Dream tools for the dream factory

Can a tap become a piece of furniture? It might. If it's called 'Diverso'. In 1996, four years after the company was founded, GESSI launched a range of faucets with this slogan, which has since become a global style icon in the design of high-quality bathroom and kitchen interiors: unlimited courage for revolutionary ideas and a refreshingly different approach! This is reflected in the company's 800,000 square meter site, which looks more like a green oasis of well-being than the headquarters of an international industrial company. It is reflected in unique product designs that give everyday objects a personal touch that can be perceived with multiple senses, and in an architectural approach that focuses not on the functional task of a fitting, but on its location. "It’s all about creating a harmonious whole that is coherent down to the smallest detail," explains GESSI's technical director, explaining why GESSI bathroom fittings are mainly offered in collections that have the same shape, contour and line characteristics. Since April 2015, such product similarities can be found very quickly in the existing PLM software PTC Windchill from PTC. On the advice of CAD and PLM specialists ITTlab, a software tool from MAIT was installed that greatly simplifies the search for matching and similar geometries: ModelSearch.

Number 1 in Italy

Founded in 1992 by Umberto and GianLuca Gessi, GESSI has always been one of the big winners of various design awards. In 2008, the pioneers of expressive product design were even nominated as 'Superbrand of Italy'. The supplier of exclusive wellness, kitchen and bathroom furnishings was also number one in Italy when ModelSearch was launched. GESSI is the first ModelSearch customer in our sales area,' confirms Andrea Bianchi, Managing Director of ITTlab, who, together with his partner Claudio Bianchi, is responsible for software sales, training and support. "We provide services for PTC solutions and have also been a reseller of MAIT products for ten years. We appreciate the technical expertise and innovative spirit of the Upper Austrian company. The software solutions from Linz are perfectly integrated into the PTC world and the cooperation with MAIT is based on reliability, continuous development and mutual support, " says Andrea Bianchi.

When GESSI was looking for an efficient way to clean up its own product database, which now contains more than 100,000 parts, it didn't take long to decide which tool to recommend: ModelSearch. This native application is 100% integrated with PTC Windchill/Model Manager and automatically searches and displays what already exists or is similar. "If even ten to twenty percent of dead entries is carried along in a database over the long term, this naturally affects system performance. That's why GESSI decided to use ModelSearch to check and clean up the existing database when updating to version 10.2 of PTC Windchill, " reveals MAIT Product Manager Gerhard Schwab.

MOS Live - a favorite among designers

However, according to the technical director, only a third of these are actual 1:1 images. This is because MAIT's geometry-based similarity search, found not only the 100% doppelgangers, but also all the relatives of certain models - for example, the same faucets, but made of different materials, in different colors or with slightly different dimensions. "All the designers at GESSI work with ModelSearch. And they all love it. It makes it so much easier for them to access proven and validated solutions. The live search, which runs fully automatically in the background, constantly points out similar, existing solutions during the design process. This means that designers rarely have to design from scratch. Instead, they can copy or modify many parts. That saves time and money," says the GESSI employee. He expects a return on investment within 12 to 24 months. This is a very conservative estimate, because experience shows that well over three parts per designer per year can be reused. And the cost of a new model can vary widely. According to the VDMA, it ranges from 500 to 3,400 euros. GESSI initially used the lowest value for the ROI calculation: this way the company is definitely on the safe side. The technical manager himself uses the ModelSearch web application primarily to answer questions from marketing, the development department or technical management.

GESSIS Top 5 arguments for the use of ModelSearch

• Our designers now have to reinvent a product from scratch much less often.
• It is very helpful for us to know at the touch of a button how many components with the same geometry but made of different materials exist.
• We can even use the geometric footprint of each model, which is generated fully automatically by ModelSearch, to find new suppliers for the accessories we need.
• ModelSearch has improved data management in many ways, including the elimination of unwanted duplicates.
• We appreciate the wide range of different search options, such as faucet handles with different lever lengths, hoses within a certain length range or components with the same diameter.