Case Study

Michigan, USA

New Jersey, USA

Chennai, India

CCE Case StudyLarge Scale Global Data Migration

Large ScaleGlobal Data Migration

CCE's outsourcing strategy consists of three elements:

CCE's Outsourcing Strategy

The client is a manufacturer of home appliances (white goods). While the client has a global presence, this case study primarily discusses engineering services, provided by CCE, to client divisions in Europe, which comprise of four product lines: cooking, dishwasher, laundry and, refrigeration.

Client

CCE Case StudyLarge Scale Global Data Migration

Philosophy: Risk ManagementTask Selection – Leverage chore to accelerate coreTask Prioritization - Capacity Maturity Model

Resources: Accountability, Quality and Productivity

Customer Interface - Local program managementDelivery Team - Dedicated offshore engineering team

Technology: Visibility, Control and Productivity

Communications - Collaborative work order management systemTask Automation - Leveraging technology to automate repeated tasks

A detailed discussion of CCE's outsourcing philosophy is available in CCE's White Paper, “Leverage Chore to Accelerate Core.”

This case study discusses how CCE’s outsourcing strategy and its implementation for a client delivered over $2.5 million in cost savings over a period of 24 months, while ensuring 99% of on-time delivery with less than a 1.5% error rate.

Client's Engineering Outsourcing Needs

The client has standardized on CATIA as their primary CAD system, with over 800 licenses of CATIA V4 & V5 used worldwide. Dassault Systemes, the manufacturer of CATIA, released CATIA V5 over four years ago. The new version of CATIA works on Windows systems, as compared to the older version that only ran on IBM mainframes and Unix workstations. This substantially reduces hardware costs of operating the program. In addition, CATIA V5 takes advantage of new modeling technology, which includes feature-based, parametrically-driven surfaces and solids. This significantly increases design productivity and accuracy, along with the added feature of permitting rapid changes to the modeled parts and assemblies with very little effort.

To take advantage of the benefits offered by V5, the client made a corporate decision to migrate to V5 from V4. The client recognized early on that migrating designs from V4 to V5 was not core to the client's engineering goals. By outsourcing this chore, the client could concentrate on designing and building new products that were key to its growth.

About CCE

CCE is an ISO 9001 certified, Michigan corporation, in business since 1989, with offices in Michigan, New Jersey, and India. CCE has delivered cost-effective product realization solutions through a customer-focused service model.

CCE’s engineering services division offers a comprehensive solution to our clients, to reduce time, cost, and inherent risk in product development.

This service model seamlessly integrates product conceptualization, design, prototyping, manufacturing, and sustaining services to our clients, worldwide.

Leveraging our U.S. and India-based engineers, CCE has successfully delivered services to automotive, aerospace, industrial, off-highway, transportation, construction, and consumer industries, for over 25 years.

CCE Case StudyLarge Scale Global Data Migration

While outsourcing chores made perfect sense from a technical perspective, the client had two other challenges that needed to be overcome to ensure success of the outsourcing initiative.

Outsourcing Challenge - Geographically Dispersed Organization

The four main product lines of the client in Europe are designed and built in 22 factories, spread over the 12 countries detailed below. These locations account for almost 400 seats of CATIA.

It is a common practice for the client to have multiple locations simultaneously working on the same design project. The “M2” cooker project is an example of this type of collaborative design execution. Divisions located in England, Denmark, and Sweden are concurrently involved in the product design activity.

It was critical for the client that the data migration from CATIA V4 to V5 be seamlessly coordinated between these geographical boundaries without substantial management overhead or productivity loss. It was also important for the client’s management to have visibility and control over the outsourcing process through timely workload and progress reports.

Outsourcing Challenge - Local Culture

Perceptions towards outsourcing vary from culture to culture. While some embrace it as an opportunity to grow, others are threatened by it. The client has a strong commitment to its employees and wanted to be absolutely sure that the outsourcing initiative did not, in any way, negatively impact employee morale.

CCE's Outsourcing Model for the Client

CCE appointed Arun Raj to be the local program manager for the client's outsourcing initiative. Arun's prior experience of working in the consumer appliance industry (white goods) was a key factor in his selection.

