Transport boxes | customX reference

Targets

To accelerate the construction of individual variants of the transport boxes and, at the same time, establish a connection between CAD and ERP that covers the entire business process. To enable inhouse maintenance of the system.

Implementation

After the employees had been trained, the set of rules was developed by cargopack and is now maintained internally, with the customX specialists providing advice if required. The next step is the connection to the ERP system.

Conclusion

After trials with individually programmed software and ERP software that were only partially successful, the decision was made for customX, which covers the entire business process. The engineering times for the individual boxes have been reduced by up to 80% and changes in the rulebook can be made quickly and flexibly by cargopack itself.

Endless Possibilities

Each product has different requirements regarding its packaging – boxes, pallets and skids can rarely be used for more than one product. The packaging varies greatly in dimensions, interior design and material, with an infinite number of possible variants. So what is the best way to manage such a high number of variants? Documents like drawings or bills of material have to be created for each individual packaging solution. cargopack tägi needed a software solution that would generate these documents quickly and reliably.

Getting Closer to the Perfect Solution

The company's initial thought was: No standard software can do this. We need a solution that is tailored to our specific needs. The software they had developed for them was indeed able to generate a bill of material, but that was about it. They also had to call in the external programmer whenever they wanted to implement changes. That was difficult because the programmer did not always have time for cargopack tägi and, additionally, only had a superficial understanding of the subject.

So maybe an ERP system would help them to manage their items? In fact, the software they now bought competently handled prices, quantities, delivery times and other accounting data and elegantly managed production times – but it was completely incapable of generating production documents.

In a third step they considered a CAD solution – when combining Autodesk AutoCAD and Inventor, they would be able to set a standard box and then edit it according to individual customer requirements. But would they be able to respond to customer requests fast enough?

Implementing Consistency with customX

When it came to choosing the right CAD consultant, cargopack tägi luckily chose Man and Machine. The CAD experts immediately realised that this was about more than just construction. What cargopack tägi needed was a universal solution that would automate their entire business process from recording the customer requirements right up to production and billing. They correctly saw that packaging solutions are not only modified standard boxes, but individual constructions that can be created based on certain rules. Once Man and Machine had introduced customX, Alois Mathis (CEO of cargopack tägi) and his colleagues knew right away: This was the solution they had been looking for. customX was able to connect CAD and ERP so that one fluent and consistent process could be achieved.

Small Rulebook for Endless Variants

The task was now to develop a set of rules that would systematically describe the variants of the different packaging types: board or panel box, pallet or skid, etc. After a few days of training, cargopack’s construction department could autonomously set up these rules within customX. They were able to reduce the number of parts to four: board, squared timber, slat and base. This way, the system stays clearly organized and is easy to manage. Occasional questions are answered quickly and competently by the customX hotline.

Today cargopack tägi manages all of their packaging solutions with customX and all required production documents are generated automatically. The team can change or edit the set of rules completely autonomously at any time. Alois Mathis, CEO of cargopack tägi, is thrilled, “customX offers all the functionalities we need and is really easy to handle. We can edit the set of rules without help and need no programming knowledge whatsoever. This makes it really easy for our engineers to develop new system designs with the corresponding rules. Now all that has to be done by sales or the end customer is to record the variable data. Also we love the interfaces customX offers for ERP and CNC software. At the moment, we are “only” using the CNC interface but the recording of data has already decreased by 50 % and all documents are error-free.”

Delivery times for customized products are also impressive now: cargopack tägi saves around 80 % of the time they needed before automatic variant construction. Most tailored solutions can be produced within 24 hours now. After customer requirements have been recorded, everything runs automatically at the push of the button: all documents are generated and transferred to wherever they are needed – error-free, of course.