Elmo Solutions

Agni Link CAD/PDM/PLM to ERP software integration reduces the engineering effort, especially in an Engineered-To-Order (ETO) production model. Without it, the transfer of the Bills of Materials (BoMs) may consume as much as 20% of the total engineering time. This adds up to costly errors on the shop floor, as a result of faulty data transcription.

You can see the Agni Link connector for EPLAN in action in this link.

For a summary of the Agni Link CAD/PDM/PLM to ERP integration solution features, please download the Agni Link brochure or refer to the text below.

For more information about our solution, please refer to our Elmo Solutions website or contact us directly.

I. Simplicity

Easy to implement: From the kick-off meeting to the final rollout, a typical implementation should normally be completed within 20 business days.

Easy to install: your PDM, PLM or CAD software will receive an add-inn installed on individual user environments. Installation and configuration for each user should take less than 5 minutes.

Easy to use and maintain: the solution you buy should require minimal training, as there is minimal user intervention required. No custom programming: You want to be, at all times, in complete control, not only of the data integration process, but also of the mappings involved in the integration, as well as the behavior of these mappings during the integration process, and without depending on programmers.

II. Always in sync

CAD-ERP Integration can help manufacturers increase their engineering department's productivity by up to 25%.  See how Agni Link can accomplish a task that normally takes about 2 hours… in 8 seconds in this video!

Simultaneously creating / updating product data:

• Part/Component/Assembly
• Bills Of Materials
• Routing instructions
• Revisions
• Attachments
• Much more

Although it is true that 90% of known CAD and ERP integrations are about Items and Bills of Materials, there are huge opportunities for other types of integrations, such as floor layouts, quotes, etc.

III. Quick ROI for CAD ERP integrations

Based on our experience, a typical Agni Link implementation pays for itself in 3-6 months, counting only the expected reduction of your engineering cycle time of 5-20%, as a result of the reduction of the time spent on the manual transfer of BoMs.

However, the bulk of the ROI rather comes from savings resulting from a dramatic improvement in BoM accuracy, bringing a substantial reduction of costly errors on the factory floor.

IV. PDM / PLM compatible

Most PDM and PLM software vendors claim to have ERP integration. However, their offering is limited to a mere export-import process that is hardly better than manual data transcription, mainly because it lacks the real-time, bidirectional approach that is the only sensible way to achieve a failsafe CAD and ERP integration every time. The export/import approach leaves the door wide open to data rejection by the target system, partially completed transfers, improperly validated data, discrepancies, etc. If you’re at the PDM or PLM stage, such a Dark Age process is certainly not an option.

Successful CAD/PDM/PLM to ERP integrations necessarily require real-time data exchange. It is proven that any other way is destined to failure, because you need a layer of protection, a temporary data object that you will use to populate and validate data prior to the final transfer to the ERP system.