Drawing editing with PDF and SAP® PLM at Aesculap
Partner for Surgery – this is the motto of the manufacturer of medicine instruments. Within an SAP based product data management solution, an intelligent way for maintenance of drawings from old cad systems was developed.
Products and services for all surgical basic processes are in the focus of Aesculap, a busines line of Braun Melsungen AG. This means today: high tech engineering with CAD systems of highest standard like CATIA V5.
SAP PLM is the enterprise wide administration platform for product related data from the engineering. In order to maintain drawings from the predecessor CATIA V4 without migration of them all to CATIA V5, the IT engineers from Aesculap have developed a method, which runs without CAD.
Adjustment service in PDF format
The general archiving format is PDF. This format was preferred against raster format because PDF can also display vectors, texts and colors as objects. If a drawing is to be edited, the PDF file is opened in an PDF editor with the SAP DMS function „Edit“. The operator performs the changes and during this he deletes the drawing frame and text header. After finishing this works, the new PDF is written back into SAP DMS and a status change trigger is started. With this process, a conversion process from SEAL Systems ist started, which creates a new drawing frame and a new text header with the actual drawing data from SAP. After this both is inserted automatically into the changed PDF. The modification process is finished then.
To keep the top position of the world market also means: Protect your knowledge. To prevent the uncontrolled distribution of engineering data, all PDF files are protected at Aesculap. Only just before displaying or editing, the files are unlocked and supplied with a comprehensible control information. Processes from SEAL Systems back up this method.
Furthermore there are additional products and solutions from SEAL Systems at the Braun-Melsungen group: PLOSSYS netdome cares for the output of drawings and documents from CAD and SAP. Within SAP DMS the conversion servers create many different formats. SEAL Systems also delivers processes for imaging of Digital Signatures with the view and print process.
Matthias Neubrand from Braun Melsungen is responsible for Product Lifecycle Management: „An enterprise, producing medicine surgical instruments is constantly operating within a high standard of regulations. Therefore the revisable document control is unavoidably for our group.
With the editing processes on basis of PDF we can refuse the complete migration of our very huge drawing stock. Nevertheless the old system is not necessary anymore. The SAP DMS supported process reduces much routine work.
With SEAL Systems we have a project partner for long years, with whom we appreciate to work together."
