About the Customer
Grenzebach Maschinenbau GmbH is a family-owned company operating internationally, specializing in automation solutions for industrial processes. With innovative technology and decades of experience, Grenzebach delivers tailor-made systems for industries such as glass, construction, and intralogistics. The company combines tradition with progress – always focusing on its customers: efficient, on time, and with the highest quality.
Project Overview
As part of the implementation of SAP and Windchill, Grenzebach seized the opportunity to rethink its EPLAN data workflows. The goal was to replace a time-consuming Excel import process with a fully digital, automated, and bidirectional integration – establishing a solid foundation to handle customer projects faster, more transparently, and with maximum process reliability.
For our EPLAN-to-Windchill integration, we deliberately chose XPLM. The standardized solution gives us a robust, scalable, and
maintainable process landscape that enables us to meet our customers’ requirements quickly, precisely, and reliably.
Solution
Together with XPLM, Grenzebach implemented an integration that not only maps BOM structures but also meets the complex requirements of both workshop production and on-site customer installations.
- Properties and attributes defined in EPLAN automatically control the precise assignment of items to assemblies and their point of use.
- For each assembly, complete documents and filtered subassembly documents are generated, stored in Windchill, and then automatically transferred to SAP for procurement and production.
- Detailed manufacturing data — including aggregated lengths of identical items such as cables and DIN rails — is transferred to both ERP and PLM systems.
- A „build-status “ in Windchill clearly shows which positions were generated automatically and which were added manually — without the risk of overwriting manual entries.
Benefits
- Customer orders are executed efficiently, on time, and within budget – always maintaining Grenzebach’s proven quality.
- Assembly-oriented document and BOM management clearly shows which globally distributed engineering team is responsible for each plant module, enabling smooth coordination across sites and time zones.
- Progress logs and detailed BOM comparisons provide full transparency and give electrical engineers complete control throughout ongoing projects.
