HARTING reduces design time from weeks to minutes with Siemens and Azure AI
HARTING · Germany
HARTING, a German maker of industrial connectors with more than 27,000 product options, built an AI-guided Han® Configurator powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing that lets customers describe requirements in natural language and get guided to the right product in about one minute, down from 15-20 minutes. For custom designs, a companion tool built by HARTING's Innovation Hub interoperates with Siemens' NX and Simcenter (part of Siemens Xcelerator) to refine 2D layouts, generate 3D models and run basic thermal FEM simulations, cutting custom prototype creation from weeks to minutes.
Overview
HARTING, a German maker of industrial connectors with more than 27,000 product options, built an AI-guided Han® Configurator powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing that lets customers describe requirements in natural language and get guided to the right product in about one minute, down from 15-20 minutes. For custom designs, a companion tool built by HARTING's Innovation Hub interoperates with Siemens' NX and Simcenter (part of Siemens Xcelerator) to refine 2D layouts, generate 3D models and run basic thermal FEM simulations, cutting custom prototype creation from weeks to minutes.
The challenge
Finding the right product among HARTING's more than 27,000 connector options was time-consuming, since customers are not connectivity experts and don't have the vocabulary, which caused delays in traditional design and configuration processes requiring technical expertise.
The solution
HARTING built an AI-guided Han Configurator, fueled by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, that lets customers describe their needs in natural language and translates inputs into technical specifications, guiding customers to the right product and letting them visualize configurations in 3D. For custom designs, a companion tool built by HARTING's Innovation Hub interoperates with Siemens' NX and Simcenter, part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio, refining 2D layouts, generating 3D models, and running basic thermal FEM simulations.
Reported business value
Configuration time was reduced by 95%, from 15-20 minutes to just one minute, and custom prototype concepts that once took weeks are now created in minutes.
Sources
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