The Group operates through a number of divisions within four business areas; Compressor Technique, Construction & Mining Technique, Industrial Technique, and Rental Service.

   The Applied Compressor and Expander Technique (ACT) division develops, manufactures and sells large process-compressors and turbo expanders. The division's products are used primarily by the process industries and power industries and also by industries that specialize in the production of gases through the separation of air to end-users within the pharmaceutical, chemical and electronics industries. 

   During 1989, the ACT division acquired The Rotoflow Corporation. Rotoflow had patented a series of industry standard gas processing tools and techniques, held a broad customer base which offered reusable components and field service maintenance agreements. 

   I joined Atlas Copco in 1990, as Computer Aided Design (CAD) Manager for ACT. Responsibilities included the configuration, implementation and management of the Computer Aided Design operations in Los Angeles CA.

   The project required cost justification and development of a CAD system to support a newly integrated product line, while also adopting strict Atlas Copco design, drafting and best practice standards already in place throughout the ACT divisions in Sweden, Germany and New York. 

    Travel, communication and collaboration between CAD and engineering managers forged a tightly integrated design system. At 12 months, shared global component libraries and "expert" system - query based product definition programs allowed chief scientist and engineers to "plug" in values, instructing the CAD system to create 3D/2D parametric component geometry, ISO, DIN, JIN and ANSI compliant mechanical drawings, P&ID and schematics.

    The result was the transformation of a large staffed manual design process, using (2) standalone PC's running AutoCAD R11 as a drafting tool, into a 15 seat integrated design and drafting system using Prime/CVs MEDUSA on a heterogeneous network running on DEC VAX/VMS/ULTRIX, Sun UNIX, DOS and MS-Windows platforms in a Novell, PathWorks, Ethernet and TCP/IP network environment.

• Product design and development cycle times were reduced several times over. e.g.18 month design and fabrication lead times reduced to 6 months.

• Design staff requirements, component and shop cost estimates became accurate and accountable reducing possible fines imposed by late deliveries. 

• Exact connection types, locations and accurate tolerance stacks, common within plant processing systems, were communicated clearly, which greatly reduced modifications to units during domestic and international field installations.

•  CAD drawings and documents were integrated into unit installation, maintenance and owners manuals.

This CAD system was cost justified for "five" years, yet was used in production for over, "eight" years.