company between 1999 and 2004. Edge currently employs more than 100 individuals and resides in a 32,000 square foot facility in Ogden, Utah.

Edge produces modules and programmers for all major vehicle manufacturers, including Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Jeep, and RV under the following brands: the A2, Juice, Attitude, Evolution, EZ, Insight, Mileage Max, and Trail Jammer. Since its inception, Edge has been known for the power its modules and programmers produce. However, what sets the company apart from its competitors is its monitoring capabilities. Coupled with the additional gains in horsepower, Edge's ability to display multiple engine parameters - and to provide associated safety features for those parameters on its stylish in-cab monitors - has revolutionized the industry. Edge endeavors to produce the highest quality products on the market and to deliver them with superior customer and technical support.

Challenge/Situation

Edge is a rapidly growing company and the nature of their products requires fast development cycles. For example, if a vehicle manufacturer makes a change to an existing product, Edge must react quickly, often with a change to their products. “Communication of change information from the vehicle OEMs is a major challenge”, stated Gerrit Kruitbosch, vice president of engineering for Edge Products. “Edge receives little to no information from the manufacturers on product changes which can sometimes happen weekly, so keeping up with the changes on our end required an automated system to help us keep track of our internal change process.” Plus, Edge’s window of opportunity is further constrained by the fact that 90% of these add-on products are purchased within the first 90 days of new vehicle ownership.

Edge’s manual engineering processes were not conducive to this constantly changing product design environment. The company wanted to implement electronic processes for easy access to product information and improved efficiency. Edge had an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system in place, which contained parts and order information but lacked the type of functionality required to manage detailed engineering data, particularly engineering changes.

“We release about 10-15 new products and process over 350 engineering change orders per year, with a Documentation Control department consisting of a single person who also has many other responsibilities,” said Gerrit. “With nearly 100 top level SKUs and more than 2000 parts in our database, we recognized the need for a system that would require us to be more rigorous in our change control process and provide the kind of history and documentation that is necessary to ensure the quality we are committed to.”

Customer Goals

Edge Products experienced some changes in management that brought in new personnel with vast industry experience. The new team identified a need for an improved change and part control processes and set out to find an engineering Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system to remove the paperwork burden and provide a complete documentation trail.

Edge formed a committee consisting of the VP of Engineering, PCB layout designer, and Electrical Engineer responsible for the parts database, to select a PLM system. The PLM selection team searched specifically for a system that included engineering change management, Bill of Material (BOM) management, document management, and approval routing. Direct integration with their existing ERP system, Sage MAS 90 ERP, was also a necessity.

They wanted a flexible solution that could be easily adapted to their internal company practices such as part numbering schemes and revisions Edge also wanted a PLM system with robust search capabilities and ease-of-use to get company up and running quickly.

Vendor Selection

Over a 3-month period, Edge researched PLM providers by viewing product demonstrations and researching websites, comparing both hosted and client/server solutions. Edge narrowed their selection to 3 vendors. After determining that a hosted solution was not a route they wanted to take, and that the remaining vendors had equal functionality, the deciding factor came down to price.

“We reviewed several of the key PLM vendors and were quite satisfied with the way Omnify provided solutions to meet our specific needs,” continued Gerrit. Omnify Software, headquartered in Andover, MA., is a leading provider of business-ready product lifecycle and change management solutions.


Implementation

Edge was able to deploy the system smoothly, from importing all of their part data to building all of their BOMs and determining all of their processes. When Edge Products started using the PLM system, it became necessary the PCB designer to update the component libraries to match the company database. He had been using manufacturer part numbers instead of Edge’s in-house part numbers. He was able to export the needed data from the PLM system to create the new libraries, eliminating time-consuming data entry and potential errors. The overall roll out took about 3 months. Leveraging web services made customizing the environment to meet company practices and facilitating user adoption a simple process.

Edge now stores all relevant product information in one location. All PCB files including schematics, Gerber data, fabrication notes, and drawings are stored in the PLM solution. All documents are now vaulted with their associated item number and revision, and can be easily accessed by those with permission. The ability to track all of the engineering related attributes of their parts assists Edge with auditing for environmental specification compliance.

“I use the PLM system just about daily,” said Stephen Irwin, PCB designer for Edge Products. “It provides easy access to datasheets, documents, part attributes, new part approval, engineering change orders, and revision history. It has also improved communication between engineering, purchasing, inventory, production, testing, and even our outside contract manufacturer.”

Electronic change control in the PLM system has provided the complete review and sign-off process Edge was looking for. The ECO cycle is more inclusive and complete. The sign off process includes more cross functional people - quality, customer service, marketing – even making sure the web site gets updated and on through the complete supply chain.

The direct electronic sharing of part and BOM information between the PLM and ERP system eliminates manual data entry errors and ensures accuracy of product change information across the enterprise. When their ERP system was upgraded, the PLM system worked right along with it.

Edge also uses the PLM system as a place to track their New Product Development (NPD) cycle. “We use a gated review process where each milestone is indicated by the revision increment of an NPD item in the Omnify system and all relevant documentation such as risk analysis and marketing requirements are stored with the item for reference by the entire cross-functional team,” said Gerrit. “The Omnify PLM system has proven to be a very effective resource for not only our engineering design team, but also for our production group.”

Customer Success

Edge Products has achieved substantial time savings and improved communication since implementing the PLM system. The need to print or email files in order to share information interdepartmentally, as well as the tedious task of hand-entering BOMs has been eliminated. Engineers have the choice of generating a BOM report directly from within the schematic capture program and import it into OmniBOM, the system’s BOM creation and processing tool or interfacing the two systems and have it shared electronically. There it can be edited via a spreadsheet or custom script as needed. This tool uploads it to the main PLM system where a new item request or Engineering Change Order (ECO) is automatically generated.

In reverse, if an engineer has taken the time to find a new part for a project, he can start a new part request in the PLM system. The system ensures that a datasheet gets added and other required part attributes. After sign off, the PLM system automatically sends the part request to the PCB designer. “The automated new part request process ensures communication between engineering and myself, as well as saves me the time of looking for a datasheet and redoing work that has already been done by the engineer,” added Irwin.

Product quality has also increased resulting in a major reduction in product returns. “Omnify’s PLM system has been a significant contributor to a 50% reduction in our product return rates,” confirmed Gerrit. Warranty costs have also decreased dramatically without Edge having to make any substantial increases to overhead.

The system provides a mechanism to facilitate communicating requirements with Edge's external manufacturing partners, enabling Edge to catch a number of inconsistencies in documentation with their suppliers and contract manufacturers that they would not have caught previous to implementing Omnify. “The documentation trail in Omnify is invaluable,” noted Gerrit.

“We have, without question, become much more refined in our change control management,” said Gerrit. “The structured processes we have established allow us to be much more thorough and eliminate inaccuracies we would have not known about prior to Omnify.” Since the implementation of the PLM system, Edge is able to manage product changes accurately and efficiently speeding up their reaction time to vehicle OEM changes while continuing to deliver high quality products.

They are also pleased with the PLM system’s ability to assist with RoHS WEEE compliance, knowing they already have the technology in place to market globally.