Riri case study

Solid Edge
•
Teamcenter Express
Riri
Luxury fashion manufacturer uses PLM to synchronize
zipper and button development
Industry
Retail
Business challenges
Proliferation of product data
Keys to success
Solid Edge for design
innovation
Teamcenter Express for
quick and efficient document
retrieval
Integration of CAD and nonCAD data, including Word and
PDF files, in one database
A single data management
platform for all group
branches and subsidiaries
Programmed workflows to
automate product development processes
User authentication, access
restriction and role-based
functionality
With Teamcenter Express, Solid
Edge models and other product
data are immediately accessible
to all corporate departments;
Siemens PLM Software solutions
protect intellectual property
Premium fashion
Riri SA (Riri), a Swiss company founded in
1936, is a leading producer of high-quality
zippers used in clothing and apparel.
Enrico Matteazzi, R&D (research and development) manager of the company’s zipper
division, has no hesitation in calling Riri’s
product “the Rolls Royce of zippers.” This
statement is supported by the company’s
customer portfolio, which includes worldfamous fashion and luxury brands.
Riri expanded its product range in 2008
with the acquisition of Cobrax, a global
leader in metal buttons. As a result, the
company has become a group with 700
employees, three manufacturing sites (at
its headquarters in Mendrisio, Switzerland;
at the zipper division in Tirano, Italy; and
at the button division in Padua, Italy). It
also operates an Italian subsidiary in Milan
along with branch offices in Paris, Munich,
New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
During the peak season, Riri produces 70
kilometers (approximately 44 miles) of
finished zippers per day. With an annual
turnover equal to 70 million Euros, the
company manufactures zippers for differ-
Riri manufactures zippers and metal buttons.
ent types of products, from leather goods
to clothing, and from shoes to shoulder
gear. It also produces high-tech products
for special applications, including army
tents and survival equipment.
www.siemens.com/plm
Results
Accurate product information
accessible to all business
divisions
Design data leveraged for
use in sales, procurement,
customer service, production
planning and manufacturing
Intellectual property
protected
“The capabilities we needed
from Teamcenter Express –
data search and process
management – work as we
expected.”
Enrico Matteazzi
R&D Manager
Zipper Division
Riri SA
In the wake of its positive experience with Solid Edge,
Riri turned to Novasystem, a Siemens PLM Software
partner, to evaluate PDM solutions.
Teamcenter Express has been gradually extended to
other offices, from industrial engineering to quality,
with future integration plans involving sales and
manufacturing.
Proliferating documentation
Riri’s technical department designs and
develops its products, including leather
goods, clothes, shoes and outerwear, as
well as molds and tooling for plastic molding machines and Zamac casting equipment. All assembly, manufacturing and
quality control operations are performed
in-house. These are complemented by
external partners for different needs.
Customers are increasingly requiring their
own equipment for checking or applying
zippers to clothing, changing the nature of
the supplier-customer relationship.
“Today we have nine Solid Edge licenses,”
says Matteazzi. “As we added CAD (computer-aided design) workstations, we were
confronted with the proliferation of CAD
documents, in addition to a huge volume
of paper documents stored in our archives.
We realized that having each designer
manage his own documents was driving
the system to collapse.”
“Our product can be developed in two
ways,” explains Matteazzi. “The first
approach is internal brainstorming or input
from sales and partners. We identify an
interesting product and we move on with
feasibility studies, budget definition,
design and prototyping, and on to production and distribution. Alternatively, we get
a specific request from a customer, asking
to customize the zipper puller and/or
body.”
Riri had two requirements for its
PDM system: the ability to search
documents and correctly identify the
latest version, and to align documents
with the corresponding zipper, mold
and tooling.
The engineering process is a collaboration
between the technical and industrial engineering departments, and involves a team
of 12 people who are responsible for all
design stages, test-related documents,
verifications and approvals, and project
revisions – essentially the entire product
development cycle. This team is where the
company first implemented Solid Edge®
software from Siemens PLM Software.
The company identified two requirements:
first, a way to search documents and
correctly identify the latest version; and
second, the ability to align each document
with the corresponding zipper, mold and
tooling. The latter included linking CAD
documents to all non-CAD files related to
the same project, including standards,
requirements, datasheets and reports contained in different Word files and portable
document format (PDF) files.
Riri also needed to manage its development process more efficiently. “In a
company where roles, relationships and
strategies change, it is essential to rely on
systems that, through programmed workflows, automatically address the process
with one click, independently of the memory, attention and good will of individual
users,” Matteazzi recalls.
