Written by dudaJanuary 24, 2025

Custom-made fans: From 4 hours to under 4 minutes

A new product configurator made by the Scandinavian Digital team ensures that customers can easily order unique fans directly from BarkerBille’s production. Before, it took 4 hours to prepare an offer – now it takes less than 4 minutes, according to experience from a MADE demonstration project. BarkerBille, a Danish company specialized in the design, manufacture, and supply of high-quality industrial fans expects to implement the product configurator during the first half of 2025 starting the year ahead of competition.

BarkerBille faced an engineering bottleneck that made ordering customized fans directly from production more complex than it needed to be.To overcome this challenge, they participated in a MADE demonstration project, where they were matched with Scandinavian Digital, the right technology partner for the job. As a fellow member of MADE, Scandinavian Digital specializes in digital solutions that eliminate engineering bottlenecks, helping companies like BarkerBille streamline workflows and enhance efficiency. Through this collaboration, BarkerBille was able to optimize its processes and move closer to a more seamless and efficient production setup.

Here, you can watch an interview with Flemming Bille, CEO of BarkerBille, and Christian Andersen, CFO and Senior Partner at Scandinavian Digital. They discuss the technology, benefits, and results of this project, which was carried out under the MADE initiative.

At Scandinavian Digital, Supplier Integration is one of our core service pillars, delivered with our platform CONFIG 2 that allows to automate product specifications, streamline supplier collaboration, and eliminate manual bottlenecks. Our method ensures seamless collaboration between manufacturers and suppliers, optimizing digital workflows to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness.

Our six key value areas for Supplier Integration, aligned with CONFIG 2, contributed to this transformation:

  1. Lead Time ⏳
    We ensured accurate product specifications, reducing rework and response times, allowing orders to be processed almost instantly.
  2. Cost Transparency 💰
    By optimizing sizing rules and comparing supplier offerings, we helped the company reduce procurement costs and make data-driven decisions.
  3. Cost of Quality 📊
    Automated defect detection and supplier performance analytics ensured higher accuracy and fewer costly errors in orders.
  4. Cost of Hours 🕒
    Our automation of product specification, project documentation, and order processing cut down manual effort—saving time and labor costs.
  5. Project Time 📅
    By reducing manual tasks, updating cost data in real time, and eliminating errors, we accelerated the entire purchasing cycle.
  6. Partnerships 🤝
    Digital integration improved supplier communication, resolving issues faster and ensuring real-time alignment on requirements.

With CONFIG 2, BarkerBille went from hours of manual order processing to an automated workflow that takes less than 4 minutes—a 99% reduction in processing time. This shift not only improved efficiency but also cut costs, reduced errors, and enhanced supplier collaboration.

If your company struggles with slow, manual supplier interactions, Scandinavian Digital can help you achieve similar efficiency gains through CONFIG 2.

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Written by dudaSeptember 27, 2023

Unlocking Efficiency and Advantages: Design Automation’s Impact on Aggregate Crushers

Design automation is a critical process that cement industries can integrate into their operations. This article will detail the configuration of an aggregate crusher, which serves as the initial step in cement production. Design automation (DA) brings forth multiple benefits for the aggregate crusher configuration. Within the cement industry, proper sizing remains the foremost factor, and once achieved, it leads to various other advantages. Efficiency is enhanced as DA tools automate repetitive tasks like component selection, parameter adjustment, and design optimization. This not only saves time but also reduces errors, enabling engineers to configure crushers more swiftly and efficiently. 

Another advantage lies in customization. Crushers often need to be tailored to meet specific requirements or adapt to various applications. Design automation tools streamline customization by providing predefined options and configurations based on operational requirements, such as targeted production output and environmental factors like temperature fluctuations in the installation region, humidity, pressure, and even the risk of earthquakes.

For instance, the process of breaking down limestone into smaller pieces typically involves a combination of compression and impact forces. These crushed limestones are subsequently mixed with other materials to create cement. Cement production may involve different types of stone that require crushing, as well as other materials like gypsum and coal, which transform into dust resembling small rocks.

Standardized quality is a fundamental requirement, and Design Automation promotes consistency and standardization in crusher configurations. This minimizes output variability, enhances quality control, improves reliability, and boosts machinery performance. While this article focuses on the importance of DA for a single machinery piece in the process, it’s essential to note that Design Automation can be applied to all machinery post-crusher, optimizing the entire process. The objective is to highlight the benefits within each model and process step.

Collaboration and communication are integral aspects of Design Automation. Automation tools facilitate collaboration among various stakeholders involved in crusher configuration. Engineers, designers, and team members collaborate using a shared platform, exchanging information, making real-time updates, and accessing a centralized design data repository. This drives effective decision-making, leading to streamlined and higher-quality crusher configurations.

As previously mentioned, the aggregate crusher marks the process’s inception but holds significant value for subsequent steps like raw mix preparation. Stone crushers ensure uniform and thorough crushing of raw materials, resulting in a consistent and homogeneous raw mix. Secondary crushing might be necessary in cement manufacturing. After the initial crushing, secondary crushers further refine materials to achieve the desired particle size distribution or specific characteristics needed for cement production. 