Program Manager

Arun's role was to provide the key interface between the client's engineers and CCE's offshore team in India. At the beginning of the relationship, Arun met with all of the client's managers to understand their technical requirements.

Arun apprised the client's managers with CCE's technical expertise in CATIA V4 and V5 design, modeling, and data exchange processes. He trained them in using CCE's proprietary, web-based work order management system, Powerlink.

After the process initiation, Arun continued to monitor all work orders issued by the client and resolve any delivery issues as required.

Data files were attached to each work order as required. After completion of the work activity by the India team, the delivered data files were downloaded and checked for quality compliance.

He also obtained the client's CATIA V4 project files and drawing standards that were used to set up the client design environment at CCE's engineering center, in Chennai, India.

This process trained the client's managers in the mechanism of outsourcing work to CCE's India team.

This included setting up password-protected accounts and creating work orders describing the work activity for the offshore team, in India.

By personally interfacing with each of the client’s managers and investing time in training them in the outsourcing process, Arun significantly reduced their apprehensions about the outsourcing initiative.

In consultation with Arun, CCE's program manager, in India, selected a team of engineers who were cross-trained in CATIA V4 and V5 to form the core team for the client.

Dedicated Offshore Team for the client

To ensure optimum productivity, swift maturation, and minimal errors, within the team, CCE developed training processes and an organizational set-up.

The team obtained samples of the work, along with company or industry standards, CAD start-up files, drawing templates, standard parts, libraries or environment files, and completed reference drawings.

These team members were exclusively dedicated to the client's work, thus ensuring increasing quality and productivity over time as they closely worked with their client counterparts, in Europe. Maintaining the team's exclusivity ensured that the client's intellectual property was always protected.

He was the client's single point of contact for any team changes, such as augmenting with additional designers, assigning new type of work requests, etc.

CCE Case StudyLarge Scale Global Data Migration

Senior team members performed the sample work with feedback between the team, an identified lead client contact who is very familiar with the work, and CCE’s U.S. program manager. Questions were freely asked and answered until all three were assured that the work requests and desired deliverables were clearly defined and able to be completed.

CCE populated the team with the remaining members who were custom-selected with skills pertinent to the client’s work. The initial team members trained the newer ones in the work that had already been completed. As new work continued to be accepted, the feedback loop continued.

The team was structured into CAD engineers, who actually performed the work, and senior Q.A. engineers, who worked to oversee and check the work. A Team Leader lead each team. The team leader and Q.A. engineers provided continuity in case of staff turnover.

After the team was trained, tested, and a client contact was established, we entered into full production mode. The end result was the ability to push through large amounts of work with consistent and reliable results.

Communications Set-up

Communications is the key to the success of any outsourcing program. Email and FTP are commonly-used tools to exchange work specifications and data files between the distance and time-separated work teams.

Unfortunately, both are asynchronous tools because there is no guarantee to the sender that the recipient received the information in a timely manner. Email and FTP also provide a low level of security that may not be sufficient when exchanging sensitive product information across national boundaries. Email also creates disconnected threads of communications making it hard to keep track of project progress and enforce accountability. Communicating by phone can also be very difficult due to language differences.

CCE has developed a proprietary, web-based work order management system, called PowerLink, that is made available to all clients to facilitate communications between the client's staff, worldwide, and CCE's local program managers and India-based engineers. PowerLink allows all work specifications and data files to be securely stored at a central location that is easily accessible, via a web browser, to all teams participating in the project. All teams have immediate access to the most current information, which includes all technical communications, data and reference files, and progress notes recorded by the engineering team. PowerLink also includes an internet-based chat system for real-time ad hoc conversations which are vital for quick exchanges of information whenever necessary.

All of the client's locations, in Europe, used PowerLink to send work to CCE’s team, in India. CCE's program manager used PowerLink to keep track of all the ongoing work orders to make sure all time-critical issues were proactively acted on.

By continuously monitoring the communications between the client’s teams and CCE’s teams, CCE’s program manager was able to correct information gaps that could have caused quality problems. This continuous maturing of the process led to significant increases in productivity and quality from the CCE team.

