Autodesk PDM and PLM: For the Long Run

ANTHONY MONTY: Hello, everyone. And welcome to Autodesk PDM and PLM-- "For the Long Run." It's a case study on Woodway's ongoing journey from disconnected systems to a single source of the truth. My name is Anthony Monty. I'm a senior mechanical designer and CAD PDM and, now, PLM lead at Woodway USA. I have 30 years of manufacturing experience with 7 years on the shop floor. I served an apprenticeship. I'm a journeyman machine tool builder.

For the last 15 years, I've been involved in design automation and process improvement. For the last 12 years, I've been involved in 3D printing for augmenting our manufacturing processes. I've been with Woodway since April of 2020. Yep, I started right when COVID started.

When I'm not working, I like camping, fishing, and spending time with my family. Now I want to clarify something. I like fishing. I'm not good at it. So don't try to contact me for fishing tips or fish stories, because essentially, I'm really good at drowning worms. And I just like being out on the lakes. So let's talk about Woodway.

For those who demand the very best treadmills and equipment available, Woodway is the first choice for performance, durability, and comfort. Woodway was founded in Germany in 1975. The name Woodway means the field of running on a soft pine needle-covered path in the forest. In 1988, a license agreement was made with an established manufacturer in Waukesha, Wisconsin. In 1990, Woodway USA was completed and is now the primary manufacturing facility of Woodway treadmills for worldwide distribution.

Today, Woodway is the largest specialized treadmill manufacturer in the world. Here, we have some examples of our motorized treadmills, our curved treadmills where they're non-motorized and you are the motor. In the upper right corner here, we have our ELG treadmill, which is for extreme performance with speeds up to 25 miles per hour and elevations from negative 5% to 35%.

In the bottom middle is our PPS treadmill, which is a medical treadmill, which is used for rehabilitation to orthopedics to physical therapy. And speeds start at 0 miles per hour with increments of 0.1 miles per hour. On the bottom right, you'll see our blade treadmill, which is our skating treadmill. It has a simulated ice surface for developing skating skills.

So you might wonder, well, who uses Woodway treadmills? Well, here is a list of who uses Woodway equipment. And you'll see that 100% of the NFL, 100% of Major League Baseball, and 100% of the NBA teams use Woodway treadmills, and also 60% of the NHL. It's also a lot of international and national soccer teams, as well as an extensive list of GSA facilities.

Not only do we have specialized treadmills, but we also do custom treadmills. On the left is a treadmill for the Track Performance Research Center. It can replicate terrain ranging from smooth roads to varying surfaces with up to two inches of simulated rocks and roots. On the right is a treadmill for the US military, which is used to help service members train on rough terrain. Originally meant for rehab after injuries, it was discovered that training on it would actually reduce injuries.

Oh yeah, and by the way, we also have a treadmill on the International Space Station. It's pretty cool. I was not at Woodway when this one was built. But I can say that I helped load a replacement belt on a pallet which was shipped to NASA and then on to the ISS. So I have physically touched something that is on the International Space Station.

All right, let's talk about what we're here to talk about. These are the areas I'm going to talk about on Woodway's ongoing methodology on PLM implementation. First, we're going to identify issues. We identified the issues caused by our disconnected systems. Then we defined solutions for those issues, and then the stages and phases for the solutions to be implemented. Then we implemented the solutions and iterated through those stages and phases. And then after that, we evaluated the solutions and then started over. We repeated, made more improvements.

So let's focus on the first topic-- identify issues caused by disconnected systems. I discovered that most of the issues fall into two categories-- data and process. Woodway's data issues mainly revolved around data being trapped in a slew of spreadsheets and Word documents spread across several network directories. These are examples of the documents used for change and release documentation and where they are located.

Our cumbersome release and change process resulted in a lot of disconnected information. It would start with a verbal or email request for a change. At one point, we had a SharePoint site for submitting change requests. But it turns out engineering wasn't checking that very consistently, so again, not very helpful.

Once the change is approved, we create an ECN number in an Excel spreadsheet. So yes, that means only one person at a time can create an ECN. Then we create a new folder in the ECN directory. We copy the appropriate documents to that new folder. And here we've got a list of Word documents, and there's even some spreadsheets and some other documents that would be copied to that directory. All of those files would then have to be renamed with the ECN number in the name.

