Chinese sheet metal maker improves design cycle by 50%

Small firm realizes big savings, including 50 percent reduction in labor costs

Facilitating innovation, competitive advantage

Zerong Hardware Factory is a small manu­facturer that primarily engages in the design and production of cold punching molds, vehicle-mounted products, elec­tronic and electric appliances, and sheet metal punching fittings.

In 2006, Zerong set up its own research and development (R&D) department, transforming itself from an original equip­ment manufacturer (OEM) to what is known in China as a “technical enterprise,” a new generation, innovative, high tech company. During that time, Zerong focused on upgrading from 2D computer-aided design (CAD) to 3D CAD, and transi­tioning from only designing with CAD tools to conducting R&D in conjunction with its product lifecycle management (PLM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Since adopting Solid Edge? software from Siemens PLM Software, Zerong has greatly improved its sheet metal design capabilities.

“The sheet metal capabilities of Solid Edge provide our engineers with a highly effi­cient design environment,” says Ou Zemin, general manager and chief technology officer at Zerong. “In fact, it has helped us reduce our design cycle – including flat pattern development, bending, materials removal, chamfering, punching, automatic unfolding and engineering drawing creation- by 50 percent.

The use of Solid Edge also facilitates design remodeling, as the sheet metal expansion function effectively integrates the expansion drawing with the design model, which greatly expedites design re-use.

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