The client’s management used PowerLink to track the overall progress of the data migration projects, which included error rates, timeliness of deliveries, quality, and productivity of the CCE team.

Capacity Maturity Model

To minimize risk and to ensure quality and productivity, the data migration from V4 to V5 was planned using a phased approach.

Design Specifics

Phase 1

Install AutoCAD and Pro/Engineer software at CCE design center, in India, to replicate the client’s environment

Implement the client’s CAD standards in design procedures

Obtain specifications from the client regarding desired AutoCAD and Pro/Engineer output

Begin data migration projects to get a better understanding of the client's products and quality expectations

Create associated drawing from model

CCE Case StudyLarge Scale Global Data Migration

Phase 2

Start supporting change management work by training the client's designers to use PowerLink to send work offshore

Increase throughput by placing experienced CCE engineers at the client’s locations to perform on-site coordination duties

Phase 3

Increase throughput by analyzing and optimizing the existing process of outsourcing

Employ design automation to increase productivity with improved quality

Work Summary

Over the course of the project, CCE delivered 250 work orders.

The nature of the work included the following:

CATIA Version 4 Design

Creating 3D model and 2D drawing from a 2D drawing in PDF format

Creating 2D drawing from a solid model

Resolving inconsistencies between a solid model and a 2D drawing

Remodeling corrupted solid models

CATIA Version 5 Design

Creating 3D model and 2D drawing from a 2D drawing in PDF format

Creating 3D model and 2D drawing from a CATIA V4 2D drawing

Completing an incomplete solid/surface model

Creating 2D drawing from a completed solid model

Creating a modifiable feature-based 3D model based on an existing dumb solid model

CATIA Version 4 to Version5 Migration

Converting dumb solid in V4 to full-feature-based 3D model in V5

Creating feature-based modifiable surfaces in V5 from V4 surfaces

Creating fully-associated drawing in V5 from an unassociated V4 3D model and 2D drawing

Resolving inconsistencies between 3D and 2D in V4 by creating complete feature-based 3D model and associated 2D drawing in V5

CATIA V5 Part

All 2D drawings include full detailing in compliance with the latest client CAD standards.

CATIA V4 Model

Quality Metrics

The client was very satisfied with the quality of the V4 and V5 design work, which were both new designs and created from translations.

Less than 3% of the deliveries were rejected due to an error by CCE in meeting the specified requirements.

Timeliness of deliveries exceeded the client's expectations.

There were minimal rejections of deliveries due to inferior quality.

Most re-work was performed due to updating the specifications, post-delivery, by the client’s engineers.

-VP of Engineering Home Appliance Manufacturer

“We are very happy with CCE services

in this data migration project. CCE’s

global team, knowledge of industry best

practices, and design automation tools

made this transition very smooth. CCE’s

team members also helped train our

designers in CATIA V5 processes,

accelerating the move from old to new

technology.”

CCE Case StudyLarge Scale Global Data Migration

Task Automation

One of the unique strengths of CCE's offshore center is the synergistic co-location of engineering design and CAD/CAM software development personnel. This enables CCE to improve and/or use custom-designed CAD/CAM/CAE tools to fit a particular project need.

After the migration of CATIA V4 data to V5, it was necessary to identify and remove unused entities, such as points, planes, and sketches. Rather than manually perform this time-consuming activity, CCE adapted a CATIA utility, called CATDUAV5, for this purpose. The automation of this chore activity resulted in significant time-savings with improved quality.

CCE also developed a custom tool to identify the optimum way to create parametric surfaces in V5 from V4 surfaces. This simplified the surface creation process with significant time-savings.

Continuous Improvement Program

CCE is a process-driven company. All work practices and communications are constantly monitored and structured. Tasks are measured and compared against industry standard benchmarks. Some of these measures include:

Constant updates of the quality control checklist.

Identification of opportunities for task automation.

Reviewing completed work to find ways to further improve the process.

Work Examples

Heating Element

Refrigerator Liner

Heating Element

CATIA V4 Model

CATIA V5 Part

CATIA V4 Model

Refrigerator Liner

CATIA V5 Part

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