IndustryMachinery and industrial products

IssuesDramatically reduce design to production lead timeTake design quality to new heights

Approach Make the transition from 2D to 3D CAD by implementing Solid Edge software

ResultsThe design review process was rejuvenated as non- designers were easily able to contribute their opinions to the design process with the implementation of 3D modelingAnalysis became easier to perform, which in turn made it possible to grasp product performance from the design stage and reduce manufactur-ing time by 20 to 30 percent in the N Series compared to that of conventional product-sof equivalent prices

Mori Seiki revolutionized the lathe industry with the announcement of its NL Series in June 2004. Solid Edge provided the 3D design power that contributed to Mori Seiki’s revolutionary designs.

Mori Seiki’s design review process was rejuvenated by the implementation of 3D design using Solid Edge® software from Siemens PLM Software. Solid Edge made it easier for Mori Seki to analyze designs as well as evaluate performance prior to the production of actual prototypes. By imple-menting Solid Edge, Mori Seiki was able to cut its design to manufacturing lead time in half and increase its ability to release many more new products.

The NL Series: Revolutionizing the lathe industry and selling like hot cakes; Solid Edge: powering Mori Seiki’s 3D design processSince producing its first lathe in 1968, Mori Seiki has produced approximately 100 types of CNC lathes over the years. In June 2004, Mori Seki revolutionized the lathe industry with the introduction of its NL Series, the latest model series in Mori Seiki’s new product N Series line up that reflects its impressive performance record and an uncompromising commitmentto customer feedback. The greatest feature of the NL Series is that it is a lathe with asophisticated machining functionality. Up until now, no lathes had been equipped

Solid Edge

www.siemens.com/solidedge

Mori Seiki Solid Edge 3D design contributes to revolutionary machining tools

with simple machining functionality. This is the first lathe to address the needs of the machining world.

Makoto Fujishima, director and general manager of Mori Seiki, says that “the NL Series has been selling like hot cakes since its debut.” Fujishima also notes that other N Series products are also selling extremely well and that the overall share of N Series products is rapidly increasing. He believes the reason for acceptance of Mori Seiki’s N Series among its users is dueto its highly acclaimed “relentless improve-ment of basic performance” N Series design concept. Mori Seiki has always been one of the main contenders for the top position in the cutting tool market, but the introduction of its N Series has defi-nitely contributed to boosting its competi-tive power to a much higher level.

Solid Edge is the support behind Mori Seiki’s product design advancements. Mori Seiki began using host-facilitated 2D CAD tools in 1984 and then downsized to EWS

in 1994, at which time the company made the transition to Solid Edge and implemented the 3D CAD design systemacross the board. Currently Mori Seiki owns 280 Solid Edge licenses making the company what you might call a “heavy user” of Solid Edge.

“The purpose for introducing 3D design tools was to reduce our design-to-manu-facturing lead time and vastly improve our quality of design,” explains Kiyoshi Fujimoto, information system manager for Mori Seiki. “In retrospect, we had reached the limit possible with 2D design tools.”It was then that Mori Seiki looked into several 3D CAD products and decided to implement a midrange product that was easy for anyone to use and eliminated curves not necessary to designing cutting tools.

In addition, Mori Seiki could see that the Parasolid® software kernel was going to be the future standard for solid modeling and so the company made the decision to use Solid Edge throughout its enterprise.

Rejuvenated design review and analysis made easy; design to prototype leadtime cut in half The first benefit of the introduction of Solid Edge was that Mori Seiki’s design review process was rejuvenated. “When we were using 2D drawings in our design review process, it was often the case that only the designers could understand the designs,” says Fujimoto. However, sincemaking the switch, even the nondesigners are able to easily grasp the design con-cepts and thereby more easily contribute their ideas to the design process. Often, Mori Seiki’s design review will include the designer’s supervisors, staff from the pro-duction site, sales executives and even management executives for a lively exchange of opinions. Before the introduc-tion of 3D modeling, it was often the case that problems weren’t discovered until Mori Seiki reached to the assembly stage. However, now it is possible to catch and clear such assembly related problemsduring the design review stage.

