Le Lorrain cuts product evolution time in half

In summary

By using Aletiq, Le Lorrain was able to:

✓ Streamline field-to-engineering feedback loops

✓ Increase the number of product changes handled by the design team

✓ Reach zero paper in the workshop for drawings and manufacturing instructions

✓ Distribute up-to-date product manuals to customers through an online client portal connected to Aletiq

✓ Achieve ISO 9001 compliance

✓ Ensure end-to-end digital continuity of product data

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Le Lorrain is a French company specializing in the design and manufacture of flame welding equipment, regulators and safety accessories. Its customers include steel and metallurgy manufacturers, boilermakers, craftsmen and refrigeration engineers.

The company exports its torches to over 60 countries through a wide distribution network.

Being highly vertically integrated, Le Lorrain handles every stage in-house: design, manufacturing, testing and shipping.

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Operational challenges

Le Lorrain undertook a major digital transformation, deploying a PLM and an ERP simultaneously. This strategic initiative, driven by the new leadership team, was motivated by the potential for operational gains and by a clear desire to make life easier for the engineering department.

Operational inefficiencies in technical data management

→ Time lost managing technical data (searching for information, collaborating across teams, running impact analyses)

→ Cumbersome technical processes (engineering change requests, product updates, distributing data to the workshop floor)

Limited traceability and compliance risks

→ Poor visibility into document revisions, product data changes and configuration history

→ Risk of non-compliant data reaching the workshop

→ Lack of reliable long-term data security

Setting up Aletiq

Aletiq's teams visited Le Lorrain's facility in Nancy to:

→ Map existing workflows and identify friction points

→ Build a target architecture integrating both the PLM and the new ERP

→ Migrate the company's full historical technical dataset

In three weeks, the Aletiq team cleaned and loaded nearly 4,000 documents, 6,000 SolidWorks files and an equivalent number of part records to prepare the production environment.

All users were trained on-site over the four weeks of the deployment project.

Team adoption

Aletiq gave Le Lorrain's operational teams the tools to address their challenges quickly.

Using the Aletiq x SolidWorks plugin, designers in the engineering department significantly improved how they manage CAD files: revisions, indexes, check-in and check-out. Drawing approvals are now automated through Aletiq's configurable workflows, and all data is centralized in a single source of truth.

The integration between Aletiq and the Sage 100C ERP ensures real-time data synchronization, eliminating errors caused by duplicate data entry. The link between manufacturing orders and product configurations guarantees traceability and ensures the right documents reach the workshop floor. Operators can now access manufacturing drawings in three clicks, with no risk of working from the wrong revision.