At the internationally active machine builder Komptech, trisoft introduced a comprehensive DMS solution that is particularly well suited to managing technical documents. But not only that: with PRO.FILE, a central pool was created for the records of all departments from several countries, far beyond merely filing CAD and technical data.

Scattered filing, brought together in one machine record

When Styria introduced separate collection of organic waste in 1992, the success story of Komptech GmbH began. The machine builder from Frohnleiten developed the first Topturn, a compost turner, and is today a leading international technology supplier of systems for the mechanical and biological treatment of solid waste and the processing of woody biomass - with 650 employees, a product range of more than 30 machine types and more than 3,000 customers in almost 60 countries.

Komptech builds around 500 machines a year, from small series to one-off production, at its three production sites in Austria, Germany and Slovenia. Over its product lifecycle - from design through manufacturing to service and maintenance - each of them passes through several of these sites. Every phase produces new accompanying documents: design drawings, production records, QM reports, data sheets, technical documentation, service reports. The individual departments used to store them locally in their own folder structures.

"Scattered filing that we wanted to bring together in one place, in a central machine record," says Walter Prügger, IT Manager at Komptech. Document management systems are the right product category for that, and there are plenty of them on the market. After a thorough evaluation, Komptech chose PRO.FILE and the Austrian implementation partner trisoft. "The main reason for us was the system's ability to represent technical structures," says Prügger. For exactly that reason, numerous other machine and plant builders already work with the software - a reference list that additionally convinced Komptech.

A clean start through proper classification of the existing documents

In a two-day workshop with trisoft, the IT team at Komptech first got a feel for the look and feel of the software. Before it went live, trisoft's specialists transferred all existing documents from the local directories and Exchange folders into the new DMS.

"This is where trisoft proved its great expertise in classifying and assigning documents. Most of them were unstructured, and our source systems were not optimally maintained," says Walter Prügger. In work like this, correct keywording is essential. Komptech provided the classification guidelines and a rule set; working them out and transferring them cleanly into PRO.FILE was the IT partner's job. The initial bulk load of the existing documents thus made for a clean start with the new DMS. Since then, employees have read-only access to the old file servers.

A hub between CAD and SAP

Central document filing was the company's primary goal. The system has since become a data hub that connects to various other systems:

  • ModelManager, the PDM system of PTC Creo Elements, the CAD software used at Komptech. In the absence of a direct coupling between PRO.FILE and Creo, design drawings (as DXF and/or PDF) and their accompanying documents such as bills of materials are first stored in ModelManager after release and then reach the DMS via an XML interface.
  • The ERP landscape. At the time of the DMS rollout there were still four different ERP systems across the three sites; trisoft connected them to the DMS for document archiving. The ERP landscape has since been unified on SAP.

The CAD system writes master data into the DMS, which prepares it for different plants and plant views and hands it to SAP. Different part master records are extended with a wide range of attributes and then fed into the three plants in SAP according to defined rules. That keeps the maintenance effort in SAP very low. From the ERP system, in turn, information travels back through the DMS into the CAD system - a bidirectional interface.

All departments work with the software; there are 380 users in total. PRO.FILE's workflow functionality is also used for vacation and investment requests: they are created in the DMS and routed to the various people within the software.

Managing project structures in the DMS

Representing technical structures in the DMS - assembly hierarchies and part master information - is a great help in Komptech's daily work. Whoever places an order in SAP can retrieve the documents needed for it from PRO.FILE via web interfaces - production documents or data sheets for individual parts and materials - and attach them to the order. To manufacture a specific assembly, the system can compile all the production documents required for it, down to the level of individual parts. Only the representation of technical structures makes that possible.

Also realized in PRO.FILE:

  • a transport database for logistics,
  • the ability to manage service spare-part orders, and
  • the storage of photos and videos - trisoft programmed a module for simple drag-and-drop filing for the production departments.

"With PRO.FILE we no longer need to know where to look for which record. You enter simple criteria like name, document type, order or part in the search form and the document appears, without clicking through branched file structures any more," says Walter Prügger.

Sub-projects keep the project moving

"Our IT partner trisoft has proven very flexible overall - a service provider you can shake hands with, always there when something is burning," says Prügger. trisoft has also delivered sub-projects that have little to do with the DMS at first glance. For example, production documents and design drawings for standard parts are generated automatically via PRO.FILE, from the metadata alone. That helps when a part has no production drawing in design because it would be too costly to create: the DMS can now automatically trigger the creation of production documents for that standard part.

Sub-projects like these keep the DMS project moving. They have made for continuous collaboration between Komptech and trisoft over many years now.

About Komptech

Komptech is a leading international technology supplier of machinery and systems for the mechanical and biological treatment of solid waste and for the processing of woody biomass as a renewable energy source. The product range comprises more than 30 different machine types covering the essential process steps of modern waste treatment: shredding, separation and biological treatment. The fields of application range from composting and anaerobic digestion through biomass processing, mechanical-biological waste treatment and the production of refuse-derived fuels to waste wood processing.