Winnebago Industries takes their 3D parts catalogs online

Cortona3D enables Winnebago Industries to take their 3D parts catalogs online

Winnebago Industries has been a leading United States manufacturer of Recreation Vehicles (RVs) for the past 55 years. These self-contained Recreation Vehicles are used primarily in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. Winnebago Industries builds quality motor homes with state-of-the-art computer-aided design and manufacturing systems. They supply nearly 250 dealerships in the United States and Canada in addition to distributors in Europe, Japan, and China.

The challenge

Dealers of recreational vehicles sell products from multiple RV manufacturers. In this highly competitive environment, Winnebago Industries strives for excellence of service in particular in the service parts order process. For Winnebago Industries, identifying the correct service part using 2D paper-based catalogs has proven to be inefficient and costly. Winnebago Industries sought to implement a solution that would enable their dealers to easily identify and order the correct parts they require. The right software would also enable Winnebago Industries to save time and money in the creation of parts catalogs.

The existing process

Traditionally, parts catalogs have been supplied in PDF format using 2D exploded illustrations, balloon callouts, and corresponding parts lists. For Winnebago Industries, this process was extremely time-consuming, labor-intensive, and required expert NX-trained employees. The 2D illustrations were created by adding and/or removing components from the 3D model and then creating a 2D exploded view. The balloon callouts and item numbers were then added to the 2D exploded view. This 2D exploded view was then exported from NX and the parts list was created and corresponding item numbers were added.

One of the key issues that Winnebago Industries had was timing. Getting 2D exploded illustrations completed in order to finish the parts catalog required precision timing. The nature of the 2D illustration creation process also compounded the problem of later implementing corrections & changes.

Another key challenge was the delay between the product launch and the release of the parts catalog.

The solution

Winnebago Industries decided to implement the Cortona3D RapidAuthor solution and has recently launched the new Ordering System called Winnebago Industries Interactive Parts (WIP). Cortona3D RapidAuthor enables Winnebago Industries’ Customers and Dealerships to order service parts from a user-friendly 3-dimensional (3D) interactive service parts catalog. Users can simply select an item in the parts list and the corresponding item is automatically highlighted in a graphic window or vice versa making the correct identification of a service part extremely easy.

The process change

The service parts catalog creation process has changed immensely. The previous manual creation of 2D graphics has been replaced with the ability to re-use the existing engineering 3D graphics simply by exporting it to a JT format rather than NX format. Together with the parts list in Excel format, the 3D graphics are imported into the Cortona3D RapidCatalog module of the RapidAuthor software where the geometry and the parts list entry are automatically linked.

The results

Winnebago Industries has been able to dramatically reduce the time and resources required to produce a parts catalog. In 2012, the second year using the Cortona3D tools, they were able to process and complete the parts catalog 33% faster, while reducing manpower requirements by 40%. They are optimistic that they can even further reduce these figures in the future.

The most substantial costs savings have been derived by the re-use of the existing 3D geometry which has shortened the production process considerably.

Cortona3D RapidAuthor suite of tools has established Winnebago Industries at the forefront of their field both in the quality of their documentation and in the excellence of service they provide to their dealer network. They are committed to the use of Cortona3D RapidAuthor to further develop parts catalogs as it has reduced resources required and has meant ongoing considerable cost savings.