The fast route to a quotation

In the quotation phase, work preparation and purchasing face a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, quotations have to be prepared as quickly as possible on the basis of the customer's BoM. On the other hand, preparing the BoM, assigning the company's own part numbers and validating the data set are time-consuming tasks. Customers often already regard the preparation of their proprietary data formats as part of the service. This work costs time and money. And if no order follows, this investment was completely wasted. In this phase, it is therefore important to reach the goal as quickly and reliably as possible.

What are the problems?

There is no standard for the layout data of a PCB. The BoM can arrive in any file format with any structure. In addition, different notations and units are often used for the individual values. This customer BoM now has to be prepared for the company's own use, and the part numbers from the company's own article master have to be assigned. Only on this basis is costing possible at all. When an order is placed, at the latest, the data must also be validated thoroughly. The completeness of the data is checked by comparing the coordinate file, the BoM and the assembly plan. Inconsistencies have to be clarified with the customer. Corrections may be sent in the form of a modified BoM.

These changes have to be identified, checked and incorporated into the existing data set. The part numbers of changed components may also need updating. In some cases, several sets of changes are even necessary before all queries have been resolved. If the customer does not mark these changes clearly, finding all the modifications is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The whole process can be very time-consuming and protracted before a correct data set is available for production. However, these checks are also absolutely necessary to avoid surprises later in the production process that could hamper production.

LEBERT Software Engineering from Hanau offers a solution concept for these requirements that is geared entirely to practice: its EFA SmartSuite software. The modular overall concept offers targeted solutions along the entire production process. The EFA Processing application is designed for use in work preparation and supports the work steps required there. EFA ERP provides the connection to the article database of the ERP system.

Fast import of customer data with EFA

The principle could hardly be simpler: in EFA, the customer data is combined into a single project. Every additional or modified list is also integrated into this project. A wide range of innovative functions can be used at every step of the processing.

In the quotation phase, only the BoM is integrated. The format and structure of these BoMs are almost irrelevant for importing. Even “exotic” lists can be edited quickly and easily in EFA. The functions are specifically geared to the particular requirements of BoMs.

Part number assignment with intelligent search

Using the EFA ERP module, the right part number can now be searched for in the company's own article master directly from the imported customer BoM. EFA automatically takes the component description from the BoM and interprets the individual values to suit the component being searched for. The order of the individual details within the component description plays no role, nor do the notation or units of the respective values. With automatic interpretation – of both the customer BoM and the company's own article master – part numbers can be assigned in a fraction of the time currently required. The time saved here is at least 50% – users even report time savings of up to 80%. “Preparing the BoM and searching for the right part number used to take me 2 hours. With EFA, the job is done in just 15 minutes!”

Making changes to BoMs visible

If the customer sends a revised BoM, it can be integrated into the existing EFA project. Differences from the previous BoM are highlighted in colour and are therefore immediately visible without searching. “With the colour markings of the BoM changes, I always have a good overview of what my customer has changed,” is the users' verdict. If the changes also affect the assigned part number, EFA ERP indicates which components need to be checked or reassigned. If an order is placed, the coordinate file and the assembly plan are added to the existing EFA project. Further modified BoMs can also be integrated at any time.

The coordinate data and the BoM are compared automatically. EFA points out missing data, for example, so that the customer can then be consulted. Various display options make it possible to compare the assembly plan with the data. Components with the same part number or the same package can be displayed together in one overview. An incorrectly stored rotation angle is recognisable at a glance in this overview. Incorrect packages, missing components or other anomalies in the drawing can also be spotted quickly and easily.

Data preparation for production

The validated and corrected data can be exported specifically for production. The EFA project provides a central, standardised interface to production that can supply all production steps with the same up-to-date data set. The customer data therefore only has to be processed once, and changes only have to be integrated in one place – the EFA project. The EFA Viewer makes it possible to display the EFA project from any workstation in production.

With special applications for production, semi-automatic inspections can also be carried out with the existing EFA project. First articles and small batches can thus be inspected quickly and easily with augmented reality inspection (ARI for short). In addition to time savings of up to 85%, this type of inspection also significantly increases inspection quality.

Chancellor Merkel has already seen this for herself. She visited the best of the Industry 4.0 Award and, during her visit to Siemens in Amberg, took a look at the ARI system.

The user at the centre of software development

EFA SmartSuite is a user-friendly software solution designed from practice for practice. The development of EFA SmartSuite is guided by the experience and wishes of its users and puts them at the heart of the software concept. In this way, individual applications have grown into the complete EFA SmartSuite solution, which can provide lasting support for an EMS provider's entire production process, from the quotation phase through work preparation to production.