BMZ Germany GmbH

BMZ Germany GmbH, a leading global manufacturer of rechargeable battery systems, has significantly enhanced its engineering and production efficiency through the integration of Bluestar PLM. The adoption of Bluestar PLM has standardized BMZ’s processes, improved product quality and reliability, ensured secure documentation, and provided seamless data management. This integrated PLM solution, fully embedded within the Microsoft Dynamics Finance and Supply Chain Management, has been instrumental in optimizing BMZ’s operations and driving their success in the competitive rechargeable battery market.

BMZ Germany GmbH is a prominent global manufacturer of rechargeable battery systems, who supplies batteries for a wide range of applications including e-mobility, power and garden tools, medical devices, industrial uses, home appliances, home storage systems and e-bikes. In 2016-2017, BMZ began to search for a robust and integrated Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system to streamline its engineering and production processes, as they did not have a PLM/PDM in place.
The need was clear: a solution that could fully integrate as an add-on within the Microsoft Dynamics F&SCM, providing seamless connectivity and functionality across their engineering and production departments. BMZ chose Bluestar PLM for its comprehensive integration capabilities with Microsoft Dynamics F&SCM, leading to the implementation of 150 named Bluestar licenses, 35 Quality Bluestar licenses, 50 Read-only Bluestar licenses, and approximately 600 Microsoft Dynamics F&O licenses. This integration ensured that BMZ’s engineering and production workflows were unified under a single system, streamlining processes and enhancing data management.

As a mass-producing engineer-to-order company, BMZ has seen significant benefits from Bluestar PLM: “The unified system has standardized processes, improved product quality and reliability, and ensured secure documentation with revisions and an audit trail. Critical data, such as certifications of subcomponents and complete batteries, stored drawings, and linked work instructions, are managed efficiently within the PLM system. This standardization has led to improved consistency and reliability in our product offerings,” says Teamleader ERP/PLM Management Alexander Baselmann.

BMZ has utilized Bluestar PLM projects to document information throughout the development process, making it accessible to all employees who need it. This approach has been pivotal in managing the complexities of their engineer-to-order production model. Workflows are employed for the change process in series production, contributing to clean, documented processes that facilitate lessons learned and audit presentations. The implementation of projects and workflows has significantly increased efficiency in developing new products and customer projects. Employees have timely access to all necessary information, and the documented change process through workflows has enhanced overall process clarity, resulting in time savings and resource optimization.

To enhance data management and search capabilities, BMZ uses classes and attributes, which are used for naming and defining release templates, including mandatory information. This structured approach ensures that all necessary data is consistently captured and organized: “Cleanly managed attributes facilitate the search for components, allowing us to avoid duplicates and maintain high data quality. The use of classes and attributes improves the search function and supports standardized master data generation,” states Alexander Baselmann.

As a result, existing products and secondary articles are easier to find, preventing duplicates and ensuring a more efficient and reliable production process. The standard part system also benefits from this approach, further contributing to improved data quality and operational efficiency.

The integration of Bluestar PLM, embedded inside Dynamics F&SCM, offers several advantages from both engineering and business perspectives, according to Alexander Baselmann: ” It ensures revision security and data status control, with the PLM system serving as the leading system. The integration allows for faster data retrieval, direct conversion of 3D data into usable BOMs, and the reuse of data, which facilitates parallel development and benefits for end products. Also, data transparency across departments and development sites has improved significantly, supporting BMZ’s efforts to maintain high standards of quality and efficiency across their operations.”

A global rollout of Bluestar PLM is expected to further unify BMZ’s processes and data management practices, leading to consistent quality across all production sites. Since implementing Bluestar PLM, BMZ has experienced numerous benefits, including seamless integration between ERP and CAD applications, time savings, resource optimization, improved data quality, and reduced duplication.

Have a non-binding conversation about how we can meet your needs.

Get access to our free materials that can provide you with new insights.

Gain access to previous webinar recordings and expert talks.