Arden Software has rolled out its Impact 2010 CAD solution across twelve Mondi Corrugated Packaging plants as part of a project to integrate CAD and design workflow management throughout four countries. “At Mondi we are strongly committed to innovation that benefits our customers,” says Pierrick Vincelot, Mondi’s Product Innovation Manager for Europe. “The design of the packaging we make for them is a critical part of this and last year we decided that we needed a new solution that would combine Computer Aided Design (CAD) with enterprise-wide design workflow management across our twelve plants in Germany, Austria, Poland, and Turkey. The objectives behind this decision were to improve efficiency, increase productivity, offer our customers more product possibilities, and to retain our competitive edge.”
For its solution, Mondi turned to Arden Software. “There is no better CAD system for packaging than Impact 2010 from Arden Software,” says Pierrick Vincelot. “On top of this, Arden could offer fast, enterprise-wide CAD, a complete design workflow system with their WEBcnx system, and excellent support.”
Ambitious schedule
The initial challenge was to replace the variety of CAD systems used at the Mondi plants with Impact 2010 and to train the staff involved in its use. To minimize disruption, and to start gaining the benefits of Impact 2010 as quickly as possible, Mondi specified an ambitious roll out programme, one which challenged the supplier. “Over the final quarter of last year we installed Impact 2010 throughout the twelve plants, linked them together, and trained forty people to use the system,” explains Chris Rogers, General Manager of Arden Software. “Given that the installation and training had to be spread across four different countries, and that production still had to continue in each plant, it needed quite an effort on our behalf to deliver this. But once we commit to a roll out schedule then we will move heaven and earth to make it happen, and this project was no exception.”
Impact 2010 includes highly automated and very powerful features for structural design, product development, and 3D virtual prototyping. The system utilises a highly integrated database design that allows users to store projects and manage associated documents (such as customer specifications and artwork), control access, search and locate legacy designs, and track revisions. Impact performs strongly in all the commonly used network environments and supports SQL Server, MySQL, SQL Express, and Oracle databases.
Recognising that designers work in different ways, Chris Rogers says that Arden Software designed Impact 2010 so that it can be tailored to suit users’ ability level s and personal preferences. “We realise that any installation will have novice users as well as very experienced ones, and that every designer works in a slightly different way. That’s why the environment can be tailored to suit each designer’s preferences. Some of the other great strengths of Impact are its massive, and customisable, template library, its intelligent Layout Creator which minimises waste in the layout, its integrated graphics feature which marries structural and graphic elements perfectly, and its 3D Truview virtual proofer.” This latter element enables users to produce virtual packaging prototypes that are highly realistic, using virtual finishes such as foiling, embossing and de-bossing, Braille, varnish, and true board textures.
As a suite, the functions that Impact 2010 provides were key to Mondi’s decision. “The much more efficient tools that Impact offers completely superseded those of the various CAD systems that were used previously at Mondi Corrugated Packaging plants,” says Pierrick Vincelot.
Enterprise wide
The value of the data generated by Impact is greatly enhanced if it can be readily accessed by business management and ERP systems across an organisation or enterprise, and it is this that Arden Software are currently implementing as phase two of the project for Mondi. “Harnessing the full power of the Impact database means users can maximise their investment and this allows them to make vital information accessible to anyone who needs it, whenever and wherever they need it,” explains Chris Rogers. “Put simply, our Impact Enterprise Services product means that a single, centralised Impact database can be accessed from multiple remote locations without the network performance issues that often make such a configuration impractical.” Chris Rogers says that if network connectivity is lost for some reason (which does happen, even in Europe), the service is designed to automatically resume communication once the network is available again. “This means that Impact Enterprise Services delivers the flexibility, performance, and availability of site or hub databases, together with the centralised management of a single, enterprise database. It’s something that no other system on the market can offer.”
Total workflow management
The third phase of the project, due to start in the autumn, is to implement Arden Software’s WEBcnx design workflow management system at the twelve Mondi plants. WEBcnx is a system built to integrate all of the packaging design and pre‐production processes in a business, allowing users to run at peak efficiency. “We understand that, for maximum production efficiency, design information needs to be available in real time to the many people involved in the manufacturing process,” explains Chris Rogers. “They might be on the same site, across town, or thousands of miles away. By making real time access central to its operation, WEBcnx frees businesses from the slow, unreliable, and error prone serial processing of orders, allowing estimators, designers, sample makers, tool suppliers, artwork originators, plate makers, ink mixers, and anyone else involved in the production process, to get on with their part of the job at the earliest possible moment in the order life cycle.”
WEBcnx integrates totally with Impact 2010, and allows packaging manufacturers to automate a variety of design and administrative tasks from quotation requests to client approvals. “WEBcnx is highly customisable and task-driven,” says Chris Rogers. “It not only bridges the gap between sales and design, but goes on to all the people involved in the production process, giving designers more time to design and reducing the order processing errors that can creep in if you use separate systems for sales, design, and production.” As an example he cites a manufacturer who delivered an order for 700,000 sheets to a customer, only to discover it should have been 70,000. “A transcription error crept in between sales and design. That sort of thing would not have happened if they were using WEBcnx.”
The WEBcnx system is independent of both browser and operating systems, and its intuitive dashboard can also be run on devices such as BlackBerry’s, iPhones, iPads, and other hand held devices. “Users can also give their customers access to the system for file uploads, comparison quotes, and approvals,” explains Chris Rogers. “Because it is so customisable, you can almost do what you want with it. Mondi plan to use the powerful plug-in architecture of WEBcnx to interface it with their own custom in-house systems.”
A partner to rely on
Chris Rogers says that Mondi Corrugated Packaging sees Arden Software as a highly reliable business partner, at a time when continuity of supply is a key issue for packaging manufacturers and their customers. “We are a good fit for Mondi. We’re a stable supplier, having been under the same ownership since we were established nearly 25 years ago. Add to this our philosophy of working with and constantly talking to our customers, our excellent support, our local offices and our commitment to innovation, and you can see that we work very much like Mondi. It makes us unique in the marketplace as a software systems supplier.”
The support that Arden Software will give Mondi Corrugated Packaging has been further strengthened by the establishment late last year of subsidiaries in Germany and Austria. This initiative followed on from the success of Arden Software North America which had been established in 2009(??). Operating from offices in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany and Fredericia, Denmark respectively, Arden Software Germany and Arden Software Scandinavia offer a full and comprehensive range of sales and services for Impact and the other products in Arden Software’s rapidly expanding portfolio, including WEBcnx and Enterprise.
“The key thing for us,” says Pierrick Vincelot, “is that we can rely on Arden. We know that Impact 2010, Impact Enterprise Services and WEBcnx will streamline our processes, cut lead times, and make a larger range of products available to our customers. It will be good for us and good for our customers.”
March 2011
