Aerospace & Defense Company Targets PLM

Elettronica selects MatrixOne to reduce time to market, enable management of information and processes on single server-based architecture

Elettronica selects MatrixOne to reduce time to market, enable management of information and processes on single server-based architecture

Westford, MA — November 10, 2004 — Elettronica (ELT), a manufacturer of electronic defense equipment and systems headquartered in Rome, Italy, said it has successfully completed implementation of MatrixOne's product lifecycle management (PLM) platform.

The integration of the MatrixOne platform to Elettronica's non-proprietary and sophisticated computer-aided design (CAD) environment should enable Elettronica to offer an array of products, such as electronic and mechanical applications, microwave monitoring and detection tools, and requirements-generating software.

Elettronica said it chose the MatrixOne PLM platform primarily for its ability to serve as a single-product information environment for Elettronica's customized and user-specific application frameworks, the core of Elettronica's new product development efforts.

Each Elettronica application framework varies greatly based upon the unique needs of product designers, workgroups and business-level users, with each having the ability to customize its own framework to suit is needs.

A secondary benefit realized from the solution arises from the simplicity of information retrieval, allowing for streamlined search and retrieval of product information.

During the initial deployment period, a prototyping stage was followed by phases dedicated to the optimization of bill of materials (BOM) management processes and the integration with SAP and the Mentor Graphics-Innoveda CAD application framework.

To fully deploy the MatrixOne implementation, integration with Elettronica's CATIA CAD/CAM solution was also completed.

MatrixOne said the flexibility of its PLM platform enabled a successful application customization based on emerging market trends and the specific needs of the various types of users. In addition, the provider's solutions allowed customized support for Elettronica's business users, with specific training activities based on achieved learning levels.

The complexity of Elettronica's BOM management and updating procedures, and the existence of an extensive information database organized by heterogeneous vertical areas, required redefinition of the system architecture to help data sharing among different working teams. The PLM suite increased Elettronica's annual productivity by more than 8 percent, according to the manufacturer, allowing a smoother and more proactive risk evaluation and producing an optimization of the workflow planning tasks.

The document lifecycle has been changed through a simplified coding and management architecture for the data and the specifications of each component listed in the database. Component classes and types have been reduced from 66 to 25, and adopted code types have been reduced from seven to two. The revisions of the information system, combined with the adoption of a new packet-based data management system, raised the business database's reliability, according to MatrixOne. Moreover, the real-time data sharing capabilities allow for better monitoring and resolution of critical problems.

The introduction of digital signatures for project validation and the use of shared documents in electronic format have reduced the printing and management costs of internal archives for each department. In addition to facilitating each project implementation, the new information architecture enables every user to access the most up-to-date information about BOM modules and reporting activities, Elettronica said.

Elettronica explained that more effective coordination among all the key value chain participants, with a special consideration to partners and suppliers, has sped the digital prototyping and testing of new product models. Research and development and quality management activities benefit greatly from the information system integration and reengineering, allowing Elettronica to speed the time to market of new product models within increasingly demanding industries, such as Aerospace & Defense.

"The implementation of the MatrixOne platform at each stage of the PLM process allowed us to migrate from an obsolete, legacy information architecture to a single shared-server system, based on the most relational and object databases," said Sebastiano Perugini, PLM Implementation Project Manager for Elettronica. "The versatility of the MatrixOne application suite enabled optimized sharing of the most complex information, notably speeding product validation times. This allowed us to deliver greater incremental value for both our internal users and external customers as we optimized each stage of the value chain and reduced time to market."

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