Autodesk Bosch Rexroth Canada
2016-06-08
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Bosch Rexroth
Canada Corp.
Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions
Customer Success Story
Autodesk Inventor®
Autodesk Inventor® Professional
Autodesk® Vault
Autodesk® Productstream™
Autodesk® Design Review
Autodesk® DWF™ Viewer
AutoCAD® Mechanical
AutoCAD® Electrical
“3D design has allowed us to explore numerous
engineering applications that otherwise would
have been handled by specialized suppliers.
We simply could not have designed and
manufactured critical components like the
cardanic ring for the Seaway project had we not
had Inventor and a complimentary FEA program
like ANSYS DesignSpace to accomplish the task.”
John Rauscher
Systems Engineering Group Leader
Bosch Rexroth Canada
Adoption of Autodesk Solution
Key to Meeting Production
Goals
Moving from 2D to 3D with Autodesk, Bosch Rexroth
Canada wins lucrative project—while improving customer
lead times and finished product first-pass yield.
Project Summary
Bosch Rexroth Canada (Rexroth) is a partner company of Bosch Rexroth
GmbH, the worldwide leader in drive-and-control solutions. Using the powerful
visualization capabilities of Autodesk Inventor, Rexroth secured a fi ve-year project
to modernize the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation
(SLSMC) on the Welland Canal part of the St. Lawrence Seaway (Seaway), a
2,038-mile shipping artery that connects the St. Lawrence River from Canada to
the fi ve Great Lakes in the United States. Using Autodesk Inventor®, Rexroth is
designing hydraulic systems for the canal in 3D, and as a result, the company is
seeing dramatic reductions in design times and drawing errors. The company has
been able to pass these savings on to the Seaway in the form of improved on-
time deliveries and timely responses to design changes. To streamline reviews,
Rexroth’s customers leverage the free Autodesk® DWF™ Viewer to share and print
designs while internal reviewers use Autodesk® Design Review to mark up, and
then roundtrip design iterations back into the original Autodesk design software.
Rexroth is using Autodesk® Vault on select projects to easily manage design work-
in-progress. With an eye to the future, Rexroth plans to widely adopt Autodesk
Vault with Autodesk® Productstream™ to automate its release process, track
engineering change orders, and ultimately integrate with the company’s
ERP system.
The Challenge
Improving Lead Times—and First Pass Yield
When business increased in late 2003, Rexroth
added staff to meet the demand. Despite hiring
more designers, Rexroth was experiencing a
downward trend in drawing accuracy. Not wanting
to jeopardize its mission to provide superior-value
products and service to customers in a profi table
manner, they knew change was imminent. Around
the same time, the company’s management team
had presented the organization with a set of
goals, including mandates to improve delivery
reliability to customers and minimize rework and
material waste in all areas.
Rexroth knew that to achieve its goals, migrating
from 2D to 3D design software was a must, not
only to improve its design creation but also its
production processes. When Rexroth was invited
to bid on the SLSMC project, its project chief
designer, Ben Gilmore, jumped at the opportunity
to move from a 2D AutoCAD® solution and put
Autodesk Inventor’s 3D capabilities to the test.
“Our design team used Autodesk Inventor to
create animations and renderings in our proposal
that helped us gain the Seaway’s confi dence,”
explains Gilmore. “By using Autodesk Inventor to
create 3D drawings, renderings, and animations,
we convinced the Seaway to change its standard
from AutoCAD to Inventor for the SLSMC
project.”
CAD Administrator Martin Eberhard adds, “In
reality, the SLSMC standard was still AutoCAD.
We needed software that would give us 3D
visualization, but also enable us to convert the
drawings into true AutoCAD DWG fi les after the
designs and documentation were complete. This
was very important to the Seaway.”
