Every material requires its own solution

Founded in 1978, when Günther Hecht came up with some innovative ideas for handling dry bulk solids, Hecht Technologie GmbH has become a specialist in this industry, developing and installing turnkey plants for the global market. More than 80 employees, along with external production suppliers, turn Hecht’s know how into high-quality solutions.

Handling dry bulk solids involves finding solutions to problems that are as different as the materials themselves. The materials can be pharmaceuticals, foods or nutritional supplements, chemicals, or minerals – all of which have different flow properties, structures and weights. Many marginal conditions also play a role. In the discharging, filling, conveying, metering and sampling of these materials, employees, the product and the environment must be protected.

Typically, a project manager develops a proposed solution. Existing systems are arranged into a proposal drawing and a cost estimate is prepared. The detailed work begins with the order. All the components of the entire plant, which is often multi-level, are tested, adapted to the target conditions, customized and designed in detail, down to the last screw.

“Together with the project manager, we then go over the assembly, connections for power and compressed air, and also questions regarding operator safety, product protection and explosion prevention,” explains Florian Sondermeier of the Hecht Technologie design department.

Upgrading to 3D with Solid Edge

Hecht Technologie has been using Solid Edge® software from product lifecycle management (PLM) specialist Siemens Digital Industries Software since 1998 for all of its product development and design tasks. Solid Edge, which supports 2D and 3D design, replaced an older 2D computer-aided design (CAD) system.

“Solid Edge was attractive to us because of its simplicity and intuitive user interface, its well thought-out 2D functions, and its interface to our previous CAD system, which allowed the seamless transfer of all the drawings to the new system,” says Christof Stock, CIO at Hecht Technologie.

Sondermeier started in design at Hecht Technologie in 2000, using an earlier version of Solid Edge. “With other systems, I nearly clicked myself to death doing my work, the same work I was able to get done with Solid Edge in just a few steps,” he remembers. “I was very surprised at what the product could do with respect to simplicity and speed.”

Today, the company has 14 Solid Edge workstation licenses; ten floating licenses are available to people involved in activities such as sales, project management, marketing and assembly. Ultimately, Solid Edge will be used at every workstation in the corporate network.