Siemens PLM helping Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd.to increase competitive market
With remote R&D processes now connected and managed by Teamcenter, Foton is able to achieve the higher level of efficiency necessary for succeeding in an increasingly competitive market.
China’s leading OEM faces external competition
Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd., founded in 1996, manufactures, distributes and services light, medium and heavy trucks, including SUVs and RVs. It is ranked among China’s 520 key national enterprises and is the fourth-largest vendor of commercial vehicles. In addition to vehicles, Foton’s products include chemical building material and equipment and structural steel struts. The company’s mission is to improve quality of life by applying people-oriented science and technology. Its vision is to provide leadership in the automotive industry.Driving continuous improvement with passion and innovation is Foton’s core value.
Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd., founded in 1996, manufactures, distributes and services light, medium and heavy trucks, including SUVs and RVs. It is ranked among China’s 520 key national enterprises and is the fourth-largest vendor of commercial vehicles. In addition to vehicles, Foton’s products include chemical building material and equipment and structural steel struts. The company’s mission is to improve quality of life by applying people-oriented science and technology. Its vision is to provide leadership in the automotive industry.Driving continuous improvement with passion and innovation is Foton’s core value.
When China joined theWorld Trade Organization and opened its doors to trade with other members, the country’s automakers suddenly faced international competition.As a result bringing new models to market faster became a top priority. Research and Development (R&D) activities at Foton are distributed across China.The Auto R&D Center is located at the company’s Beijing headquarters, but each division (Auman Plant,View Plant,Times Plant, Southern ConstructionVehicle Business Unit,Northern Construction Vehicle Business Unit,Aoling Plant) also has its own Auto R&D Center. In the past, it was difficult for the different R&D groups to share product information.The pace of development is swift and it was difficult to ensure that they weren’t sharing outdated or inaccurate information with each other.This was a serious disadvantage because it prevented Foton from implementing a modularized design approach where different parts of the automobile are designed at various sites, rather than each site designing the entire vehicle.
Process management functionality fosters greater efficiency
Foton decided to connect its R&D people and processes by implementing the Teamcenter digital lifecycle management solution from Siemens PLM Software. Teamcenter was chosen in part because of its many successful installations around the globe.This gave Foton’s management confidence in Siemens’ rich technology and deployment expertise. Foton also preferred Teamcenter’s extensive process management functionality as well as its ability to work with the company’s range of product information formats (NX? and NX I-deas?, Catia and Pro/Engineer software).Teamcenter’s multi-CAD data management capability provides a collaborative environment to link users around the globe.That, along with its ability to manage distributed processes,was key to linking Foton’s various R&D centers. Its powerful process management functionality was also needed to boost the efficiency of the R&D process. In addition, the flexibility of Teamcenter’s open PLM foundation was important to ensure smooth integration within Foton’s existing technology framework.
Foton decided to connect its R&D people and processes by implementing the Teamcenter digital lifecycle management solution from Siemens PLM Software. Teamcenter was chosen in part because of its many successful installations around the globe.This gave Foton’s management confidence in Siemens’ rich technology and deployment expertise. Foton also preferred Teamcenter’s extensive process management functionality as well as its ability to work with the company’s range of product information formats (NX? and NX I-deas?, Catia and Pro/Engineer software).Teamcenter’s multi-CAD data management capability provides a collaborative environment to link users around the globe.That, along with its ability to manage distributed processes,was key to linking Foton’s various R&D centers. Its powerful process management functionality was also needed to boost the efficiency of the R&D process. In addition, the flexibility of Teamcenter’s open PLM foundation was important to ensure smooth integration within Foton’s existing technology framework.
With Teamcenter, product information created by the various R&D groups is managed from a single location,making possible an increased level of knowledge re-use. Information is now completely synchronized between the sites because changes to designs are updated immediately.As a result, there is no longer the danger of working with outdated or inaccurate information. In the past, it used to take seven days to synchronize data among the sites.With Teamcenter, this now happens in real time.Data consistency between sites is now 100 percent. Foton has created a standard tool bar that each R&D group uses for accessing and working with 2D and 3D CAD data.This helps ensure consistency in how the different groups create and work with their information. Foton has also set up an electronic approval process to improve the efficiency and traceability of process.
Concrete results
With remote R&D processes now connected and managed by Teamcenter, Foton is able to achieve the higher level of efficiency necessary for succeeding in an increasingly competitive market. Having information easily accessible from a single location fosters sharing and re-use among the different R&D groups.Teamcenter provides the digital framework for a modular design approach, which is key to reducing time to market.
With remote R&D processes now connected and managed by Teamcenter, Foton is able to achieve the higher level of efficiency necessary for succeeding in an increasingly competitive market. Having information easily accessible from a single location fosters sharing and re-use among the different R&D groups.Teamcenter provides the digital framework for a modular design approach, which is key to reducing time to market.
“The PLM system,Teamcenter, has enabled us to reduce the 3D design and assembly process and drastically decrease the number of experimental vehicles we must manufacture,” saysYang Guotao, CIO of Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd.At this time, Foton’s Teamcenter implementation is still in its early stages. The company expects to achieve even greater levels of efficiency and more competitive advantages as the implementation spreads throughout this very large auto OEM.