In its decision to adopt Autodesk Inventor,
particularly for the SLSMC project, Jim Lambert,
Design Engineering Manager, notes, “We saw
clearly that we could leverage Autodesk Inventor
for the Seaway project to do designs that we
wouldn’t have attempted without a 3D system—
all while reducing errors and decreasing design
times.”
The Solution
Moving to 3D Opens Doors to Process
Automation
By choosing Autodesk Inventor, Rexroth has been
able to not only streamline the design process, but
also increase the details included on its designs
and improve visualization for everyone from
customers to the shop fl oor. What’s more, the
software transition was smooth. Rexroth had felt
the pain of adopting new software and platforms
before, so ease of use was very important. “When
we migrated from 2D to 3D, we had a lot of
doubters,” says Martin Eberhard. “But we rolled
Inventor out in stages with proper training and
those same guys are coming back to me now and
saying, ‘I can’t even imagine going back to 2D.’”
Before Rexroth adopted Autodesk Inventor, the
company produced all of its designs in 2D, often
experiencing the medium’s limitations. “We had
trouble visualizing designs,” says Lambert. “For
instance, the last project we did in AutoCAD
involved a complex fabrication. We had a really
tough time describing what the piece would look
like to the fabrication shop.”
Eventually, the team modeled the frame in
Autodesk Inventor so they could show in 3D
how the fabrication shop needed to build
the weldment. “The shop gained a clear
understanding of the design by viewing the model
in a 3D environment, allowing them to fabricate
the weldment much quicker,” adds Lambert. “In
this way, we’ve been able to leverage 3D down to
the manufacturing shop fl oor. “
Changes 50% Faster, Reducing Errors
Its Autodesk manufacturing solution has
facilitated Rexroth’s design changes, an important
benefi t for the SLSMC project in particular. Now,
Rexroth’s designers are able to make changes and
distribute new drawings immediately.
“We used to make changes in one view in
AutoCAD, but they weren’t updated in another
view,” explains Lambert. “Now, we know that
when one feature changes on a model, every
drawing that relates to that feature will be
automatically updated.”
“With Autodesk, we have tools to visualize and
adapt to changes, keep our errors down to a
minimum, and provide customers with what
they are expecting—and more.”
Ben Gilmore
Project Chief Designer
Bosch Rexroth Canada
Rexroth’s purchase of Autodesk
Subscription, a complete software,
support, and training offering that
provides easy access to the latest
Autodesk product releases and
upgrades, has been paying off.
Martin Eberhard, CAD Administrator
for Rexroth’s Design Department,
explains: “Thanks to Autodesk
Subscription, I’m always looking down
the road, which makes a signifi cant
difference in how I do my job. I’m
better able to plan budgets and roll
out new releases and enhancements.
With the training features and
available knowledge base, not only
does Autodesk Subscription help me
keep my fi nger on the pulse of how
Autodesk is enhancing its software,
it helps Rexroth stay on the edge of
leading CAD technology.”
With design changes made easier, and rich
visualization showing complex design details
more effectively, Rexroth has been able to
reduce design errors. Lambert explains, “We deal
with a lot of complex shapes that are diffi cult
to envision, which can lead to problems like
interferences and incorrect dimensions. 3D helps
us address these issues. With Autodesk Inventor,
we can see removal areas and interferences
between parts. It shows complex shapes, such
as hoses, that are true to life so we can design
around them. We now have very few errors on all
the projects we design and engineer within our
systems group.”
Sometimes the shop fl oor may even see or
suggest a way to do things differently, and they
can adjust designs on the fl y. “With Autodesk
Inventor, we are making changes at least 50
percent faster than we were in 2D,” adds Lambert.
Saving Money with FEA Analysis
When Rexroth designed in 2D, fi nite element
analysis (FEA) on critical components was a
diffi cult manual process. As a result, it was a
challenge to ensure the most cost-effective
design. This would have been particularly
problematic for the SLSMC project, where the
company designed many critical components
facilitating the opening and closing of the
gates and water valves from concept to fi nished
product. Complicating matters, the SLSMC
project required special materials to combat the
potential for corrosion.
