Godwin Pumps adopts keytech PLM - keytech Software GmbH

Godwin - the decision for keytech PLM
Need of PLM-system
As with any successful business, zeal to
adopt new technology has to be tempered
with the need to maintain existing processes
and data. Godwins have in excess of
20,000 ME10® drawings and these need to
be live and working for the next five years.
Braithwaite explained their plans for implementation
of 3D-CAD and how it affected
their PDM selection process “We see 3 to
5 years time before all of the legacy data
in 2D becomes ‘for reference’ only, rather
than live working drawings. At present,
we’re going to be working with 2D and 3D,
developing new drawings and new parts
in 2D, as well as introducing 3D; so we’re
running two CAD-systems at the same time
and will be for at least the next two years,
possibly three. It will be three to five years
“keytech PLM is not just a drawing
management system; it’s a document
management system.”
before we drop 2D all together and just use
it for maintaining legacy data.” As a result,
Godwins needed a PDM-system that would
allow them to manage and work with both
their extensive 2D drawing data and newer
data generated within SolidWorks®.
Initially Godwins explored expanding the
implementation of its existing 2D drawing
management system, but it discovered
limitations when handling SolidWorks®
data. Braithwaite explains that “It worked
to a point but had limitations so we could
just store 2D and 3D information in one
management system, but there were issues
in that it was not supported properly, we
could not carry out certain functions such as
creating Bills of Materials combining the two
sets of information and could not do simple
things like batch plots. So, we started
looking around for another PDM package
that would enable us to manage the legacy
data and the new SolidWorks® data in one
system.”
Exploring their options further, Godwins
revisited its 3D-CAD supplier. Braithwaite
explains that “SolidWorks is supplied with
a basic document management system,
PDMWorks® Workgroup, which will handle
the SolidWorks data, but it wouldn’t allow us
to access the legacy 2D data; we couldn’t
mix the two.” Having discounted PDMWorks
Workgroup, the final short list came down to
two potential systems, PDMWorks® Enterprise
and keytech PLM.
While Godwins saw the benefit of a single
supplier and support from the SolidWorks®
channel, critical issues meant keytech PLM
gained the competitive edge. As Braithwaite
explained, “PDMWorks® Enterprise would
allow us to store and view ME10® drawings
alongside SolidWorks data, but currently it
had issues with combining the two to create
Bill of Materials for transferring to our
ERP-system. It did not allow us to do all
the things we wanted to do, most critically,
running two live systems – which keytech
PLM does.”
Alongside the ability to control and management
two CAD-systems, Godwins are also
looking to keytech PLM to assist with providing
more access across the enterprise. As
Braithwaite explains, “The other advantage
and the reason we picked up on keytech PLM
was the potential for the company. keytech
PLM is not just a drawing management
system; it’s a document management system.
Our previous system was a drawing
management system, solely used for CAD
data. keytech is going to be used by all departments
within the company. We can give
access to everybody within the company to
the technical data, drawings, etc.”
The implementation of keytech:
Phase One
In terms of scope for roll-out, Godwins are
planning a two stage implementation. Phase
One will see it set-up within the Engineering
Department. This will provide the
Drawing Office, Service, Quality Assurance