Automation of Product Information Management Brought Clarity and Efficiency to Ekeri’s Operations

Ekeri is a Finnish family-owned company, founded in 1945. In the 1950s, the company began building its first truck bodies, followed by its first trailers in the 1960s. Since the late 1970s, Ekeri has been developing and producing side-opening transport units, and today it is the leading supplier of these solutions in Europe.

Ekeri, a manufacturer of heavy-duty trailers and truck superstructures, addressed operational and communication challenges through automation of product information management and business processes. The company integrated the Sovelia Core PLM and Configurator systems into its operations, improving design, production, and information flow. These solutions reduced manual work and enhanced process accuracy.  

The Finnish family-owned company, Ekeri, serves a broad international customer base, especially in the Nordic countries and Central Europe, where durable and high-quality transport solutions are crucial due to varying weather conditions.

In the logistics industry, Ekeri is particularly known for its side-opening trailers, which have gained popularity due to their versatility. These side-opening transport solutions, developed by Ekeri, significantly facilitate, accelerate, and streamline the loading and unloading of all types of cargo. Ekeri aimed to achieve the same ease, speed, and efficiency when they started to improve and automate their business processes. 

Trailers and truck superstructures at the core of Ekeri’s operations  

At Ekeri, product design is a multi-stage and technically demanding process that must consider

• the special characteristics of the transported goods,
• loading and unloading requirements,
• operating conditions,
• and factors related to legislation, safety, and the environment.

Well-designed and thoroughly tested products ensure flawless functionality and safety.

Since multiple people participate in the design process, efficient information flow is crucial. When a project involves customer-specific customisation, timely resource availability is essential, and flexibility in the design process is necessary to accommodate changes without delays or additional costs.

Manual steps as a challenge in design and production  

Before implementing Sovelia, Ekeri faced challenges due to the high volume of manual work in various stages of the design process. Additionally, partial inaccuracy in component lists (BOM) and item data caused delays in information flow between design and production.

BOMs and items created in CAD software could not be directly integrated into the ERP system, requiring manual maintenance. Some components were difficult to manage because they lacked unique identifiers.

These challenges sometimes led to delays and increased error risks in Ekeri's design and production processes. Inaccurate material quantities caused problems in inventory management and material requirement planning, potentially leading to either excessive inventory or material shortages.

To address these challenges, it became necessary to develop a more unified and automated product information management process.

Sovelia improved Ekeri’s design process and information flow  

Ekeri needed a solution that would reduce manual work and enhance information flow and product data management. The company selected Symetri’s Sovelia Core PLM and Sovelia Configurator systems, enabling seamless data transfer between different systems. 

One of the key benefits of Sovelia Core PLM is real-time information management. As a result, Sovelia Core now serves as Ekeri’s master system, centralising all drawings and technical data. 

BOM material quantities are now based on actual design specifications instead of averages, improving material demand forecasting.

Sovelia Configurator was integrated with Ekeri’s sales configurator, ensuring that customer-selected features are automatically transferred to Sovelia Configurator, which then generates a 3D CAD assembly in the 3D CAD system. This process is carried out module by module, allowing the designer to decide whether to create the chassis or the superstructure next.

The 3D model created in the CAD system allows real-time structural verification, ensuring that all components are correctly positioned and that the structure meets technical requirements. This ensures that the "what you see is what you get" principle is maintained before publishing the assembly in Sovelia Core PLM. 

Sovelia Configurator also accelerates documentation creation and eliminates the need for manual data entry into the ERP system, thereby reducing the risk of errors.

Sovelia Configurator tailored for Ekeri’s needs

Since product design is a multi-stage process that considers numerous technical and customer-specific requirements, Sovelia Configurator at Ekeri is divided into different areas that collectively enable smooth product customisation. These areas include the chassis configurator and the superstructure configurator.

• Chassis configurator: Receives customer-specific selections from the sales configurator and assigns components to the chassis. The structures are then published in Sovelia, ensuring that all necessary parts and features are correctly placed and that the product progresses properly in the design phase.
    
• Superstructure configurator: Processes the customer’s selected features and determines the dimensioned components for the body structure. It ensures that all components are correctly defined and transferred to Sovelia. By dividing the configurator into separate modules, the process remains clear and manageable, with each part having a well-defined position.