By taking models directly from Autodesk Inventor
into DesignSpace®, from Autodesk Global
Preferred Partner ANSYS, Inc., Rexroth has been
able to do its own FEA. And when they have to
test a single part, Rexroth’s engineers use the FEA
capabilities powered by ANSYS® DesignSpace
within Autodesk Inventor Professional. “By doing
FEA ourselves, we haven’t had to over-design on
the SLSMC project,” says Lambert. “We know
exactly what an assembly will withstand under
load based on the material we have available. This
makes for a very cost effective design.”
The design and FEA capabilities of its Autodesk-
ANSYS solution has also given Rexroth the
confi dence to branch out into new areas: the
designing and manufacturing of cardanic rings
and the supporting pillow block structures for the
Canal’s new miter gate hydraulic cylinders. After
receiving a higher than expected quote from its
normal supplier, Rexroth decided to use Autodesk
Inventor to model the design in house and utilize
ANSYS DesignSpace to test it. “Autodesk Inventor
gave us confi dence to do the rings ourselves,”
says Lambert. “In the end, we produced a more
streamlined design and realized a better than
expected reduction in costs. Autodesk Inventor
allowed Rexroth to move directly from the
design stage to production, without the need for
expensive prototypes.”
Improving Design Reviews,
Streamlining Production
Rexroth has also looked to its Autodesk
manufacturing solution to share designs for both
internal and external review. The SLSMC uses
the Autodesk DWF Viewer, free software that
allows users to easily view and print data-rich 2D
drawings and 3D models in the DWF format, to
review every new unit Rexroth designs. “It has
helped the customer tremendously to visualize
the design,” says Lambert. “Our customers can
toggle the visualization of individual components
of our 3D assembly either on or off, directly inside
the DWF viewer, thus gaining a full understanding
of the overall assembly and design intent. Once
a satisfactory rendering is achieved, the view
can be saved as a screen shot, allowing them to
communicate a required design change clearly via
redline.”
Internally, Rexroth is using Autodesk Design
Review, software that provides an all-digital way
to review and mark up 2D and 3D designs without
the original creation software, to streamline
reviews. The assembly shop is outfi tted with
work stations to review assemblies and mark
up the DWFs, suggesting new pipe routes and
other changes. “Instead of having to look at a fl at
drawing and try to picture in your mind where you
may have potential problems, it’s right there in
front of you,” says Bob Van Vliet, Assembly Shop
Manager.
“By doing FEA ourselves, we haven’t had to over-
design on the SLSMC project. We know exactly
what an assembly will withstand under load
based on the material we have available. This
makes for a very cost effective design.”
Jim Lambert, C.E.T.
Design Engineering Manager
Hydraulic Business Unit
Bosch Rexroth Canada
Bosch Rexroth Canada Corp.
Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions
Customer Success Story
“Instead of having to look at a fl at drawing and
try to picture in your mind where you may have
potential problems, it’s right there in front of
you.”
Bob Van Vliet
Assembly Shop Manager
Bosch Rexroth Canada
Adds Lambert: “We like Autodesk Design Review so
much that we’ve actually purchased extra licenses
to offer large customers free of charge. This allows
our customer to be involved heavily in the design
from concept to fi nished product, giving them the
ability to visualize, disassemble, section, redline,
and measure the actual 3D model. As a result,
we drastically improve communications between
ourselves and the client, ensuring that the motion
control solution that we propose is exactly what they
want; nothing more, nothing less. This in itself sets
us apart from our competitors.”
Looking Ahead
To help it manage its design data, Rexroth has
implemented Autodesk Vault software to manage its
work-in-progress data on select projects and plans to
roll it out more widely with Autodesk Productstream
software for release process automation, engineering
change order tracking, and bills of materials (BOMs)
management. “Right now we have an inadequate
document management system that consists of
asking one another, ‘Can you close a drawing?’ says
Lambert. “It’s very important that we have a secure
system that facilitates collaboration and design
between designers. So, our plan is to import all of
the SLSMC and legacy data into Autodesk Vault.
