Refrigerator manufacturer Sub-Zero Freezer Co., and its cooking equipment partner Wolf Appliance Co. have followed a winning recipe for collaborative product data management, from the development of initial design concepts through engineering, production, sales and after-sales support, installation, and field service. Using SmarTeam as one of the primary ingredients, Sub-Zero/Wolf has realized a successful implementation of 3D design and product lifecycle management (PLM) that has improved collaboration between departments, significantly reduced time to exchange of engineering data and compressed new-product development cycles by as much as 50 percent.

For years, Sub-Zero commanded nearly the entire share of the high-end home refrigerator market. The firm cultivated a solid reputation and strong brand image for built-in refrigeration units creatively designed to blend inconspicuously into the surrounding kitchen décor. Along with exceptional exteriors, and indicative of the company’s innovative engineering capacity, Sub-Zero developed a unique dual refrigeration system that relies on two separate cooling systems to control temperature better and keep food fresher longer.

Increasing competition and eroding market share prompted the company to set up an initiative to increase productivity while maintaining the high quality for which the company is known. As part of that program, the company went from outdated 2D drafting to a 3D CAD system and installed a SmarTeam PLM solution to manage design data, expedite processes such as engineering change management, and make data more accessible throughout the extended enterprise.

During the same timeframe, Sub-Zero acquired Wolf Appliance Co. As part of Sub-Zero, the Wolf line of professional cooking equipment has been expanded for serious home cooks. The company strategy revolves around leveraging the combined expertise of both organizations. PLM plays a key role in this strategy by enabling controlled data access across both groups.

Process change

A 3D model of a Sub-Zero refrigerator. Sub-Zero converted from an outdated 2D drafting system to a 3D CAD system and installed a SmarTeam PLM program to manage design data. By adopting PLM, Sub-Zero has improved engineering efficiency and facilitated collaboration and information sharing throughout its enterprise.

Before PLM, design documents were manually filed and time-consuming to find. Data wasn’t readily available to people when they needed it; and engineering change orders (ECOs) were often delayed as they snaked their way through the company waiting for support information and appropriate sign-offs.

“We got work done using manual processes, but it was often slow-going and close collaboration was difficult,” explains Paul Sikir, director of design engineering at Sub-Zero. “Engineers kept track of their own hardcopy drawings in flat files, and any digital documents were routed around via email and electronic file folders in unstructured manual processes that was inherently slow, subject to human error, and not readily standardized. People each had individual ways of archiving and presenting data, schemes that weren’t always compatible or in sync with one another. Time was wasted searching for the right information, copying and recopying what was needed, and sending documents through a change process that was insufficiently automated. ECOs got hung up and incorrect design data or wrong revisions could get into the hands of downstream groups such as manufacturing or procurement. Then even more time was required to fix mistakes.”

Problems were compounded because Sub-Zero facilities that must exchange data and collaborate throughout the product lifecycle are geographically distant one from another. Engineering is located at corporate headquarters in Madison, Wis., while the service group operates from the nearby town of Fitchburg, and a secondary production facility is located in Phoenix, Ariz. Sikir explains that the need to address these bottlenecks, coupled with the challenge of managing the increased volume of 3D CAD data, prompted Sub-Zero to implement PLM. “Designing with a parametric solid-modeling system produces orders of magnitude more information and greater numbers of files that are linked,” Sikir says. “These files absolutely must be kept in sync with one another for the design to come together properly, and the data must be available throughout the organization to leverage that information and collaborate effectively. The only practical way to deliver those capabilities is with PLM.”

Improved productivity

Designers at Sub-Zero and Wolf can access SmarTeam PLM from within their 3D CAD system. Clicking on a menu tab built into the CAD toolbar calls up a SmarTeam product data tree showing assembly parts, their relationship to one another, and the status of the design.

According to Sikir, SmarTeam was selected as their PLM due to its collaboration capabilities, along with its ability to integrate effectively with their SolidWorks 3D CAD system. Designers at Sub-Zero access SmarTeam directly from within the CAD system, so they do not need to exit the design package to run PLM or to re-enter data available in the CAD system. Also, SmarTeam is based on Microsoft Windows and uses familiar features such as drag-and-drop, cut-and-paste and intuitive menus, so users become productive in a matter of days rather than months.

“Ease of use and a quick learning curve are important,” Siker says. “We wanted people throughout the company to be able to access the information they need, not only in engineering but also in the manufacturing, purchasing, quality assurance, and service departments.” For example, production personnel can access only the most current design versions, which eliminates past problems where incorrect revisions ended up on the shop floor.

“Having design information reside in a central database, readily accessible to groups throughout the company, enables Sub-Zero to achieve significant benefits.” Sikir says. The increased visibility of data puts the right information directly on people’s desktops, so delays searching through files are eliminated and communication speeds up, allowing the company to respond faster to changes.

“SmarTeam is particularly effective in processing engineering change orders (ECOs), each of which may impact hundreds of design files and must be passed along by dozens of people,” Sikir says. “Getting these changes executed quickly is essential to our operation, and using PLM for change management has definitely shortened the process so that an ECO that used to take weeks to complete can now be carried out in a matter of days.” SmarTeam ensures that engineers transfer accurate information to the development lab where physical prototypes are built and production processes defined. “PLM helps us get prototypes right the first time,” Sikir says. “This saves considerable time wasted on rework and tracking down discrepancies.”

