50% increase in design reuse speeds lead time

According to Blentech CEO, Dan Voit, success requires close attention to customer requirements, a deep knowledge of food science, and innovative engineering. As a leading manufacturer of professional food processing equipment that operates in a global market, with significant regional variations, finding that perfect combination is essential.

The search for a single product data source

Blentech was looking for a solution that would act as a “single source of the truth,” making critical product information searchable, easy to find, and reusable. Mr. Voit also had a vision of business-wide collaboration, connecting product development with downstream processes including manufacturing, sales, and customer support. For this reason, he mandated that its new PLM solution run on the Salesforce platform. This led to Blentech selecting Propel.

Not surprisingly, product value management (PVM) is a concept that resonates with Mr. Voit as he finds that it’s easy to lose sight of almost 70% of vital product information without a single source of truth to work from. His goal is to walk up to a machine, type in the serial number and know everything about it from design to manufacturing, sales and service (and everything in between) so that he can determine the true “value” of the product.

"Propel’s Product Value Management (PVM) platform is beyond compelling, it’s fundamentally essential to understand how our design impacts value."

^{Dan Voit, CEO of Blentech}

Mr. Voit says Blentech is not just a manufacturer of machines, “it is in the business of providing the capacity to produce safe and nutritious foods.” That may or may not include the sale of new machines, it might be the overhaul of a legacy machine—and to do that well, the company needs to know the full product history and any and all changes made along the way.

Propel's single source of truth significantly reduces costs and design lead time

Starting with documents, Blentech now stores parts, assemblies, and even software in the Propel solution. The goal, according to Mr. Voit, is to get “everything in there.” Initial results include an increase in design reuse based on standardized sub-assemblies from 10-20% to 50-60%, leading to a significant reduction in costs and design lead-times. In addition, an improvement in quality has resulted in onsite commissioning time being cut by at least 50%.

Next on the list is quality, compliance and CPQ (configure/price/quote). In parallel, Blentech is implementing a new ERP solution, also based on the Salesforce platform—another critical step in realizing its PVM vision.