 To provide a visual demonstration, a video showcases a crusher configuration within the context of the cement industry. The demo features an impact crusher, one of several options employed in the cement industry, alongside jaw crushers and cone crushers.

For those interested in the cement industry, another DEMO illustrates the configuration of an industrial bag filter. This equipment is crucial in the cement processing industry as an air pollution control device. It removes particulate matter like dust and fine particles from air exhaust generated during cement manufacturing processes, which encompass the handling, grinding, and processing of raw materials such as limestone, clay, and other minerals to produce cement clinker. WATCH HERE!

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Written by dudaJuly 4, 2023

Applying Design Automation in the Food Industry: Fermentation Machinery Configuration DEMO

In the fast-paced world of the food industry, dairy processing equipment plays a vital role in ensuring efficient production and maintaining high product quality. However, the global market faces challenges, particularly in terms of high operating costs and risk of losing key engineers. In this article, we explore how Scandinavian Digital, with its extensive experience in the food industry, especially in the powder and dairy sectors, has harnessed the power of Design Automation to transform the business for customers in the manufacturing dairy machinery sector.

By embracing digitalisation, our team has paved the way for enhanced efficiency, improved product quality, and reduced costs in the dairy processing industry.

At Scandinavian Digital, we utilize Design Automation to meet the distinct requirements of our clients. Through the integration of the Tacton Design Automation plug-in in popular CAD solutions like PTC Creo, Autodesk Inventor, and SolidWorks, our clients can swiftly customise machinery models to align with specific needs within minutes.

The flexibility offered by our solution enables seamless integration of client preferences, resulting in precise 3D models, 2D drawings, and Bill-of-Materials. This reduces the time spent by engineers in designing equipment or accommodating changes requested by clients. The capability to customize equipment to meet individual requirements directly translates into improved customer satisfaction and heightened operational efficiency.

Fermentation is a critical process in the food industry. Therefore, the Scandinavian Digital experts recognizes the significance of the natural preservation method and has used Design Automation to show different types of configurations for a fermentation machinery, you can have a look at our DEMO that perfectly illustrates and states some of the benefits aggregated to the EDA (Engineering & Design Automation):

The adoption of Design Automation in the dairy machinery industry brings numerous benefits. Our team ensures the preservation of valuable knowledge and expertise by digitising product rules and storing them in the product model. This digitalisation enables non-experts to configure intricate products, generate accurate 3D models, 2D drawings, and Bill-of-Materials, even without in-depth product knowledge. It streamlines maintenance processes and empowers manufacturers to utilize data-driven insights for ongoing enhancements. By leveraging digital tools, manufacturers can elevate food safety standards, decrease operational costs, and consistently provide customers with top-quality dairy products.

Scandinavian Digital has effectively tackled the issues of expensive operations and improved efficiency, product quality, and customisation by utilising Design Automation and Product Configuration. As the dairy processing sector embraces digitalisation, Scandinavian Digital remains at the forefront, guaranteeing a promising future for dairy machinery innovation, sustainability, and excellence.

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Written by dudaMay 4, 2023

GEA Process Engineering A/S speeds up engineering with Scandinavian Digital’s solutions

Scandinavian Digital was chosen as partner to help GEA PE A/S automate engineering processes to improve quality and reduce engineering time. GEA´s purpose is “Engineering for a better world” and together with SD GEA PE A/S has embarked on a journey of true digital transformation which both delivers better products for the market as well as a leaner and better workplace for GEA PE A/S’s employees with a reduction of trivial repetitive work and elimination of rework.  

At its core, the “Automation of the Engineer-To-Order process” automates all technical CAD 3D models and 2D drawings during engineering execution. Time savings for GEA PE A/S are significant, but even better is the fact that the documentation is now consistent throughout all stages of the engineering execution, ultimately leading to the customer receiving a better product faster. 

Kári Holgarsson, Director Engineering Support, Rune Skovgaard-Petersen, Vice President Technology, Simon Nielsen, Scandinavian Digital CEO and Sten Krog Duerlund
Senior Director Product Engineering, Technology

The SD team has a profound experience in the successful automation of CAD engineering for complex products. In the past many years, the SD team has automated 250+ complex products – either very large engineering constructions and/or a complex combination of engineering components with a multitude of rules. At GEA PE A/S, SD is currently doing the same and rolling out the concept for 18 of GEA PE A/S’s key products. 

According to Rune Skovgaard-Petersen, Vice President Technology (TECH) the “automation of the engineering processes of these products will be a significant improvement for our entire organisation”. 

Beyond the simple automation of engineering processes, GEA PE A/S can now build on the existing solutions to further reduce cost and lead time in other areas. Building the foundation for systems engineering and collaborate globally to further drive productivity and results.
 

