Oiles America Corporation is the international leader in self-lubricated bearing technology.
Oiles is a technology oriented manufacturing company that continues to focus on responding to customer’s design, testing and manufacturing needs for self lubricated bearings.
Oiles produces self-lubricating, maintenance free & reliable bushings which are offered in flanged & straight plain bearings, washers & plates. Oiles products provide superior performance in areas that require long-term maintenance-free use.
How Are You Using DriveWorks?
“The current configurator takes a very robust product and design standard and places it out on the web where anyone can design a multi-layer bearing with our proprietary materials. When the design is complete it is checked against our existing catalogue parts that are close to the customer design to provide a lower cost and quicker turnaround time than a made to order part.” Ray McDaniel— CAD Engineer
How Did You ‘Design to Order’ Before You Had DriveWorks?
Before using DriveWorks, the Account Manager received a quote request containing a drawing along with preliminary information. A Microsoft Project was then created by the Program Manager who uploaded the drawing and preliminary information. An Applications Engineer was then tasked with performing the Application Feasibility.
Bushing material and optimal design, if needed, was recommended based on the application information. The AE also ensured that the provided drawing contained adequate information to fully manufacture the bushing. If needed, the drawing was marked up to reflect the recommendations.
After the AE Feasibility, the drawing went through manufacturing, quality, and planning feasibility. The last step of the process was costing which was completed by the Program Manager. The bushing was costed and the pricing was then provided to the Account Manager for mark up. Once this was completed the price was then submitted to the customer.
What are the Benefits of Using DriveWorks for You and Your Customers?
Using DriveWorks has helped Oiles America Corporation to:
– Provide a quicker response time
– Increase sales opportunities
– Generate sales leads
– Reduce engineering and CAD times
– Reduce errors and the need for error checking
“External customers also benefit from the ability to input their information directly into the design automation web interface and get back complete bearing design or a catalogue part that will work for their requirements error free within seconds. Our internal staff should be able to use DriveWorks in the same manner to reduce errors and engineering review time.”
Overall, What’s the Most Important Thing About DriveWorks for Oiles America Corporation?
“We value many things about DriveWorks. Most importantly is the ability to take a design standard and use the configurator software to produce an error free streamlined custom bearing design.
Also the ability to leverage software we are already using such as SOLIDWORKS and PDM Professional and the ability to integrate with our enterprise resource planning (ERP) software systems and customer relationship management (CRM) software systems all while giving you a web presence.”
Adopting DriveWorks
In order to help them adopt DriveWorks, Oiles regularly use the many online resources available in the DriveWorks Community and attend the Tech Team Thursday webinars.
Ray McDaniel has also attended DriveWorks World, the annual value added technical event for DriveWorks users.
Oiles have also been working with EpiGrid—a DriveWorks Hosting Partner.
“EpiGrid is a valued partner that has provided a hosted environment for both SOLIDWORKS PDM and DriveWorks for Oiles America Corporation. EpiGrid remains a company that we plan on working with as more products come online.”
Oiles’ customers benefit from the ability to input their information directly into the design automation web interface and get back a complete bearing design or catalogue part that will work for their requirements error free.
