Product Lifecycle Management is less about the actual technology and more about business process transformation. Therefore, before moving forward with any PLM implementation, experts believe it is imperative for companies to identify and understand the key pain points and business problems they are actually trying to resolve by undertaking a PLM deployment.“Most Indian manufacturing companies need to make adoption and application of PLM solutions a practice that is as necessary to them as managing their materials and finances, which get their due through implementation of ERP solutions. In fact, with a proper implementation of PLM solutions, manufacturing companies stand to gain heavily on the savings of resources such as time, material and quality,” says Ajay Deshkar, CEO, 3D Engineering. Headquartered in Pune, the company is one of the leading PLM implementation partners.

Today many PLM implementations fail to live up to their promise of helping businesses manage their product-related information across lifecycles, supply chains, and value chains. This leads to disappointment among companies with the returns on their PLM investments following implementation. 3D engineering ensures that the implementation of PLM solutions is done in a defined method through a partnership approach to ensure return of investment by their customers. Some of the value added solutions from 3D Engineering are Customized training and implementation service, Design Audits post implementation, Implementation of industry best practices and Token based post support service with customer centric approach. Competition is an inherent part of a business and 3D Engineering welcomes competition as it helps 3D Engineering in keeping themselves updated when faced against one. Today the company is one of the leading PLM solutions providers in West and South India.

Leveraging Domain Knowledge
PLM solution providers face challenges due to lack of domain knowledge for implementation of solutions. In addition, they have to deal with retention of manpower in the dynamic industry while striving to meet post implementation expectations. 3D Engineering is promoted by Ajay Deshkar and Rahul Sanap, Director, who themselves have had previous experience of manufacturing and have ensured that there is knowledge transfer to the evolving teams so that the customer gets an implementation partner who is domain expert. The senior team members of 3D Engineering have been the strength of the company. They have ensured a closely knit atmosphere that has a very low manpower movement as compared to the industry. The implementation systems of 3D Engineering ensure that the support expectations are fulfilled with a very high level of customer satisfaction. With an aim to provide the customers with the best in class PLM tools, 3D Engineering associates itself with world leaders in CAD, CAM, CAE, PLM, DM & RPT technologies.

3D Engineering gives an enterprising work place to its team members. Most senior members are given an entrepreneurial platform that allows them to plan their work like a business owner with handsome variable pays that performers get. It is a well-established fact that competition helps to keep companies on their toes. The nimbleness of 3D Engineering combined with the customer centric approach that it adopts helps them win over their competitions, on most occasions. 3D Engineering has won several recognitions and accolades in their 18-year-old service to manufacturing industry. A testimony to the efficacy of their implementation and support services is the high renewal rate of maintenance of support services. The key factors that brings in commitment to quality for 3D Engineering customers are Eagerness to support, Cost competitiveness, Quality of Delivery, Flexible yet defined methods, Scaling to customer expectation, Domain knowledge and Service level agreements with key customers.

A Unique Partnership Approach
3D Engineering has a unique portfolio. Its Siemens Design and PLM Solutions combined with Ansys CAE solutions have created a vast customer base in West and South India. “Our unique partnership approach helps clients choose 3D Engineering over the other players. PLM solutions from most vendors have a marginal difference as they keep surpassing each other over technologies, though Siemens and ANSYS have an edge over others in the product solutions they bring to the manufacturing world. The unique proposition provided by 3D Engineering helps us win over competition,” shares Ajay.

Siemens PLM defines a Value Delivery Methodology (VDM) for its implementation and 3D Engineering helps their enterprise customers in getting this implementation methodology delivered. The methodology implemented by 3D Engineering is in line with the definition of implementation by Siemens and involves following stages: Pre-align, Align, Plan, Build, Test, Deploy and Close.

3D Engineering team members are trusted advisors to their customers. The team at 3D Engineering works as consultants, advisors and work in education and training of the customer at all levels. The support mechanism gives the customer a comfort that is unmatched in the industry. The engagement level for enterprise clients is even more intertwined with the various levels of the customer teams. 3D Engineering members make all levels of their enterprise customer aware of the expectations they should have from the solutions being implemented. Enterprise solutions deliver different benefits to senior management, middle level management and executive levels of a manufacturing concern. 3D Engineering ensures that there is an engagement at all levels during the definition stage and through the support; the reviews of the implementation are defined to measure the progress of implementation.

As a result 3D Engineering provides several benefits to the customer including - Reduction in design cycle times, Reduction of rejections on shop floor, Better integration of design and manufacturing functions, Improved productivity of design departments, Bringing in accountability to the design function, Design optimization and reduction of field failures, Reduction in development costs and Increase in profitability through the savings.

Flexible and Customized Training
3D Engineering also provides training solutions that can transform the process of educating the staff. The company’s training solutions enable enterprises to derive increased productivity and lower overall implementation costs. 3D Engineering’s commitment to flexible and customized training provides its customers with a choice of training services that can be leveraged to fit the diverse needs of the user base. All of its learning solutions are completely scalable, providing tools that can assess and address the training needs of a single user or the diverse requirements of an entire enterprise. The company specializes in assessing training needs, designing, developing, delivering, administering and even evaluating corporate training solutions. Blending technology with traditional methods, its customized training solutions are capable of strengthening the knowledge base in an organization.

Ensuring Fast ROI
An icing on the cake is the Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing portfolio that 3D Engineering combines. This emerging technology helps 3D Engineering keep themselves several steps ahead with their peers in the industry. 3D Engineering is the distributor of EOS GmbH, a company that has been on the forefront of Additive Manufacturing of Plastics and Metals. This unique proposition helps 3D Engineering to provide solutions from concept to product development.

Bringing strategic partnerships that are crucial for the product development process of their clients is the path 3D Engineering has embarked on. While doing so, the company is moving ahead with a vision of ensuring fast ROI for customer and scaling new heights of business. “Consolidating on its leadership position in the PLM and Additive Manufacturing world and establishing strongly as a Simulation solution provider shall be the key factors for 3D Engineering over the next three to five years. Since the time 3D Engineering reached annual sales of Rs 5 Crores seven years ago, we have crossed the 50 Crore barrier last year, growing over 10 times in seven years. We are hoping to double that in the next three years,” envisions Ajay.