A medical-equipment manufacturer says efficiently managing its design data lets it complete tasks in hours that take days at other firms. To help the 42 employees manage thousands of drawings, the manufacturer uses engineering data management (EDM) software Adept from Synergis Data Management Inc., Quakertown, Pa. (synergis.com) “EDM cuts manpower and errors, and speeds production,” says Steve Marinella, President, AeroSpec Inc., (aerospecinc.com). “What's more, daily reports from the EDM give managers an idea how to improve the workflow. It's important to know if we have a bottleneck. Adept helps me find such areas and open them up,” he says.

“The equipment we build makes devices such as pacemakers, catheters, stents, and staplers. As soon as such a product passes review, it's a race for us to see how fast we can make the machine that will mass-produce them. Almost every part of the company benefits from access to engineering documents and data,” he adds.

Several factors led to the purchase of Adept. First, it doesn't encrypt documents or change file names, which make them easier to locate and back up. The software's user-interface reduces learning time, and a built-in viewer lets the staff access documents and collaborate without a license for the CAD software. And lastly, nonCAD users can obtain prints, which frees engineers from clerical work.