insights - Dresser-Rand

Configurator Cuts Cycle
Time, Shortens Long-
Range Planning
As part of an effort to cut
equipment delivery times,
Dresser-Rand has developed
a technologically complex
system that simplifies the
proposal process, allowing
the company to produce a
proposal in two to five days in
the client’s office.
Called the “Product
Configurator,” Dresser-Rand
product engineers can
compile client needs to devise
an engineered solution with
drawings ready for manufacture.
“We call it ‘building what
we bid,’” said Allan Kidd,
project manager, product
configuration.
“The Configurator is the
starting block in a sprint to
faster client solutions,” he
explained. “It allows us to
discuss with clients their
exact needs and convert
them into manufacturable
information on the spot.”
The Configurator is a software
package written by Dresser-
Rand engineers. It allows the
regional business team (the
product engineers, application
engineers, etc.) to select and
configure machinery and
services, establish a price,
and guarantee that it will build
what it has bid. And it can
actually be done in the client’s
office within two to five days,
depending on the project
scope.
“We can start building our
equipment as soon as a
contract is signed,” said Gary
Jacobik, quality assurance
manager on the Configurator
development team.
“There are no coordination
meetings required, as the
project application is developed
with the client in the
client's office. Normally it
would take 10 weeks to
complete the first issue of
engineering documents, then
meet with the client for
coordination meetings.
The time for preliminary
engineering is totally eliminated
with the Configurator.
With the Configurator, we’re
able to cut off at least six
weeks, reducing lead time
before manufacture by as
much as 16 to 20 weeks.”
Typical industry cycle time
from quotation to delivery is
12 to 14 months.
With the Configurator and
other timesaving solutions
that Dresser-Rand has
developed in recent years,
delivery time is reduced to six
months.
Highly Engineered
Products
Because Dresser-Rand’s
equipment is highly engineered
– individual for not
only each client, but also
each client application –
solutions for clients had been
complex and time
consuming. The Configurator,
however, allows Dresser-Rand
to speed up the process.
Informational fields are
populated across a series of
templates and modules. This
allows the product team to
quickly define the performance
and configuration of
Dresser-Rand’s entire line of
turbo equipment and package
services. The Configurator
can delineate all of the turbo
machinery features required.
“We automate the creation of
an entire project bill of
materials and services,”
Jacobik explained. “They're
developed for each part of the
compressor. A bill of materials
is developed for each component.”
The end result is that
at the close of the initial
meeting with a client, the
Dresser-Rand product
procurement team has a set
of drawings, data, and details,
coupled with a pricing
structure that has all of the
information that the client
needs to make a decision. “In
a matter of a few days in the
client’s office, he knows
everything he needs to know
about a Dresser-Rand
solution,” Jacobik said.
Although the Configurator is
unrelated to the EDS
Unigraphics computer aided
drafting system Dresser-Rand
developed, “we’ve designed
them so they shake hands,”
Kidd said. “You can type
information into the
Configurator and it shows up
on CAD.”
Launched in 2000
The Configurator was initially
launched in January 2000,
for pipeline booster (PDI)
centrifugal compressors.
DATUM centrifugal compressors,
packaging, and gas
turbine drive modules will be
added this summer and will
include lube oil systems, dry
gas seal systems, and gas
turbine modules. European
modules will be released
throughout 2000.
The completion date for the
entire Product Configurator
System, including mechanical
drive steam turbines and all
reciprocating products for
process and separable
applications, is June 2001.
Kidd estimates that the
Configurator is 65 percent
complete at this time. “We’re
way ahead of schedule,”
Kidd added. The deadline
next year does not include
expanders, axial compressors,
or power turbines.
With the Configurator, a
regional business procurement
team, which includes engineers
with expertise in all
areas of the equipment,
meets with a client.
“Typically, there will be four
or five people on a specific
project,” Jacobik explained.
The servers for the Windowsbased
Configurator are
located in Dresser-Rand’s
Olean, New York, facility. A
business procurement team
can access the server by
laptop computer from
anywhere in the world.
“Providing remote access
was the challenging part,”
according to David Prince,
president of Databranch,
Dresser-Rand’s consultant.
“Dresser-Rand is one of the
first companies ever to do
this,” Prince said. “This is truly
global in scale and that’s
what’s impressive about it.
Dresser-Rand is a true leader
in developing this technology
and deploying it worldwide.”
Client Reaction Positive
Initial reactions from the half
dozen clients who have
witnessed the Configurator
during the first four months of
2000 have been very positive.
“I spent some time with one
client recently and I couldn’t
tell who was more excited,
him or us,” Kidd recalled.
There are additional benefits
to clients other than the cycle
time cut from Dresser-Rand’s
end. “Those clients that
understand the principle of
cycle time reduction are also
interested in reducing their
own cycle time,” Kidd
explained. “We also shorten
the client’s cycle time – from
project concept to completion
– by giving them more
information sooner that's
accurate and reliable upon
receipt. We can sit with them
while they’re going through
their concept stage and, as
a result, shorten their concept
cycle time.”
This has a dramatic impact on
client satisfaction. “The clock
starts ticking when they first
start thinking about a project,
long before they call us to help
them with their energy
solutions,” Kidd said. “This is
significant when you consider
some of the time saved from
initial concept to plant start-up
– say, an LNG plant in
Malaysia, 300 to 400 days off.
The Configurator allows our
product engineer teams to
move with alacrity and
accuracy to fulfill client needs.”
Kidd concedes that the
Configurator and other efforts
by Dresser-Rand to reduce
cycle time give a whole new
meaning to long-range
planning. In fact, the long
range just got shorter. ■
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