Press release - July 14, 2020

Sersa Gleisbau gets projects on track faster with CONTACT Software

The leading Swiss railway engineering company Sersa Maschineller Gleisbau AG replaces the previous PDM system with CIM Database as part of its digitization strategy. With the new PLM platform, Sersa ensures consistent processes along all engineering disciplines and thus reduces the effort and costs in developing its specialized machinery.

With ever higher line utilisation and the shift from road to rail, the challenges facing the construction and maintenance of the rail network are also increasing. Safety and comfort require maximum precision with regard to gauge accuracy, position, inclination and superelevation of the track geometry. To ensure this, innovative technologies, modern measuring methods and high-performance machines are used.

Sersa Group AG (Switzerland), Sersa Technik AG, Sersa Maschineller Gleisbau AG and Rhomberg Bahntechnik, with 14 locations in Switzerland and around 1000 employees, are among the technology leaders in the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure - from light railways to mountain railways and high-speed networks.

Previously, the engineers and teams from the mechanical, electronic and electrical departments used an in-house developed data management system. The lack of a multi-CAD-capable company-wide database and limited support for documentation, traceability and process reliability led to a high workload - at the expense of productivity.

Sersa was therefore looking for an innovative solution to digitally map product and process knowledge company-wide, to automate processes and to make the entire product development  future-proof. The company evaluated several systems and decided to use CIM Database PLM, the leading technology of digital lifecycle management solutions from CONTACT Software. Especially the possibility to provide all development departments with M- and E-CAD-data on one platform according to the principle Single Source of Truth and thus to shorten development times convinced Sersa.    

Direct comparison of bills of material (BOM) from development, production and maintenance, digital workflow and process control as well as reliable and fast change and release procedures reduce the error rate and improve cooperation. "CIM Database ensures a continuous flow of data from development to production and right into our maintenance," underlines Vincent Kuring, Head of Projects Technology Department at Sersa. "This enables us to reduce search times and make the know-how of our experts in all departments available in a very targeted manner. This increases the overall quality".

Another reason for choosing CIM Database PLM was the software architecture. Thanks to the open and modular low-code platform CONTACT Elements behind CIM Database, Sersa will be able to adapt existing applications to new requirements faster and more cost-effectively in the future and use new modules of CONTACT Elements flexibly as required.

"The Workspace Manager as an optimal tool in the design phase as well as the overall high flexibility due to the modular structure convinced us. With CIM Database, we are well positioned for digital transformation in design and development to meet the high demands of our customers in the future," says Kuring.