The positive growth with increased number of subsidiaries and employees placed new demands on the organization. The delivery rates and complexity increased, making structured information transfer more important. Roxtec noticed that the delivery suffered due to the different methods for handling the documentation of changes to products in different parts of the company. They lacked process and system support. Employees spent time searching for and validating change information that affected procurement, manufacturing and delivery.

Since 2014, Roxtec has had support for Engineering Change Notice (ECN) in connection with the implementation of Teamcenter. To ensure delivery quality, in 2016 Roxtec started looking at an extended Engineering Change Request (ECR) process and at the possibility of integrating it with its business system. The new Change Management process was implemented in 2017 and is supported by Nextage’s Teamcenter solution. The result was full searchability, traceability and control of changes throughout the entire life cycle of the product, and as a consequence — more satisfied employees.

Andreas Krantz is Product Owner at Roxtec:

“Change Management is a process and a way of working, but in order to succeed it is important to have competent system support.

The design engineers at Roxtec work in Teamcenter every day. Teamcenter is integrated with their two CAD systems Inventor and AutoCAD.

When the ECR process was introduced it initially felt like extra work to add information about changes to the system. Soon they saw the benefits of the process.

Ronnie Pettersson is Design Engineer for customized solutions. He has been involved both before and after the implementation of the new CM process. A background is now always provided as to why a change is being considered. Roxtec’s engineers specify the advantages and disadvantages of the change which are included as a basis for decision-making. It is a simple and fast process where references such as customer documentation or email can be added. In the next step, product preparation can add information they have received via the business system.

Ronnie Pettersson explains:

“The Change Management process documents what changes we have made and why. Traceability helps us a lot. Another great advantage is that automated flows provide information to the right people about how the product has been changed, thereby facilitating handover. Previously, I had to export information from the CAD system and email it or share it in some other way. In addition, I often had to hunt people by phone to make sure they have received and understood the information.”

The integration between Roxtec’s business system and Teamcenter is carefully thought out and governs which information should be transferred to which part of the ERP system. Part numbers are only created in Teamcenter and then pushed over to the business system. Some fields are locked in the business system, which helps maintain high-quality product information.

Roxtec’s business system users immediately saw the benefits of the new change process, which saved a lot of time in finding and validating information about product solutions. In addition, they now had a master — a common way of working with subcontractors and subsidiaries, and the information available in the system is what applies. It provides both overview and control.

Today, everyone works according to the same process where Teamcenter is the master of all product information, including changes. Automated flows ensure that the right change information is sent to the right person at the right time. Employees do not need to spend time validating changes.

Marita Lindberg works with Product Preparation at Roxtec:

“The process is a great support. Knowing that the information is correct facilitates our work. We also save a lot of time on the process as instead of creating  new part numbers, we can now make changes to an existing product.”

After the introduction of process and system support in the form of Teamcenter Change Management, changes and information now flow smoothly between functions, subsidiaries, and manufacturing in Roxtec.

The coworkers describe how the processes benefit them in their daily work.

Ronnie Pettersson, Design Engineer, Roxtec

“After the implementation of the ECR process, we see a higher quality in our product data which contributes to higher quality customer delivery, major time savings, and better control of our products and manufacturing. The benefits are felt by all Roxtec employees involved in the product life cycle, from designers and product processors to procurement/logistics, production, and service.”

”The data model in Teamcenter provides a clear overview. All information relating to the product, including changes, is neatly lined up in front of me as the user when I open it. Teamcenter supports all types of documentation such as email, PDF, images, etc. I no longer have to search in long email threads, which makes it easier for me to do the right thing and saves a lot of time.”

Jens Bohlin, Technical Project Manager, Roxtec:

“To me personally, in my daily work, time savings became the most obvious benefit after the introduction of the Change Management process in Teamcenter.”

Roxtec’s top tips on implementing change management support

• Make sure the change process facilitates work for the users
• Keep business benefits in mind at all times
• Allow the process to mature and introduce changes in rounds
• Keep in mind that the process is not locked in the system, but can be further developed in a way that is economically and systemically sustainable.
• Continue to remind and train staff on why the process is important