Keeping a focus on CAD
CAD engineers face constant deadline pressure as they manage the continuous exchange of data with suppliers and customers. The small, tightly focused department at the Eaton site in Dudley, West Midlands, meets such operational demand by working in close partnership with Majenta Solutions.
With 49 facilities and 15,000 employees on six continents, Eaton’s Vehicle Group supplies automotive and commercial vehicle manufacturers with products and systems designed to improve overall efficiency, performance and power. Dudley is the location for two streams of business: plastic moulded parts for reducing weight, integrating components and improving durability; and high-quality power steering, air conditioning and other fluid connection products.
Specialist Assistance for Automotive Suppliers
“We first began working with Majenta Solutions when we required support for our contract to supply Ford under the C3P (CAD/CAM/CAE/PIM) programme,”
says CAD Engineer Ian Blundell.
“Compliance can be expensive for Ford suppliers, given the time that it takes to acquire appropriate knowledge. As a Certified Data Services Provider (CDSP), Majenta Solutions provides instant access to many years of experience.”
CDSP services are delivered using the MX+ services portal, a user friendly bespoke tool developed by Majenta to support the OEM CAD data integration process. Whilst there are specific MX+ services for data translation, data quality checking, CAD re-mastering and data migration, the CDSP service used by Eaton can include these elements in order to fully support the integration of engineering data into the Ford C3PNG environment. Eaton also benefits from using MX, an easy to use platform also developed by Majenta that enables the quick, easy and safe transfer of large files, complete with transaction history.
Safe and secure transfer of files
Senior Engineer, Jamie Calleja, travels extensively to different customer sites. He uses MX so that he can send data to where he needs it to be.
“This enables me to be self sufficient, it’s very convenient.”
When Eaton sends files to its own suppliers it uses MX to make the transfer and to audit the movement of data in and out of the company.
“We need to know that suppliers have definitely received data and MX enables us to track this,”
says Blundell.
“As there is no software to install or manage and no training is required, we can quickly set up programme engineers as MX users. They can then take responsibility for ensuring that any data they send is downloaded without having to go through the CAD department. This saves the time and effort of CAD engineers and allows them to focus on their own tasks.”
As system administrator, Ian Blundell has a global view of every piece of information that has been sent and received.
“I can check that everything is moving along fine. If a member of the team is away I can monitor all the relevant notifications and we always get an automated message from the system if data has not been downloaded. This permanent record of exactly who has done what is particularly helpful. Prior to MX we had to chase suppliers up to ensure that they had downloaded any data we sent them.”
According to Ian Blundell, Eaton relies heavily on MX.
“We probably now send more data through MX than via our CDSP service. We have a range of toolmakers in China and sometimes language difficulties can be an obstacle given very tight turnaround times. We might, for example, have just 16 weeks for a large tool, with two of those weeks taken up by transportation. MX makes life much easier.”
Ian Blundell reflects on the benefits of Eaton’s long-standing relationship with Majenta Solutions.
“We are in constant daily communication, mostly through the MX platform, occasionally we speak on the phone. Majenta Solutions team members are unfailingly helpful. They provide direct and timely advice, a consistently excellent service and we know that we can rely on them completely.”
Ian Blundell.
CAD Engineer