ISA GROUP: Watch Movements Keep Time with PLM

With 2,000 employees and producing 55 million quartz watch movements a year, ISA Group is ranked 4th in the world in its sector. The company was founded in Switzerland in 1959 and is now present in France, China and Mauritius. It provides parts for leading watch brands, both for mass production and top-of-the-range models. In a bid to increase productivity, ISA Group chose MDTVISION to help implement a PLM solution.

?MDTVISION presented us with a complete PLM solution and showed us the benefits it could offer.? Franck Pividor ISA Group CAD Manager for Europe

PLM: A Key Step for ISA Group

ISA Group has worked with EUCLID 2D software for about ten years. ?We needed to enhance our productivity and reduce time-to-market to keep up with international competition. We decided to acquire a scalable 3D product that is tailored to our sector,? explains Franck Pividor, ISA Group CAD Manager for Europe. The company began testing CATIA and other CAD software in 2000 with the aid of MDTVISION. The tests proved CATIA?s efficiency in its field, prompting ISA Group to acquire it, combined with SmarTeam for product data management. ?MDTVISION presented us with a complete PLM solution and showed us the benefits it could offer,? adds Franck Pividor.

A High Value-Added Business Process Approach

At the beginning of 2003, MDTVISION began to install and deploy CATIA and SmarTeam at three of ISA Group?s European sites. Users were trained and specific developments were implemented, particularly for cutting tools that would come later. ?MDTVISION studied our working practices and proposed a solution that perfectly meets the specific needs of our business. Included in their proposal and integrated into CATIA was Tellwach software from Swiss watch-making specialists Polysoft Consulting. This business process approach was a key factor in our decision,? explains Franck Pividor.

Fewer Errors and Prototypes

Parts are designed in Switzerland and manufactured in France using specialized equipment, while watch movements are assembled in China and Mauritius. The vast distance between sites increases the risk of error. On a mass production market such as for watch movements, errors sometimes have significant consequences: manufacturing the wrong product has a direct impact on costs and lead times. A 3D tool allowing numerous simulations and an efficient data management system reduce errors and the number of prototypes needed before marketing the product. ?PLM enables us to improve our processes through collaborative work and to rectify errors caused by cultural or linguistic misunderstandings,? says Franck Pividor.

Sites in Europe and China will eventually share a single database. Workflows will ensure and support validation processes, as well as distribution to the different ISA Group sites.