GEA Group is a EUR 5.2 billion company on the German MDAX, headquartered in Düsseldorf. More than 18,000 employees across 62 countries and 5 divisions develop and deliver highly specialised process equipment for Powder, Liquid, Separation, Flow Refrigeration and Monitoring with the Food, Chemical, Farming, Dairy and Healthcare industries. 


Simon Nielsen, CEO, Scandinavian Digital. 

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Written by dudaJanuary 5, 2023

The end of never-ending engineering

Morten Hugo Bennick, CTO and Senior Partner at Scandinavian Digital and internally regarded as “Mr. Config,” provides insights into why many companies still resist automating engineering processes, instead relying heavily on the human brain to tackle challenges that could be resolved in minutes using Symbolic AI.

With over 20 years of expertise in configuration, Morten speaks with authority, emphasizing that symbolic AI is no joke—it’s a powerful critique of companies that aim to stay competitive yet fail to adopt modern solutions like digitalisation, task automation, and configurators. Scandinavian Digital is leading the charge in changing its clients’ daily results and engineering efficiency through the application of symbolic AI.

Symbolic AI plays a protagonist role in the configurators Scandinavian Digital employs. These configurators transform data input into symbolic outputs—such as 3D models, 2D drawings, and other engineering assets—allowing complex engineering challenges to be solved quickly, efficiently, and with minimal error. As Morten explains, “Anything can be configured,” and in order to improve engineering tasks and results… it must be!

The reality of “never-ending engineering” isn’t just a notion, it’s a costly, time-intensive issue that symbolic AI can alleviate. According to Morten, engineering processes will not end completely, but they can be significantly reduced, saving companies substantial time and resources. This reduction in repetitive engineering tasks means skilled professionals can shift focus to innovation, data security, and strategic goals rather than spending months on tasks that could be streamlined to a week or less. Furthermore, the automation of these processes ensures that critical knowledge stays within the company, rather than leaving with departing employees. You can see the benefits of using symbolic AI for CPQ and design automation across Scandinavian Digital’s six value areas.

Morten advocates for automated engineering processes with confidence, stating, “We expect that the investment will reach break-even within 1-3 years.” He adds that using Symbolic AI not only reduces errors but also grants engineers more time for innovation, increasing growth opportunities for the company.

Scandinavian Digital offers a comprehensive process for organizations looking to modernise, beginning with CPQ (Configure, Quote, and Price) and extending to advanced Design Automation projects. Through Symbolic AI, Scandinavian Digital provides end-to-end solutions that deliver long-term value, enabling companies to operate smarter, faster, and with greater precision.

For companies ready to embrace the future of engineering, Scandinavian Digital is here to transform your engineering bottlenecks with symbolic AI.

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Written by rodrigoaJanuary 29, 2022

SD is an official reseller for Tacton’s Design Automation solutions in the Nordics and DACH regions

Scandinavian Digital partners with the Tacton team.

Adding to its business services, Scandinavian Digital will now sell and deliver Tacton’s best-of-breed Design Automation solutions in the Nordics and DACH regions for the full range of computer-aided design (CAD) systems (SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor and PTC Creo). The partnership will enable more design and manufacturing companies to optimize their engineering and design processes through software, training, and full-service manufacturing business solutions. Scandinavian Digital has already delivered more than 200 Design Automation models to major clients in these regions, and has plans to further expand Tacton’s presence as an official reseller.

Engineers today are under incredible pressure to generate 2D and 3D CAD drawings on time due to custom designs. They must constantly update or create new drawings as needs change, resulting in significant human labor. To address this, Tacton Design Automation creates comprehensive 2D drawings and 3D models of bespoke, customized products and parts automatically, allowing engineers to focus on other higher value tasks. As a result, companies can eliminate costly design errors, reduce lead time, cost of hours and goods, and improve product quality. Further, there is no programming or IT expertise needed, making it fast and easy to introduce and update products.

“Our partnership with Scandinavian Digital will allow us to expand our company’s reach in key regions, and offer our leading Design Automation solution to more joint customers,” said Viveka Tengö, VP Global Channel and Alliances at Tacton. “With our solutions, customers can accomplish design projects in a much shorter time and with a standardized quality. We are helping sales and engineering teams work better together and increase their efficiency to drive their organization’s bottom line. This partnership is key to making this a reality for today’s leading companies in the Nordics and DACH regions.”

“We are very satisfied with our partnership with Tacton,” said Simon Nielsen, CEO and Co-Founder at Scandinavian Digital. “Tacton’s state-of-the-art Design Automation tool coupled with Scandinavian Digital’s strong knowledge in product complexity helps customers easily utilize 3D CAD models to empower their businesses. Tacton’s Design Automation is a game changer for any company with complex engineered products.”

“This partnership will help advance our mutual goals in the Nordics and DACH regions,” said Morten Hugo Bennick, Managing Partner at Scandinavian Digital. “With this solution, manufacturing teams can feel assurance and support to configure their products with 100 percent valid configuration and significantly reduced errors and costs. In fact, we’ve already seen success with managing hundreds of Design Automation projects for Tacton, and look forward to our future growth.”

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