PDM – “Perfectly fit our requirements”
In the wake of its positive experience with
Solid Edge, Riri turned to Novasystem, a
Siemens PLM Software partner, to evaluate
possible product data management (PDM)
led us to equip our CAD stations with
Teamcenter Express licenses. The licenses
have also been extended to other offices,
from industrial engineering to quality,
with future integration plans for sales and
manufacturing as well.”
Riri’s technical department designs and develops
products, as well as molds and tooling for plastic
molding machines and Zamac casting equipment.
solutions. “When we were almost ready to
choose, it was announced that Siemens
PLM Software was about to launch
Teamcenter Express, the product lifecycle
management (PLM) solution for small and
medium businesses, which perfectly fit
our requirements,” Matteazzi says. “At that
point, we had to decide between a package developed to our specific needs and
requirements, or a solution directly supplied by Siemens: more standard but offering long-term stability. We went for the
second option, starting a process that has
At Riri, the engineering process is a collaboration
between the technical and industrial engineering
departments.
The Teamcenter Express implementation
started with a macro analysis of the business organization to identify all intervention areas. Initially, the company focused
on research and development.
“The capabilities we needed from
Teamcenter Express – data search and
process management – work as we
expected,” says Matteazzi. “It may seem
banal, but we have realized the great
value you get when you find and immediately recognize the correct information
and its status. Besides this, another useful
capability is bill of materials (BOM) management. We use fictitious items, which
have not been drawn yet, so that we can
handle samples and tests, keeping track of
all item codes from the very start. Another
benefit is assembly management based
on Teamcenter Express rules, such as
‘last designed’ or ‘last released’, for the
revision of each assembly. Finally, the
creation of CAD documents as PDF files is
maybe less impressive but very useful, as
all documents can be viewed by all departments, avoiding manual PDF printouts.
And of course, the PDF file is always consistent with the model’s latest version.”
Continuously improving
competitive position
The Siemens PLM Software tools currently
implemented in the engineering department will eventually be extended to other
business areas, including sales, procurement, customer service, production planning and manufacturing. “The second step
involves extending the access to data to
other users, who will also add their documents to the system. The issues of security
and privacy are very important for a company such as ours, which holds about 80
patents. Teamcenter Express offers all the
necessary capabilities for user authentica-
The tools currently implemented in the
engineering department will be
extended to other business areas,
including sales, procurement, customer
service, production planning and
manufacturing.
Riri uses Teamcenter Express to
manage projects and to link CAD
documents to all non-CAD files related
to the same project.
Solutions/Services
started the integration with the Milan
branch for customer service, and we are
evaluating the possibility of granting
access to our agents in the territory, provided we can guarantee suitable browsing
speeds and intellectual property
protection.”
Solid Edge
www.siemens.com/solidedge
Teamcenter Express
www.siemens.com/plm/
teamcenterexpress
Customer’s primary business
Riri SA produces luxury zippers
and buttons.
www.riri.com
Customer location
Mendrisio
Switzerland
Partner
Novasystem
“As we added CAD workstations, we were confronted
with the proliferation of CAD
documents. This problem
was solved effectively by
implementing Teamcenter
Express.”
Enrico Matteazzi
R&D Manager
Zipper Division
Riri SA
During the peak season the company produces
70 kilometers of finished zipper per day.
tion, access restriction and role-based
functionality.”
The expansion plan will also bring Siemens
PLM Software technology to all group subsidiaries. At present, Teamcenter Express is
up and running at the Tirano site, where
people can access data for browsing and
printing. “Once we have completed the
integration with other offices, we will
move out from the Mendrisio headquarters,” says Matteazzi. “We have already
Since the introduction of Solid Edge, Riri
has been collaborating with Novasystem,
which provides user training and configuration support services to the company.
“We worked side-by-side with Novasystem
during the initial analysis, installation and
commissioning,” Matteazzi notes. “Now we
have resumed intensive collaboration for
the second stage.”
“Helping an organization like Riri improve
its competitiveness is a challenge,” says
Graziano Bergonzi, technical sales manager in the PLM division of Novasystem.
“We are proud that we have been able
to help this customer respond to the
demands of a more complicated market,
and to create a solid database onto which
they are developing an extended platform
on a global scale.”
Siemens Industry Software
Americas
+1 800 807 2200
Europe
+44 (0) 1202 243455
Asia-Pacific +852 2230 3308
www.siemens.com/plm
© 2011 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. All rights reserved. Siemens and the Siemens logo are
registered trademarks of Siemens AG. D-Cubed, Femap, Geolus, GO PLM, I-deas, Insight, JT, NX, Parasolid, Solid Edge,
Teamcenter, Tecnomatix and Velocity Series are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle
Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other logos, trademarks,
registered trademarks or service marks used herein are the property of their respective holders.
Z4 26027 11/11 C