AutoForm News

September 16, 2010

AutoForm and SEAT – Working Jointly Towards a Cost-Optimized Process Plan

AutoForm Engineering, the leading supplier of software solutions for the sheet metal forming industry, has announced a new project in collaboration with SEAT. The two companies are working together to evaluate AutoForm’s new solution for a cost-optimized process plan called AutoForm-ProcessPlanner. The unique features combined in this easy-to-use and efficient software solution, have been widely accepted at SEAT.

AutoForm Engineering and SEAT decided to share their knowledge and practical experience in the process planning field by evaluating AutoForm’s new software solution for a cost-optimized process plan. SEAT joined the collaborative project based on the experience in this field gained from multiple car projects for parts already in production. In order to become more familiar with AutoForm-ProcessPlanner and explore its benefits in daily practice, various process plans from previous car projects were defined. In addition, reports were created by AutoForm-ReportManager.

AutoForm-ProcessPlanner: Process plan of a stamping part for SEAT’s new Ibiza model.

AutoForm-ProcessPlanner in combination with AutoForm-ReportManager demonstrated immediate benefits during the evaluation at SEAT. Its unique features enable the rapid and transparent definition of cost-optimized process plans. In this way, users can rapidly evaluate different process alternatives and gain insight into related costs. A cost-optimized process plan ensures the production of quality parts at a low total cost. AutoForm-ReportManager enables the easy and rapid creation of reports that are used for comprehensible internal and external communication. The results obtained during this evaluation phase were convincing enough to SEAT’s team that they decided to apply the same procedure for the stamping parts of the new car model of the Ibiza, which is currently in production. The expert team could quickly and easily define process plans for quotation purposes and prepare comprehensible and transparent reports.

The experts from the Feasibility and Simulation department share the opinion that AutoForm-ProcessPlanner in combination with AutoForm-ReportManager will be a perfect basis for the process plan definition at SEAT. Ms. Pilar Soler, Manager of the Feasibility and Simulation department at SEAT, explains: ”AutoForm-ProcessPlanner can be the solution which helps us to rapidly, efficiently and in addition unambiguously define process plans for quotation purposes. This is a tool which follows AutoForm’s ease-of-use philosophy. For this reason, it could be readily implemented by our team which is made up of experts in using AutoForm software in the field of process definition.” Ms. Soler pointed out: “Collaborating with AutoForm Engineering now, we will succeed in achieving software which meets our specific requirements and significantly and particularly helps us in the process planning phase.”