Handle complex assemblies efficiently

ERP package shows the way to saving time

Not every production process can be easily captured in a standard ERP package. This makes it difficult for manufacturing companies to make the link between the shop floor and the administration. Vandenbussche Software works the other way around. With its background as developer of CAD/CAM software, it starts from 3D drawings to give you with CIM2000 a solution that is perfectly integrated and that puts you on the road to time savings and more accurate calculations, also for complex parts.

Suppose you receive an STP file from your customer. It involves an assembly, for which you may price all or certain parts. Can your software handle that? Vandenbussche Software's does. "A good ERP package must be able to make a fast analysis of the entire construction for a good quotation and an efficient flow to the production machines. Without an automatic solution to analyze assemblies, that takes a lot of time and manpower and leaves the door open for small mistakes."

Close gap between drawing and work preparation

This ability to bridge the gap between drawing and work preparation is how the Assemblies module in CIM2000, Vandenbussche software's ERP package, makes a difference. "Our roots are in CAD/CAM software. So we don't start from the bill of materials, but really from the drawing, which contains a lot of data about the piece. Here, the intelligent core that we use in our CAD/CAM package to automate complex machining in machining and sheet metal is the basis for recognizing all the parts of the assembly." 

That large STP file from the example is then automatically converted to small STP or DXF files, which can be sent directly to the machine in the next stage. Indeed, unfolding of bend pieces is also done automatically. "If there is also a bill of material, we link it, so that all data end up in one place. Nothing double, everything centralized and automated."

Digital flow tailored to your needs

Expensive customization, you think? Nothing could be further from the truth. "Because we have molded the greatest common denominator that we identified from our knowledge and experience with manufacturing companies into a modular package that can be flexibly adapted to specific business situations. The customer picks out only what he needs and can easily scale up as he grows or his needs change. CIM2000 adapts to the customer, not the other way around. We can also go as far as he wants in the integration into his existing processes. Based on the analysis of assemblies combined with the planning, we can immediately indicate on which machine the pieces can best be made or to which supplier they will go. These are typically energy-consuming processes to which we try to give better answers with our software."

Continuous improvement and optimization

A process that also never ends at Vandenbussche Software, by the way. "From every project we still learn new things that we can implement to let our customers work more efficiently. A continuous evolution of improvement and optimization. We try to keep our finger on the pulse of new trends ourselves." For example, we are already investigating how the integration of artificial intelligence could provide added value. "That will be the challenge for the coming years, bringing software and people even closer together."