Accelerating Product Development Across the Globe
Company Size
200-1,000
Region
- Africa
- America
- Asia
Country
- South Africa
- Taiwan
- United States
Product
- Arena PLM
Tech Stack
- Cloud PLM
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Customer Satisfaction
- Digital Expertise
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Product Lifecycle Management Systems (PLM)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Renewable Energy
- Telecommunications
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Remote Collaboration
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
H2 PowerTech provides industry-leading reformer, hydrogen production, and advanced fuel cell technology along with product research and development services. Their fuel cell products offer a direct replacement for traditional power generators and provide their customers with economic and environmental benefits. By helping to commercialize fuel cell systems as an alternative and sustainable energy option for telecommunication companies, H2 PowerTech enables these companies to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint across the globe.
The Challenge
Opening a new site in South Africa has H2 PowerTech product teams working around the clock. The company has three locations in different time zones. Research and development is located in Bend, Oregon, while manufacturing and test take place in the new facility in South Africa and in Taiwan, which also provides design engineering. Before opening the South Africa location, H2 PowerTech also had a site in Mexico. At that time, collaborating around the latest product design information in real time was a challenge, as product information was managed in spreadsheets and not easily searchable. Designing and tracing items and part number information was performed using an antiquated system and Microsoft file structure that lacked revision control. Adding to the complexity, a single H2 PowerTech fuel cell product can contain over 2,000 parts with multiple circuit boards with firmware and hardware working together. This requires interoperability between systems and increases the probability that something may go wrong. It was difficult for engineers to identify issues early on which often led to late-stage scrap and rework. H2 PowerTech wanted to remove setbacks associated with product information being hidden in various silos and ensure communication and accuracy across all their locations.
The Solution
Based on previous experience using product lifecycle management (PLM) software, the team at H2 PowerTech set out to adopt a new PLM solution to establish a centralized product record where information could be easily searched. They selected Arena PLM because it was cloud-based which meant it would be easy to implement across their various sites, scalable, and cost-effective. “Arena checked off all the boxes we were looking for in a PLM solution,” stated Alex Charney Cohen, Senior Manufacturing Development Engineer for H2 PowerTech. Purchasing, design engineering, manufacturing engineering, quality, and management teams access the Arena PLM system and have visibility into once-siloed data. “Having data in a global system is super important for our team in Taiwan so we’re aware of the work they’re doing and we can collaborate more easily,” stated Charney Cohen. Taiwan and South Africa can now securely access the most current product design information from Oregon’s R&D center at any time and be confident that it is always accurate. Furthermore, Arena provides a secure, role-based access model for key team members to access and review parts, bills of materials (BOMs), product documentation, and quality processes based on individuals’ roles.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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