Europress manufactures modern waste compactors and balers using the Sovelia Core PLM system and Sovelia Configurator
Meet Europress
Finnish Europress Group Oy is the largest manufacturer of waste compactors and balers in Finland and the market leader in Northern Europe. Europress has over 45 years of experience in manufacturing waste equipment. They are a pioneer in the development of smart recycling technology.
Over the years, Europress professionals and experts have created completely new products, innovative solutions, and a comprehensive service offering. Europress has manufactured 26,000 waste compactors and balers, of which over 12,000 are smart devices. The real-time data from SMART devices can be utilised for product and service development. Smart technology is today Europress's primary focus.
The company is headquartered in Finland and has subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway, Poland and Benelux.
All compactors are precisely customised according to the user requirements
Challenges the PLM solution needed to solve
According to Europress's PLM Development Manager Antti Korhonen, before the implementation of the PLM system, the company faced challenges in product data management and the efficiency of design processes, as they involved many manual steps. For example, items and structures were manually created in the ERP system, leading to time-consuming processes, the risk of human errors, and slow information flow between designers and production. Europress identified improving information management and flow between all its units and subsidiaries as a key area for development.
The PLM system is aimed at improving information management and flow at Europress. A staged implementation of Sovelia Core was carried out in 2020. This resulted in, among other things, item integration into the ERP system, access to manufacturing drawings for procurement, and enabled the design of new products or product variants in Sovelia. Thanks to Sovelia Core, foremen at the Europress factory can now view manufacturing drawings and 3D models without the help of a designer, and factory workers can view the same drawings and 3D models without the foreman’s assistance, speeding up production processes.
Additionally, Europress utilises Sovelia Core in its maintenance services. Maintenance teams can view drawings, structures, and spare part needs even outside Finland, allowing them to easily check the product's status and provide necessary assistance to customers worldwide.
Juha Vallinen at Europress is inspecting images, structures and needs for spare parts.
The same base product, multiple customer solutions efficiently
Europress’s most common manufacturing process is known as Configure to Order, where the base product is kept as standard as possible, and customer-specific needs are addressed with additional devices and customizable feed hoppers and containers. Factors like the location of the waste compactor, the waste bins used, the waste type, and the amount of waste generated influence the customer-specific solution.
Although the base product remains the same, the number of variants resulting from different sizes and accessory combinations is significant. Therefore, after the PLM implementation, Europress wanted an efficient design automation tool to manage unique customer solutions. The goal was to reduce the time spent creating customer-tailored product variants and to improve the consistency and quality of design practices.
In 2022, Europress launched a project to implement the design automation solution Sovelia Configurator and it is currently used for managing customer-defined feed hopper product variants and design automation.
ABOUT EUROPRESS
Europress Group produces waste compactors and balers for various purposes, backed by over 45 years of experience. The company stands out in its field as a technological leader by offering IoT solutions and digital services for waste management in addition to waste compactors. For example, a modern waste compactor can send a message when it is nearly full, helping to optimise emptying intervals and saving money. All compactors are precisely customised according to the user requirements, whether for industry, shopping centres, warehouses, logistics centres, or individual stores. Europress Group has been a long-term customer of Symetri since 2015 when Europress recognised the importance of reducing manual work steps wherever possible.
Challenges
- Many customers needed a customised solution regarding the size, capacity, and functionality of the waste compactor.
- Designing and manufacturing customised products often took a lot of time, which extended delivery times.
- Complex and manual customisation processes increased the risk of design errors.
- Items and structures were manually created in the ERP system.
- Time-consuming processes due to many manual steps.
- Slow information flow between designers and production.
- Need for efficient product lifecycle management.
Solutions
- Sovelia Core data management system was optimised for Europress's operations.
- Sovelia Configurator is used to manage customer-specific product variants and automate design.
Benefits
- Time and effort are saved as all product data is visible in one system.
- Maintenance teams in different countries can view images, structures, and spare part needs.
- Time and effort required for creating and maintaining product units are saved.
- Design practices and quality are improved and standardized.
- The risk of human errors is reduced.
- Faster delivery times.
- Customized product design is significantly faster with Sovelia Configurator.
- Designers' work time is freed up for actual design work.
- Reviewing and approving designs has become easier.
- Information is accessible via a web interface on mobile devices.
- Designs can be automatically viewed as 3D models.
- Product documents are smoothly accessible when all product data is stored in one place.
- Order history data is accurately stored in one place and is easily accessible.