Then we would proceed to fill out each document, which had duplicate information on the headers of all of the documents. Once an ECN was complete, we would create another Word document on ECN Traveler, which would be used in the shop to document the first implementation of that change.

Another issue with our processes was that they were either under-documented or not documented at all, which led to inconsistent results. Not only that, but the documentation that we did have was spread across several locations on the network. And not everyone knew where to find them. Another data issue that we had was that the BOMs, Bill of Materials, in CAD were not complete or accurate. So the data being passed down the line was not complete or accurate.

So you might think, so what? A lot of companies deal with this all the time, and implementing PLM and connecting systems is no small task. So what caused Woodway to decide to change? That's something I like to call the "Events." There was a particular series of events that pushed us to pursue solutions.

Woodway had a history of engineering bill of materials in [INAUDIBLE] involved not matching our manufacturing bill of materials in our ERP, which led to delivery delays if discrepancies were found before the treadmills were shipped, additional service calls to correct discrepancies if found after the treadmills were shipped, which led to a series of customer complaints. Again, nothing earth-shattering-- just an annoyance, like a stone in your shoe.

Then, the oh-no event. A large order of treadmills was delivered to one of our biggest customers, and there was issues with the delivered units. This sparked a lot of discussion at Woodway and an order from the top-- fix this. So a meeting was scheduled with all of engineering and all the other department heads. In this meeting, a call for suggestions was issued. No one wanted to be the first to speak up.

Then, one person did speak up and suggested a potential solution. Well, this got the discussion started. Many of the initial responses to that gave reasons why those suggestions wouldn't work. But others did throw out different suggestions. In Woodway's case, I was that one person. Maybe you can be the one person that gets things started at your company.

Through all of this heated discussion, I focused on the one thing that everyone could agree on. Something needs to change. So we looked at solutions offered by our ERP vendor, which included either just straight BOM transfer tools or full PLM tools. And we also looked at Autodesk's PLM solutions. After initial research, we decided to try Fusion 360 Manage. [COUGHS] Excuse me. It was a lower-cost entry point, and there was the potential for a much quicker turnaround to real results.

We worked with our reseller, D3, on a proof of concept trial tenant. The tenant consisted of a single license for setup and testing and training and support from D3. I did manual importing of items and BOMs, and then tested the workflows for change management. I demonstrated this to engineering and to management. And the proof of concept was successful, and management agreed to proceed with the implementation.

This brought us to our next agenda item-- defining solutions for the issues and the stages and phases for the solutions to be implemented. We started with items and BOMs, cycled through that, went through revision control, and moved on to change management. So to define the solutions, we had to assess and document our current processes. I recommended that we ask why for each step of our documented process once we documented it, or as we were documenting it.

If any answer to one of those why questions was, well, that's just the way we do it, or, this is the way we've always done it, I kind of stopped and said, well, maybe we should look at this again and see if there's maybe a better way. So in the process of doing that, we looked at the out-of-the-box workflows to see if they could work to get us started with something. So here, you can see the workflows for change requests to change orders that, again, mostly out-of-the-box, set up already, a little bit of configuration for some of the items, but pretty much ready to go, start immediately.

So next, we had to identify the data fields to be connected and where they were entered. So in CAD, we would start with-- part number and description is, of course, in the CAD models. Then we would have to determine if a part were a buy or make or purchased or manufactured item. If it were a purchased item, then we would need to enter the vendor, vendor part number, and even the web link where to find that information for that purchased part. If it was a manufactured part, we would need the finish information, material it's made of, and the mass.

So once we had that all documented, it was time to implement solutions and iterate through the stages and phases. First thing you have to do in your new tenant is add your users and teams. All records in Fusion 360 Manage attach the user info that created that record. So there's 100% traceability of who did what.

Then we looked to the-- or, then we were working on the workflow and project templates for a new project introduction. Then what you see here on the left is 90% or more of what was out-of-the-box, out-of-the-box workflow here. We had to configure the tasks, which you see on the right-hand side, for each phase, which you can see there on the right. This becomes the roadmap for all projects that use this template.

You can create as many project templates as necessary. But I recommend trying to keep them to a minimum for ease of maintenance. Remember, a template is just a starting point. You can add or remove tasks from a project once it is created from that template. So the templates are just there to give you a good start on that particular type of project.

