Goldman Industrial's IT infrastructure has lagged behind that of their competition as well as most of their customers. In order to stay competitive, this major manufacturer of machine tools for automotive, aerospace and other industries, decided to take a major step by completely replacing their antiquated processes and systems with an all-new product lifecycle management (PLM) system consisting of 3D modeling, PDM and ERP - all fully integrated.

Goldman's goal to make it easy for customers to do business with its companies sprang from the realization early last year that its information technology (IT) infrastructure would not support today's advanced collaborative supply chain technologies.

After its completion, Goldman's customers will have the benefit of real-time, direct connections with any of the Goldman companies, including the ability to view model parts before they are ordered. Said Klaus Schaeffer vice president of digital enterprise sales, IBM Product Lifecycle Management, "The e-commerce benefits of Goldman's PLM implementation are substantial because now Goldman and its customers have the tools they need to track every phase of the engineering and manufacturing process, and to make changes early on, which will help reduce development time and cost."

This architecture also enables the Goldman companies to work with the same free flow of information among each other. "When many companies talk about integrating engineering, they mean passing assembly drawings back and forth electronically," says Jack Lowry, Group IT vice-president for Vermont companies at the Goldman Industrial Group. "In our case, it means sharing information seamlessly between our engineering and business processes."

Goldman's new PLM infrastructure includes, CATIA Version 5 CAD/CAM/CAE, SMARTEAM for PDM … each from Dassault Systemes, Baan5 for ERP and Lotus Notes Version R5. The PLM solutions will run on IBM hardware including; an AS/400 model 730 and Netfinity eServers Intel-based workstations, NetVista PCs Intellistations and ThinkPad's model 390xs notebook computers.

Lowry says that all his customers are using at least some components of the new model. For example, Mercedes and Honda use Baan ERP, DaimlerChrysler and Ford use CATIA. "No matter what piece of our model they are using, we can come up with a way to talk to them. We will integrate with our partners at a much deeper level than just passing over an electronic EDI purchase order. We can integrate right down to their plant floor, a real e-commerce benefit. True engineering integration means that they can focus on what they do best, building cars, instead of worrying about how the gear shaper is performing. We can't do this all overnight, but we are building a strong foundation."

They decided to start with the company's Vermont-based subsidiaries: Fellows Corporation, Bryant Grinder Corporation, and J&L Lathes. The Vermont Group has designed and built gear shapers, grinders and lathes for over a century.

The infrastructure for Fellows, Bryant, Jones & Lamson and J&L Metrology will be in place this month, along with the engineering pilot and e-commerce tools. The targeted completion date for the project is the second quarter 2001, when the Internet will facilitate plant floor integration at customer sites, and service and support will eventually expand to include machine tool monitoring and online upgrades.

Vermont Group president Mark Swift's vision of the potential possibilities of the Group's new IT infrastructure was emphasized when he said, "The speed in which we receive and respond to information will be a crucial part of gaining and holding on to our competitive edge. Harnessing the potential of the Internet and integrating our core competencies with our customers' needs is the most important opportunity we've had in our industry since the invention of CNC controls, and before that, the invention of our machines themselves."

Come to COE Spring 2001 to hear Jack Lowry provide further details.