3D modeling has made it easier to perform various types of analysis, which play a critical role a in improving design quality. Mori Seiki uses an array of analysis tools to perform vibration, structure, ther-mal and operational performance analysis. Fujimoto says that this makes it possibleto grasp how much product performance can be anticipated during the design stage. Thanks to 3D modeling, Mori Seiki has been able to improve the basic performance of its products and reduce manufacturing time by 20 to 30 percent with its N Series when compared to that ofconventional products at equivalent prices.

Results (continued)Dramatic reduction in the number of design flaws was achieved that was noticeable even by the designers themselvesTime from design to prototype was cut in half making it pos-sible to release more new products

“It used to take us about six-months from development to prototype, but now we are able to complete the prototype in about three months.The transition to Solid Edge has enabled us to double our new product development pace.”

Makoto Fujishima Director and General Manger Development and Manufacturing HQ Control Technology Laboratory Administrative HQ Information Systems Department Mori Seiki Co., Ltd.

“It takes hardly any time at all before you are able to use Solid Edge on your own. After just two and a half days of training, users were able to master Solid Edge in accordance to their own designing abilities.”

Masaki Kato Leader Administrative HQ Information Systems Department Information Systems 2 Section Development Systems Team Mori Seiki Co., Ltd.

This has contributed to a sharp reduction in the overall lead time from development to manufacturing. Fujishima notes that “it used to take us about six months from development to prototype, but now we are able to complete the prototype in about three months.” Fujishima points out that the transition to Solid Edge enabledMori Seiki to double its new product devel-opment pace. In particular, from 2003 to 2004, Mori Seiki introduced the most new products in company history and demon-strated a great number of them at various exhibitions.

Mori Seiki has been able to dramatically reduce the number of design flaws. Interference between parts has dropped remarkably, and there are no longer problems related to the inconsistency in dimensions that were common when using 2D drawings. Even the designers themselves have noticed the dramatic drop in design flaws.

User training only takes two and a half days; outlook to the future: CAM and Teamcenter Solid Edge has bridged the gap in regard to the request for something that anyone can easily use. “It takes hardly any time at all before you are able to use Solid Edge on your own,” says Masanori Kato, Mori Seiki’s information system leader. “After just two and a half days of training, users were able to master Solid Edge in accordance to their own designing abilities.” All new products are completely designed using Solid Edge and Mori Seiki is working to move design of as many common parts as possible to 3D modeling. Some work is still done using 2D, but this is limited to maintenance of old products.

Mori Seiki is also working toward an imple-mentation of CAM. The production site still uses 2D drawings, so if 3D models are used with CAM, it is expected that an even greater reduction in lead time will be achieved. In addition, Mori Seiki’s market-ing manager plans on aggressively using 3D modeled drawings and data in Mori Seiki’s product catalogs, service manuals and assembly manuals.

Data is currently shared using a file server, but Mori Seiki is reviewing the possibility of transitioning to Siemens’ data manage-ment system, Teamcenter® software, for this role in the future. If Teamcenter is used, Mori Seiki will be able to not only share files, but also to implement check-in/check-out exclusionary controls, unify management regarding various design information and improve its overallwork flow as it becomes easier to share information with other divisions.

“What we ultimately want to achieve is an environment that makes full use of 3D modeling in every aspect possible,” says Fujishima. It has been five years since Mori Seiki began using Solid Edge, and the com-pany now appears to be entering a new phase in the world of 3D design.

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Solutions/ServicesSolid Edge www.siemens.com/solidedge

Customer’s primary businessMori Seiki is a leading compa-ny and major contender for the top share in the field of cutting tools. The company has improved the core perfor-mance compared to conven-tional products and users are especially praiseworthy of Mori Seiki’s N Series. The NL Series, in particular, has revolutionized the lathe indus-try and is selling at explosive levels. Mori Seiki has a 24/7 service center available to users every day of the year. www.moriseiki.co.jp

Customer locationNagoya City Japan

“3D modeling design ener-gized our design review process, made analysis easier to perform and made it possible to grasp product performance in the design stage.”

Kiyoshi Fujimoto Manager Administrative HQ Information Systems Department Information Systems 2 Section Mori Seiki Co., Ltd.

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