We’d also like it to connect to the SAP system we’re
implementing.”
With Autodesk Productstream, Rexroth hopes to
keep its managers better informed about project
status and improve project workfl ow. “There are
a lot of hard copies we are now stamping and
signing,” says Lambert. “We’re looking to Autodesk
Productstream to help managers fi nd out the status
of a project, what documentation has been released
to the shop, and what components are completed.
We want to do electronic signoff on hydraulic
schematics, which are the foundation of everything
we build.”
The Result
Production Up, Errors and Costs Down
Rexroth’s teams have reached new heights of
production, creating more drawings and releasing
more projects to the shop fl oor than ever before.
With the same amount of staff, Rexroth produced
twice the number of drawings in 2005 than it did in
2004.
“Despite the increase in the number of drawings,
our design team has reduced its average monthly
non-conformances by 46%, shaved drawing errors
by 25%, and increased drawing accuracy by 7%,”
notes Lambert. “To top it off, we’ve estimated that
design times have decreased by over 50% compared
to projects we’ve done using conventional 2D
AutoCAD. Using Autodesk Inventor, projects that
once took over 1,000 hours to produce are now being
generated in half the time and with far more detail
than we ever dreamed possible in the 2D world.”
Thanks to the incredible 3D visualization Rexroth
now enjoys, the company has also been able to
eliminate piping with machined modules. Lambert
explains, “Using the 3D visualization of Autodesk
Inventor Professional, we produced machining and
fabrication drawings to our exact specifi cations,
ensuring fi t, form, and function were proofed in the
engineering offi ce and not on the manufacturing
fl oor. If we’d used our old piping method, we’d have
spent 15-20% more in material and labor costs.”
Autodesk Inventor has also enabled Rexroth’s
marketing department to virtually eliminate the cost
of photographing products. “We give them animated
prototypes,” says Lambert. “When our marketing
department sees the renderings, they can’t believe
their eyes. We’ve received rave reviews.”
Bosch Rexroth Canada’s General Manager of
Industrial Hydraulic Systems, Dino Paladino,
summed up the success of the Autodesk Inventor
implementation this way: “There is no point in
obtaining the latest 3D design technology unless
there will be a signifi cant return on investment.
Inventor has certainly provided a signifi cant ROI,
by allowing our design engineering team to design
systems effi ciently and with less errors and lead-
time.”
Concludes Gilmore, “With Autodesk, we have tools
to visualize and adapt to changes, keep our errors
down to a minimum, and provide customers with
what they are expecting—and more.”
Autodesk Inventor®, Autodesk Inventor® Professional, Autodesk® Vault, Autodesk® Productstream™, Autodesk® Design Review, Autodesk® DWF™ Viewer,
AutoCAD® Mechanical, and AutoCAD® Electrical are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All
other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifi cations
at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.
000000000000117351
© 2006 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved
Bosch Rexroth Canada Corp.
Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions
Customer Success Story
Rexroth values its Autodesk
Authorized Reseller, Lynch
Technologies, Inc., in Ontario,
Canada, for its industry expertise.
“Lynch has experience in
manufacturing, so they have a
much better understanding of our
business problems, rather than
someone simply selling software.
Our investment in training with
Lynch was integral to our effi cient
implementation of the Autodesk
solution,” says Jim Lambert, Design
Engineering Manager.
“Using Autodesk Inventor, projects that once
took over 1,000 hours to produce are now being
generated in half the time and with far more
detail than we ever dreamed possible in the 2D
world.”
Jim Lambert, C.E.T.
Design Engineering Manager
Hydraulic Business Unit
Bosch Rexroth Canada
