As a manufacturer of mechanical and electrical drive systems, Flender has received an increasing number of requests for customisable gearboxes. This is because what has long been standard in the consumer sector has also reached the B2B segment: the pronounced customer desire for products with a wide range of variants that can be customised as required. However, being able to supply the right gearbox for every requirement was previously a complex and costly endeavour. Together with adesso, Flender therefore pursued the goal of automating business processes on the basis of a holistic, sophisticated enterprise architecture.
Peter Hensel
Head of Configuration and Data Management | Flender Group
However, as simple as the customer's request for a customised product may be, its impact on the products and processes of manufacturing companies is just as complex. If Flender changes just one component on the gearbox, for example, the entire design has to be rechecked. This is a task that, when carried out manually, can be time-consuming for the engineers. Similar challenges can be found along the entire value chain, making the complexity ever greater.
Together with adesso, Flender has comprehensively digitalised and automated its order acquisition and order processing process. The result is an enterprise architecture for variant management. This includes a smart modular system for variant configuration that controls all business processes as a central orchestrator. This includes all workflows from the customer's enquiry to the final commissioning and service at the operator's premises.
In order to realise this enterprise architecture, adesso interlinked various modular solutions from different system worlds - from SAP and Salesforce to Microsoft Azure and other tools. In this way, adesso delivered everything from a single source, including the design of a customer portal that offers 3D visualisation of the gearboxes and simple self-configuration by the customer.
Flender is able to offer smart configurable gear units at attractive conditions. Getting there is easy for both sides. In just a few steps, companies can configure a gearbox that fulfils their individual requirements - in the usual high Flender quality. Flender itself reduces the workload of its engineers thanks to smart variant management. It also reduces throughput times and cuts production costs.
Dr Jan Reimann
Project Manager | Flender Group
Flender is a leading international manufacturer of mechanical and electrical drive systems that has been synonymous with drive components of the highest performance, innovation, quality and reliability for more than 120 years. The company offers a wide range of gearboxes, couplings, generators and related services focussing on key industries in the wind energy, cement, raw material processing, oil and gas, power generation, water and wastewater, marine, crane and materials handling sectors. Flender products and services combine state-of-the-art technology with extremely high quality and have ensured optimum power transmission for decades. Flender employs around 8,700 people worldwide.
Andreas Liesche
e-mail: andreas.liesche@adesso.de
