The role of the design engineer has changed. Today, they bear much more responsibility. After all, they determine how many production parts are required to realize the company's products. Solutions that use standardized components are easier and faster to manufacture. The manufacturer and supplier of standard and DIN parts as well as standardized components Norelem helps engineers to implement this approach in their daily work in the best possible way. The rethink is worthwhile in terms of the potential time and cost savings, but also due to the availability of components. "With our product diversity, we want to help customers realize new ideas," says Marcus Schneck, Managing Director of Norelem. "This can be a particularly efficiently produced machine, but also a student research project." Norelem is one of the largest suppliers of flexible standard parts, systems and components for mechanical engineering as well as elements for measuring and testing.

The CAD data for all products is included with the catalog on DVD and can be downloaded online. Designers can obtain all relevant design data and drawings from here and integrate them into their CAD system. All CAD models are static, so there is no need to draw the components or configure them. Production costs can also be significantly reduced if as many standardized components as possible are used.

Designing with standard parts

For example, companies often manufacture support bolts themselves. But even with such a comparatively simple component, a designer needs around 15 minutes to create a production-ready drawing including dimensions. Depending on the CAD system and company, one hour's work is associated with process costs of 60 to 100 euros. This means that costs of at least 15 euros have already been incurred in the design phase for a single component.

For this reason, designers should find out which components are available as standardized parts - before they start designing. "Many customers have been ordering from Norelem for decades and like to rely on tried and tested products," says Schneck. "It is worth taking a detailed look at our current catalog, as it is constantly being expanded with new products." Norelem offers components for almost all areas of application in automation technology, general mechanical engineering and fixture and tool construction.

Designing with standardized components has many advantages. For example, solutions realized with standard parts require less design and production effort, and assembly is also faster. Last but not least, clamping and defining the position is easier. Another advantage is that wear parts can be replaced without any problems. "Not every solution requires extensive development and design work," emphasizes Schneck. "Especially for standard applications, the usual time-to-market phase can be significantly shortened by using standard parts." For example, designers can create a pick & place unit based on CAD data available online. Because design, data procurement and ordering processes are no longer necessary, the phase from the idea to the start of production is significantly shortened.

Find components easily in the catalog

Anyone who has a concrete idea of the type and scope of the components to be used can obtain them from Norelem. Despite the large product range, customers can quickly find what they are looking for in the catalog. The arrangement of the product groups in the catalog corresponds to the sequence of the design steps: from the base to components for placing, positioning, clamping and operating to solutions for power transmission and brakes. The availability of the components can be seen immediately in the web store. The complete and current portfolio can be found there, and an order can be placed with just a few clicks. To ensure that the desired products reach the customer as quickly as possible, around 98 percent of the range is available from stock. A fast delivery service ensures that the majority of components are delivered to the customer within 24 hours. am