Seco Tools harnesses the power of automation and high-speed data migration with HULFT
Leveraging HULFT Integrate, the leading global provider of metal cutting solutions is betting its future on business process automation and seamless digital experiences for their workforce.
SAN MATEO, California – HULFT, a comprehensive data integration platform, announced today that Seco Tools, a leading global provider of metal cutting solutions, used HULFT Integrate to clean and migrate 150,000 XML files into the company’s Tool Data Management (TDM) system. The process — an integral part of Seco Tool’s goal of automating processes to improve employee productivity — was seamless with HULFT Integrate’s no-code data integration capabilities.
Seco Tools, a division of Sandvik Machining Solutions, is one of the world’s largest providers of comprehensive metal cutting solutions for milling, stationary tools, holemaking and tooling systems. For the last 80 years, the company has offered custom tools related to CNC machines for thousands of distributors and hundreds of smaller companies in more than 75 countries.
Serving the medical, automotive, and aerospace industries, Seco Tools had over 150,000 tools identified in the online catalog and over 150,000 part-files as XML in Microsoft Azure. Each part-file contains a computer-aided design (CAD) drawing and geometry and technical features of the part.
This tool catalog drives the creation of bill of materials for new customers, which involves comparisons of the geometry and technical features of the part, and other complex measurements for precision in pricing and subsequent production. A bill of material may comprise of hundreds of part-files. The manual and time-intense process that was usually involved meant that completing a process, cost per unit (CPU), and bill of material for customers with complex cutting solutions could take upwards of three weeks. Sometimes, project would risk being canceled due to time constraints.
Seco Tools required a single-source database that could streamline and accurately track the management of parts and part-files. Increasing speed and accuracy in the database process and in the creation of bill of materials were top priorities.
“We had various data in multiple locations and needed to get that data through the system much faster than before,” said Bob Tennant, process engineering manager at Seco Tools. “These internal transactions have a direct impact, not just on employee productivity, but on the quality of customer service we provide. We selected HULFT because we needed a technology partner who can help us take a visionary approach with digital transformation, and how it aligns with the type of customer experiences we bring.”
READ THE FULL SECO TOOLS CASE STUDY HERE
Cleaning and transferring 150,000 XML part-files into a new database
The team evaluated solutions that could transfer high volume of data into the company’s TDM system.
“During this process we looked at various vendors and at the end we decided to go with HULFT,” said Tennant. “HULFT Integrate’s flexibility and ease of operation will enable us to expand into all areas of the businesses. I have no programming background and the drag-and-drop functionality was easy to use.”
Seco Tools used HULFT Integrate to read part-files, perform data extraction, table transformation through unification and clean up, and to load the transformed data into its TDM. More than 80,000 legacy part-files were discarded. The remaining 76,000 current part-files were grouped by utilization and then added to create an accurate database with all pertinent fields and geometry data.
“The project was originally projected to take three years to complete. With HULFT, we were able to do this in six months and without additional headcount,” said Tennant. “Through this experience, we’ve uncovered HULFT’s rich capabilities and have already identified several other areas in the business for further implementations.”
Read the full Seco Tools case study.
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About Seco Tools
Headquartered in Fagersta, Sweden and present in more than 75 countries, Seco Tools is a leading global provider of metal cutting solutions for milling, stationary tools, holemaking and tooling systems. For more than 80 years, the company has provided the technologies, processes and support that manufacturers depend on for maximum productivity and profitability. For more information on how Seco’s innovative products and expert services bring success to manufacturers across all industry segments, please visit www.secotools.com.
About HULFT Inc.
Today’s enterprise works hard for data. IT spends time and money manually connecting far-flung silos of data which are often insecure. A division of Saison Information Systems (TYO: 9640), HULFT has helped more than 10,000 global customers automate, orchestrate, and accelerate the secure flow of information at scale. HULFT provides a single global platform that helps IT quickly find, secure, organize, transform, and move the right information – automating the entire business processes of data flow, and unlocking value in a sea of information. With 25 years of customer experience, HULFT is the engine that makes data work. For more information, please visit www.saison-technology-intl.com.