Pernoud cuts data handling and quoting time by up to half

Pernoud is a French moldmaking group, founded in 1971 by Georges Pernoud, the father of Gilles and Philippe Pernoud, both the current Group CEOs. The Pernoud Group has a staff of 90 over three different sites. The main Georges Pernoud Company is based in Oyonnax, France and specializes in manufacturing new molds and employs around 40 people. A second Group company, FMP, is located close to the Georges Pernoud site and has a staff of 35 specialized in tooling maintenance, technical development and repairs. 15 people work at a third site in Bratislava, Slovakia providing tool maintenance, technical development and repairs to the Slovakian, Czech and Polish markets. The group’s 2007-2008 turnover was around Euro 14 million, with 70% of this turnover derived from the production of car engine parts. Pernoud has always invested in the best manufacturing software and recognized that it could gain a range of productivity and communication benefits from acquiring collaborative 3D viewing software.

<< Like email, WorkXPlore 3D is now our most efficient tool for communicating and sharing information inside and outside the company… >>
Gilles Pernoud, Pernoud Group CEO

CEO Gilles Pernoud analyzed the company’s existing range of software applications to determine how a collaborative 3D viewer could best integrate within their set-up. An analysis of solutions available on the market was carried out with the main criteria being for the software to be able to open all specified CAD files as quickly as possible. The Company initially identified 3 solutions that were potentially a good fit. WorkXPlore 3D was finally selected due to a number of technical criteria: its high-speed handling of CAD files: its reliability (two applications were tested in parallel), user interface quality and suitability of its analysis tools. Gilles Pernoud explains : "The product is tailored to moldmaking and has benefited from Sescoi's 20 years’ experience in this industry. This product is exactly what moldmakers need." WorkXPlore 3D’s attractive pricing and its flexibility to meet different user requirement levels were further determining factors in its selection. The software comes in three versions from the 3D Viewer through to the full advanced functionality of the Manufacturing Pro version (the latter also available as a floating licence), and includes users’ rights management. The final criteria in the selection process was the responsiveness of the software supplier. Gilles Pernoud appreciated the "10 years of collaboration between Pernoud and Sescoi and their willingness to work with us to develop products that meet our requirements.”

Pernoud Group companies generate around 350 quotes per year, of which between 10 and 15% become orders. This meant that a considerable amount of time was devoted to converting and reading 350 CAD data files, with an average of 10 to 15 minutes spent on each CAD file. Gilles Pernoud comments: “In the past, we received various documents such as part drawings, views and images. Now, we receive a single data file and we don't even know what it contains until we convert it." With WorkXPlore 3D, the CAD files are opened immediately and it now takes Pernoud only around 15 minutes to confirm part feasibility to a customer and 30 to 40% of CAD data files conversions are no longer wasted effort. During the design phase, WorkXPlore 3D enables 3D data to be quickly disseminated internally and externally. Gilles Pernoud explains: “We have to dialogue with our customers – explaining, justifying and validating the design…and internally in the workshops, we need to carry out preliminary studies of the mold." WorkXPlore 3D is used to create customer technical records. Gilles Pernoud adds, “It's becoming increasingly difficult for customers to handle drawings - we have to give them information and material that they can manage easily and these need to be userfriendly, particularly when working in an international environment. Our CAD data can now be exported very easily - WorkXPlore 3D generates smaller files and you can leave presentations with your customers, which is a neat feature.” When sourcing, Pernoud may request quotations from 3 different suppliers and each supplier used to have to be provided with around 10 drawings. Pernoud therefore spent a lot of time and money on drafting, paper and postage costs and response times were slow. Now with WorkXPlore 3D sourcing is much faster as the executable files (for spare parts, mold frames, etc) are simply e-mailed to suppliers.

Pernoud is aware that, even with a high performance CAD application, the cost of CAD workstations is still very high, not necessarily at the time of purchase but certainly in terms of the ongoing training and maintenance requirement. Pernoud will therefore continue to reduce long term CAD costs by no longer running multiple CAD systems and, with WorkXPlore 3D on the shop floor, its machine operators have to learn only one, easy-to-use piece of software for displaying and analyzing the parts they need to machine.

With its ability to create IGES files, WorkXPlore 3D has greatly facilitated the quotation process. Gilles Pernoud explains, "We can read all types of files, customers can send us whatever they want, we simply convert the files to the IGES format." Pernoud is using the software’s animation module for technical records. Gilles Pernoud again explains: "We add animated scenes of the mold to the technical records so that customers can easily view how to assemble and disassemble the mold. Before we had WorkXPlore 3D, we had to provide written assembly / disassembly instructions for highly complex molds. We can now add animation scene files really easily and it’s that little extra attention to detail which customers like." WorkXPlore 3D’s ability to create executable files is another feature much appreciated by the Company’s customers who don't need to download a plug-in via the Internet (which isn’t always available) in order to read the files received from Pernoud ...all they have to do is click to open the e-mailed file.

WorkXPlore 3D has proved itself to be very easy to learn and use. Today, after an initial 1-day training session, around ten people are using the software at Georges Pernoud Company. In its design office WorkXPlore 3D is used to retrieve data files, create technical data and generate customer presentations; the Engineering Office uses the software for supplier consultations; project managers and sales people use it for creating customer quotations, preliminary study presentations and PowerPoint presentations (images, photos); machine operators use it to view parts and toolpaths. And finally, in every company department, WorkXPlore 3D is used to ensure that each employee knows instantly what he or she needs do on a particular job. Gilles Pernoud estimates that use of WorkXPlore 3D has resulted in timesavings of between 25 and 50%, particularly for data retrieval. He concludes "Like email, WorkXPlore 3D has become the most efficient tool we have for communicating and sharing information inside and outside our company with customers, suppliers and employees. We intend to implement WorkXPlore 3D on all our sites.”