Clutch manufacturer achieves real-time collaboration between U.K. and India teams through Teamcenter
Case in Point: Setco Automotive
At a glance
Focus: Clutch manufacturer achieves real-time collaboration between U.K.
Challenge: Setco had a standard and elaborate new product development methodology at its India and UK facilities
Approach: The team took a very systematic approach in the implementation of various Teamcenter modules
Impact: The Setco team achieved great results by implementing Teamcenter modules to speed up in-house and OEM operations
Siemens PLM Software
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Setco Automotive
Setco Automotive Ltd. (Setco) is the largest manufacturer of premium-quality Lipe brand clutches for commercial vehicles in India. The company was incorporated in 1982, is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and has more than 1,200 employees globally. It is a Tier I supplier of clutches to all prominent Indian commercial vehicle manufacturers, including Tata Motors, Bharat Benz, Ashok Leyland, Man India, Mahindra & Mahindra, VE Commercial Vehicles, and Asia Motor Works. Setco has all the required global quality certifications including ISO/ TS 16949, ISO 14001, OSHAS 18001, and VDA 6.3.
Setco has a strategic global footprint with four manufacturing facilities – two in India and one each in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and United States (U.S.) – with its corporate base in Mumbai, India. Setco has established a state-of-the-art research and development (R&D) center at Kalol (Gujarat), which is certified by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India to design, develop, and validate full clutch systems. The company also has a R&D center in the U.K.
In addition, Setco manufactures clutches for hydraulic products for the construction equipment industry and precision engineering components such as complex and deep drawn pressings, forgings, and castings that are machined and heat treated.
Business challenge
Setco had a standard and elaborate new product development methodology at its India and U.K. manufacturing facilities to ensure minimum errors. The Setco team took clutch manufacturing requirements from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and carried out an in-depth feasibility study. The team then built a product prototype and validated it in-house to assure fulfillment of OEM requirements. The team then submitted the prototype to the OEM for vehicle-level checks and after validation, submitted the pilot sample, after which product delivery began. In this entire process, Setco’s multiple in-house shops such as tooling, heat treatment, machine, press/stamping, and assembly played a crucial role in manufacturing world-class products and hence required close collaboration. Initially, the Setco team transferred design data between its India and U.K. offices and their various shops through the file transfer protocol (FTP) and individual email communication. This mode meant that the communication was completely one-to-one and, due to its manual nature, posed security risks and delays. In the absence of a secure system of sharing design data with various project stakeholders, the Setco team faced challenges in effective and timely in-house collaboration. Also, this method made the product validation process with OEM customers difficult and time-consuming and kept many loopholes that gave rise to errors. The direct fallout of collaboration through manual data sharing among various product development teams was that the company’s new product development initiatives took a direct hit in terms of timelines. To enable real-time design data collaboration between the U.K. and India teams (including the in-house shop personnel), ensure drawing digitalization, security, and scalability, and augment new product development, the Setco team decided to use Teamcenter® software from Siemens PLM Software. Setco chose Teamcenter because their prestigious OEM customers were already using the system and highly recommended it. The Setco management team decided to get the same Teamcenter setup that they witnessed at one of their OEM customer’s premises.
“Our earlier paper-based drawing release process was not controlled and posed drawing security risks,” says Chirag Taylor, design manager, Setco. “It was time-consuming, tedious, and difficult to track. With Teamcenter, we achieved a secure and 96 percent paperless system for our drawing release.”
Industry 4.0 solution
The team took a very systematic approach in the implementation of various Teamcenter modules at Setco. They started with the integration of Teamcenter and the Pro/ENGINEER® computer-aided design (CAD) system, before adding Engineering Process Management and Project Management. Later the team implemented Change Management and Schedule Management. In a span of two years, the team also extended their Teamcenter system to shop floors and tool rooms.
Key benefits
| Area | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Cost Savings | The Setco team achieved great results by implementing Teamcenter modules to speed up in-house and OEM collaboration. Setco realized a cost savings of 60 percent and time savings of 70 percent through the systematic execution of the system through implementation partner DesignTech Systems. The team reduced errors by 50 percent and increased productivity by 55 percent, leading to faster new product development. |
| Time & Speed | “Teamcenter helped us reduce our new product development time and enabled us to achieve productivity gain of 55 percent,” says Kalpesh Upadhyay, design head, Setco. “We’ve now achieved a complete transition from paper-bound to digital processes.” |
| Quality | Through Teamcenter, the team successfully overcame their main business challenge of establishing synchronization between their U.K. and India offices. Teamcenter made the Setco system completely human-independent, established smooth interaction and collaboration with OEMs, and enabled quick product reviews. This significantly shortened the development cycle and facilitated on-time quality product delivery. The built-in part library supported Setco customers in re-use of design data and helped the team to focus on new product development. |
| Visibility & Analytics | “With Teamcenter Schedule Manager, we have more visibility and insights on our ongoing projects,” says Upadhyay. “This helps us allocate our resources to predict the exact project delivery time. |
| Traceability & Compliance | ” As a result of the Teamcenter implementation, the Setco team released every drawing through the system and all shops accessed the data effortlessly. Digital documentation proved to be a competitive advantage for the team as it achieved complete traceability based on part code numbers. |