PROJECTS

WIND TURBINE ENGINEERING

Compared with other branches of industry, the wind energy sector is relatively young. It is undergoing increasing industrialisation. Complete subassemblies or parts were missing on the building site. That led to delays for erection and commissioning. The reasons for this were the ambiguous responsibilities in the area of parts lists maintenance, inadequate mapping of the product structure and variants logic plus separation between CAD/PDM and ERP systems.

Client: Company in wind energy sector > 200 employees

Branch: Wind turbine engineering

Topic: Overall IT concept, product modularisation, organisation/configuration of parts lists

Situation: The relatively straightforward variance in wind turbines is not fully reflected in the systems. These days, only four parameters are needed in order to configure a wind turbine sufficiently accurately. The ERP parts list was in a non-configurable/non-processable form and there was no consistent overall concept for the “zero-redundancy conversion/transfer of product structures”. The ERP parts list concept was not geared to the needs of the future. No decision had yet been made as to whether neutral serial production or project-specific MTO would be mapped in the ERP. The topic of change management along the CAD-PDM-ERP chain had also not been addressed.

Brief:

• Compilation of a detailed concept for product structuring/configuration plus data consistency along the CAD-PDM-ERP chain
• Survey in the form of interviews, analysis of weaknesses/potential, demonstration of specific requirements for action
• Example of how to ascertain the product structure of a wind turbine, including product/configuration logic
• Revising the product structure and variants logic
• Prototype-style mapping of the wind turbine, initially in a configuration engine (consultancy tool)
• Mapping of structure and logic in the ERP system using the options within the project module, i.e. configuration of projects

Result:

• Configurable product structure to suit assembly needs
• Documented product logic, including internal and external assembly logic
• Prototype-style mapping of the wind turbine using the existing ERP system
• Basis for expansion and roll-out of this approach for other types of turbine
• Flawless master structures geared to assembly and configuration (“Queen Bee”)