On the left, you can see-- so on the pictures here on the screen, you can see, on the left, you can see the Vault and items and BOMs workspace. In the top right image, you can see the BOM in the CAD assembly. And in the bottom right image, you can see the BOM that was automatically transferred into Fusion 360 Manage using coolOrange's powerPLM and powerJobs. The one thing I can say about the coolOrange products-- download them, install them using their installation instructions. The tools just work. If you follow step by step, they just work. And if you do have any issues, their support is excellent in response time and effectively resolving issues.

The next stage of implementation was change management. On the left, you can see the item details of this assembly. Notice that there's an associated change tab, which lists all of the change orders that apply to this assembly or to this item. So any items that are attached to a change order, under the details under that item, the associated change orders are listed.

The image in the middle shows the details of a change order. You can see the associated change request, which is a live link to that change request. So the navigation is very intuitive. On the right side of the right image, there is a complete history of the workflow and who made those changes. So as it progresses through the workflow, it documents who made those changes every step of the way. And then in addition to that, there is also a much more detailed change log.

Our next agenda item is evaluating the solutions and then repeating the process. So PLM implementation with Fusion 360 Manage is not an all-or-nothing setup. You can implement 1 workspace, 10 workspaces. Take it as you need them. Our next phase is going to be connecting with our ERP, connecting with our ERP with coolOrange's powerGate. After that, we will expand into the quality and service workspaces, as well as supplier management.

So after initially implementing the items and BOMs, we had to go back and add a few necessary fields. Then we proceeded through that. And once we got that right, then we went on to the change management and new product introduction workflows. And what we found there is we still-- and that's-- the ongoing process is we have to add an on-hold state to those workflows. That way, we can add a notification timer for on-hold projects so they're not on-hold indefinitely, something we kind of had issues with prior to this.

As we were planning for our next phase of implementation-- connecting to the ERP-- we realized that the information was not being entered consistently in our ERP. So we could not proceed with automating the connection until we determined the correct information needed in our ERP. So we can't move forward on that part of the implementation until we define the necessary information on our ERP side.

A few takeaways from the process that we're at right now-- Fusion 360 Manage is an easy entry into connecting your data. It's out-of-the-box, ready to go in a lot of cases. It's easy to configure after a small learning curve. And I would definitely recommend, work with your resellers. They are an awesome resource.

Don't be intimidated by it. Fusion 360 Manage is a tool for connecting data and processes. Map out what you want it to do, then configure it to do that. Many of the tools can be used out-of-the-box or with a little configuration. Then like I said, I would definitely use your resellers for support, training, and consulting. You will get to your return on investment much faster if you utilize these resources.

So when planning your implementation roadmap, have a big picture idea of where you want to go with these tools. So start with the end in mind. What pie-in-the-sky, big dream-- you don't have to identify or define every aspect of it, just some idea. It helps you right here. I've got it listed. It's hard to take the first step if you don't know what direction you're going in. So the more long-term ideas you can put in place, the easier it is for each implementation phase to get you closer to that end goal.

So what you have to do is identify first, where will your data be used in the ERP, MES, or any other three-letter acronyms that are used downstream? Then I say, map it backwards. Where is your data entered? Is it entered in CAD tool? Is it entered in the Vault, or somewhere else? And how do you reuse that information that's entered downstream? Again, the idea behind this is enter information once, reuse everywhere else it's needed in order to get the right information to the right people when they need it.

So again, here's an image to highlight that. Again, we have our change request, change order and release process. And here, down in the lower corner, I'm showing our ERP integration, which is our next step. So that is-- like I said, these are the plans that we have for down the road. And beyond that, we have other workspaces that we will implement once we get those working.

Next takeaway I like to offer is, contribute to the community. Share your experiences, good or bad. And ask questions in the forums.

Here's a list of references. One of the easiest ones is the Fusion 360 Manage Help, which is right inside the product. Another excellent resource is Autodesk University's website, which I have a link here. [COUGHS] Excuse me. Another resource is coolOrange's powerPLM implementation site. And then, again, a previous Autodesk University class that was done by Christian Gessner from coolOrange on how to connect Vault and Fusion Lifecycle. And be sure to check out my handout for this presentation. It will include details that I couldn't fit in the allotted time for this presentation.

So I thank you for attending my session. And I hope you've learned a lot and will become a part of the community that pushes our technology forward, so we can all pursue a single source of the truth.