Through these types of efficiency gains, Sub-Zero has significantly compressed its new-product development cycles, in some cases cutting the process duration in half. “This gives us more time to optimize the design and still get products to market quickly. Time to market for an innovative design is critical to success,” Sikir says.

Design reuse

Sikir finds the ability to capture information and reuse the data throughout the product lifecycle to be particularly beneficial. “PLM allows us not just to store data but to capture intellectual capital and leverage that information across the enterprise,” Sikir says. “Accurate and timely engineering information is critical to downstream areas such as production, purchasing, quality and service. PLM has enabled us to improve the time to exchange this data with these areas by 75 percent. This not only saves time in getting projects completed but also improves our ability to have several departments collaborate on developing innovative designs and optimally manufacturing these products.”

According to Sikir, providing timely, accurate engineering data is critical in dealing with outside partners such as design consultants, who add aesthetic details to the appliance configurations, and such as kitchen designers, who integrate the appliances into their custom kitchen interior layouts. “Getting exact product data quickly to these industry professionals is key to our success, and PLM definitely facilitates our meeting these requirements.”

Quick implementation

Results in getting SmarTeam up and running at Sub-Zero were so successful that soon after acquiring cooking appliance manufacturer Wolf Appliance Co., the company took immediate steps to replicate their SmarTeam experience there as well. Engineering Systems Administrator Jason Lindgren was instrumental to both installations.

“Our Sub-Zero system was up and running in a few months, and the Wolf implementation was completed within only 12 weeks,” Lindgren says. “We’re very satisfied that this was completed so efficiently and that we were able to quickly have control of the data, including tens of thousands of legacy files that had been developed with the former systems used at Wolf.”

Lindgren notes that Wolf previously used Pro/Intralink for managing its Pro/E designs. The switch to SmarTeam and to Sub-Zero's standard 3D design system added functionality and enabled collaboration and information-sharing across the two organizations. “Both Sub-Zero and Wolf have a tremendous respect for engineering data throughout the product development and production stages,” Lindgren says. “SmarTeam unquestionably facilitates efforts to continually improve these processes.”

Lindgren credits the successful implementation process to SmarTeam Customer Support, as well as to the technical support services from SmarTeam reseller InFlow Technology, who worked with a multidisciplinary core team at Sub-Zero and Wolf to define processes, set up training sessions, and execute custom programming defining part and assembly categories. Classifications were structured to facilitate the transfer of legacy documents into SmarTeam, to archive active solid-model design files, and to make the data easily accessible to other departments such as manufacturing.

“InFlow was instrumental to our PLM implementation,” Lindgren says. “They gave us a jump start on training, assisted with the entire process until we went live, and continue to provide valuable on-going support. With the help of InFlow and SmarTeam, we have implemented PLM with minimal disruption to operations and have been able to meet all our goals with the technology.”

Future plans

According to Lindgren, the company plans to expand the use of PLM in the coming years to further leverage the technology. One direction will be to link the PLM and MRP systems to transmit engineering data directly into production systems. Another plan involves integrating the Sub-Zero and Wolf databases in order to standardize the use of common parts and assemblies. Also, Sub-Zero intends to expand the use of workflow technology to move projects along efficiently and enable managers to monitor status more closely.

“We particularly want to continue broadening the use of PLM beyond our internal facilities, out into the extended enterprise,” Lindgren says. “This includes bi-directional communication with suppliers on bids and quotes, for example, using an integrated engineering database and uniform procurement processes, and all of it via the Web.”

Lindgren notes that plans are in the works to soon implement SmarTeam Community Workspace, a Web-based portal that will allow Sub-Zero to simply and securely provide selective product data to different customers and suppliers that can connect via Web browser alone.

Enhanced marketing

Paul Leuthe, corporate marketing director for the appliance maker, emphasizes the importance of engineering data for Sub-Zero and Wolf's marketing strategy. He notes that in the design-to-order kitchen business, a significant amount of engineering data must be transferred across the supply chain and shared back and forth between the company and its final customers. This data is integrated into the corporate Web site, for example, one of the key media by which the companies communicate with end-user customers, kitchen planners, and housing contractors.

“This data is now in a 2D format and preparation of the drawings and diagrams is done outside the company, often with delays in getting the latest product information onto the site,” Leuthe says. “In the future, SmarTeam will enable us to better manage our engineering data, have direct control of 3D designs displayed on the web, and more quickly get the latest revisions into the hands of kitchen planners for them to integrate into their overall designs.”

“SmarTeam facilitates a rapid exchange of information and ideas, allowing us to react quickly to market demands and reduce decision-making time,” Leuthe says. “Giving customers flexible, rapid, and open access to engineering data is part of the company’s cutting-edge, upscale image. Using SmarTeam reinforces and strengthens this image, at the same time providing the company with a key tool in designing better products faster. The technology we use, the innovation of our designs and the high quality of our products all have impact on our brand image. The bottom-line result is that we’re able to increase business in a highly competitive market.”