Project Background

Hunan Sute Automation Co., Ltd., as a member of GEFA—a well-known European industrial control company—focuses on investment and development in the field of fluid and pipeline control. The company provides global fluid control solutions to help customers enhance production efficiency and energy utilization. It has independently developed the SE series of electro-pneumatic positioners and the SD series of smart positioners, both of which have received widespread acclaim in the market.

To accelerate technological innovation and advance core technologies—and thereby better meet the demands of the global market—the company has established subsidiaries and R&D/manufacturing centers in the UK, Sweden, and China. Leveraging its extensive channel resources and localized advantages accumulated over years in valves and pipelines, the company has rapidly achieved strong sales performance and an excellent market reputation for its valves and positioners in industries such as pulp and paper, chemicals, oil & gas, energy, and metallurgy.

Project Objectives Achieved

Through the implementation of the PLM system, the project team systematically reviewed and optimized Hunan Sute’s business operations and design & development processes. Centered on data management, document management, process management, change management, and knowledge management, the team established standardized and normalized data practices to ensure the completeness, accuracy, and consistency of product and business data. This has effectively reduced product costs, improved R&D efficiency, and ultimately enabled integrated R&D and manufacturing, full product lifecycle management, and product modularization.

The PLM implementation has realized comprehensive product data management, coding management, and knowledge management. Additionally, it established associated supporting resource databases, achieving enterprise-wide standardization and normalization of all data.

With the PLM system in place, centralized control of R&D technical documentation has been achieved, and the printing and distribution of technical documents are now uniformly driven by system-provided data sources.

Through on-site investigations and blueprint design conducted by the PLM project team, the Sipu implementation team developed a precise, holistic business process model tailored specifically for Hunan Sute.

Product Management

Following the implementation of the PLM system, product modularization and standardized, normalized R&D design processes have been successfully achieved. An efficient modular product design architecture has been established, effectively fulfilling Hunan Sute’s functional requirements for component-level design management. This has significantly enhanced overall design efficiency and management capabilities.

BOM Management

Upon implementation, standardization of BOM management has been achieved, ensuring that design data flows and BOMs are systematically and orderly managed within the PLM system. This enhances overall operational efficiency and data accuracy, ensuring smooth and efficient information flow during the product development and manufacturing processes.

The electronic document management for product design, centered around the BOM, allows for the rapid indexing of any node (component) within the product structure, along with its associated 3D model diagrams and other technical file information, based on the BOM navigation provided internally by the system.

BOM Manager Administration

Component Management

The system enables electronic management of components, significantly reducing the confusion caused by "multiple part numbers for a single item" and "multiple items sharing one part number," thereby greatly improving management accuracy and efficiency.Additionally, the system provides direct retrieval functionality linking each component to its associated drawings and technical documents, offering users a more convenient way to access information.Moreover, the system offers comprehensive management of component change history, ensuring full traceability of changes and standardized change control processes.

Design Drawing and Document Management

The system enables both individual and batch uploading of drawings and documents, allowing users to accurately store files in their corresponding management directories. It supports establishing associations between documents and components based on the mapping between electronic file names and internal component codes within the system.Standardized document templates are created within the system, which users can directly invoke. Upon invocation, the system automatically launches the appropriate authoring software to facilitate the creation of drawings and documents, enabling reference-based design across related files.

Document Template Management

Coding Management

Through this implementation, encoders have been established in the system for various objects—including products, components, and technical documents—enabling effective coding management across all entities.

This approach effectively prevents the occurrence of "multiple codes for a single item" and eliminates the problem of "multiple items sharing one code," ensuring the uniqueness of materials. It also avoids redundant design and procurement of materials.

Encoder Management

Design Software Integration Management

Through design software interface management, the business data flow between 3D design software and the PLM system has been seamlessly connected, enabling smooth integration of design data between the two systems. Relevant material information is automatically extracted from the design software via the interface.

By integrating with 3D design software, the system can extract components and BOMs directly through the software interface, establishing and managing associations among components, digital models, engineering drawings, and BOMs.

Integration of 3D Design Software with PLM

PDF Factory

By implementing refined approval and review workflows for design drawings and Office documents, an electronic signature mechanism for technical documents and drawings has been established. This optimizes traditional signing and approval processes and effectively reduces enterprise operational costs.Additionally, it significantly enhances document security and lays a solid foundation for advancing the company’s paperless office initiative.

Document-to-PDF Conversion and Electronic Signing

Product Data Services System

Through implementation, the system now enables on-the-fly generation and viewing of PDF shadow files for retrieved documents, significantly enhancing document handling convenience.It also supports sending, receiving, and viewing messages, greatly facilitating seamless connectivity between shop-floor operations and PLM applications, ensuring comprehensive PLM coverage across all business areas of the enterprise.Furthermore, the system provides a to-do list with browsing and selective processing capabilities. Users can view relevant data (excluding files) associated with pending tasks and add comments or approvals directly within the list, thereby fulfilling diverse mobile office requirements within the PLM environment.

Knowledge Management

Through implementation, a knowledge base framework has been established within the system’s knowledge management module. Content is categorized by type and managed with role-based access controls, and the knowledge base is continuously enriched through ongoing additions of experience summaries and accumulated insights.

Knowledge Base Management

Change Management

After the implementation of the SIPM/PLM system, all change management activities are now fully executed within the PLM system. This ensures that only one unique version of data exists after each change. Every change is governed by a rigorous approval workflow, with complete process records automatically maintained. Change history is systematically archived, making all changes explicit, traceable, and fully auditable.

Process Management

This implementation has established standardized workflows and introduced an electronic review and approval mechanism, eliminating previous issues caused by manual errors or omissions. It has paved the way for a paperless office environment.

Review and Approval Workflow Management

Summary:

Data standardization is an indispensable step in enterprise digital transformation and a prerequisite for entering the data-driven era. Every organization’s data governance journey is unique, requiring careful consideration of its specific organizational structure, culture, environment, and available resources.

Successful experiences cannot be simply replicated. Leveraging SIPM’s professional services and accumulated expertise, companies no longer need to start data standardization from scratch. Instead, they can build upon proven foundations—standing on the shoulders of others—to avoid redundant efforts, gain broader perspectives, and achieve greater and more sustainable progress.

The key to successful data management lies in establishing a rational and effective organizational structure and supporting processes. Therefore, organizations should place greater emphasis on building the necessary governance frameworks and workflows that ensure high-quality data management. SIPM/PLM embodies the core principles of R&D management—from design through production—and perfectly reflects Hunan Sute’s holistic approach to digital transformation, providing a robust foundation for the company’s ongoing growth and development.