Thai auto supplier reduces project cost by more than 50%

Sammitr Motors Manufacturing Public Company Limited began operations in 1967 as a producer of car and truck body parts, moulds and fixtures. From its beginning as a supplier for small original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the company has gradually expanded to accommodate the needs of customers across a range of related industries.

“Over the years, we evolved from a small OEM supplier and built a more diverse business model,” says Wichan Chathirun, Sammitr’s general manager of production in the technology department. “We eventually began to produce and distribute our own products under the Sammitr brand, and today the company has established itself as a leading supplier of parts for dump trucks, trailers, semi-trailers, specially designed trucks, steel canopies and accessories for pickup trucks.”

He notes, “We have built up our business to a point where we now work with several major car manufacturers in a collaborative, value engineering and multisite engineering role. Sammitr Motors Manufacturing has a customer-focused business culture and long-standing partnerships with such major global car manufacturers as Toyota, Isuzu, Nissan and Honda.

"Our success starts and ends with happy customers, which is challenging because the needs of our customer base are constantly evolving. Siemens PLM Software has been instrumental in helping us streamline our complex product design, engineering and manufacturing processes. Their innovative products have drastically boosted end-to-end efficiency and helped us maintain our reputation for consistently exceeding customer expectations.”

Sammitr has been using the Tecnomatix® portfolio from product lifecycle management (PLM) provider Siemens PLM Software to help increase planning productivity and optimise manufacturing capabilities. As the manufacturing process for the automotive industry grows increasingly more complex, automotive industry suppliers must leverage advanced, intuitive solutions that simplify and streamline the PLM process. “Siemens PLM Software has definitely helped us become more competitive in an industry and market where many new players are emerging,” says Chathirun.

Realising better planning, optimised productivity

Sammitr engineers kept running into the same challenge during projects: they were unable to make even the simplest of edits during the design process. If a problem occurred that required making a change, the design needed to be returned to the parent company. Recognising that thiswas a huge waste of time and resources, the engineering department sought a solution that would boost productivity by improving access to key information and easing the ability for project stake-holders to collaborate effectively with one another. The company’s engineers wanted to provide an environment in which designers weren’t re-doing the same work and wasting time redesigning simple component parts over and over on successive projects.

With the introduction of computer- aided design/manufacturing/analysis (CAD/CAM/CAE) software for the production process, modern automotive equipment manufacturers must develop design and production processes that give them the ability to easily collaborate with the customers they serve, according to Chathirun. “Prior to using Tecnomatix, we used AutoCAD, but we found that our designers didn’t have the ability to simulate the production line and weren’t properly equipped with optimised production planning capabilities,” he says. “We brought in Tecnomatix as a replacement and our production department immediately saw measurable dividends, because our engineering team was able to leverage it to simulate and design component parts that are relevant across our customer portfolio.”

Using Tecnomatix, Sammitr helped customers such as Toyota by resolving small drafting tweaks and editing pieces such as molds and jigs internally rather than sending every minor change back to the customer for further work. This eliminated a persistent challenge that had affected the production team’s ability to meet and satisfy customer needs.