Over Seven Billion Product Variants – Vahterus Manages Complexity with Sovelia

Vahterus is a Finnish family-owned company that manufactures welded plate heat exchangers for demanding industrial applications. Their products are used in over 50 countries in industries such as process engineering, energy production, marine, refrigeration, and various heat pump systems. Managing over seven billion possible product variants requires extremely systematic and efficient product data management – a solution found in Sovelia Core and Sovelia Configurator systems.

The company started in the early 1990s with just three people working out of an old barn on CEO Mauri Kontu’s family farm. Since then, Vahterus has grown into a global manufacturer of welded plate heat exchangers.

Heat exchangers play a crucial role in industrial processes where thermal energy is transferred between two substances – such as liquid and gas – without mixing. Vahterus solutions are used worldwide in chemical industries, energy production, and refrigeration processes.

Vahterus has developed its own Plate & Shell heat exchanger technology to meet the demands of modern process industries, ensuring reliable and safe operation even under exceptionally high pressures and temperatures.

Product data lifecycle management reform at Vahterus: Toward a unified and efficient system

Vahterus’ product range consists of customer-specific solutions and standard models for selected clients, often delivered on tight schedules.

Before implementing Sovelia Core PLM, product data was scattered across multiple systems – ERP, document management tools, CAD software, and Excel files. Although data was available, its fragmentation hindered smooth collaboration between design and production. The lack of unified, up-to-date, and controlled product data posed daily challenges and limited process efficiency.

When product data is spread across multiple systems, managing it becomes complex. Manual data transfers and parallel sources increase the risk of errors and burden daily operations. Even small changes may require multiple updates in different places, consuming time and causing inconsistencies.

Without a centralized and unified data foundation, departments like design, procurement, and production may use different versions of the same data, weakening collaboration and slowing down the overall process. Centralized product data management brings clarity, accuracy, and efficiency to these challenges.

When considering a PLM system, Vahterus aimed to:

• Centralize product data management into one system,
• Reduce manual and duplicate work,
• Improve item management,
• Strengthen collaboration between design and production.

Vahterus also wanted to prepare for an upcoming ERP renewal and ensure product data management was in order before implementing the new ERP system. Adopting PLM was seen as a strategic step that enabled clearer product specifications and consolidated scattered data into one place. This also allowed the ERP project to be executed based on high-quality, up-to-date data.

Before system projects, Vahterus ensured that product data was current and manageable. “Cleaning up the data” meant standardizing product structures, harmonizing item codes and identifiers, and compiling product documentation into one location. Data quality was reviewed, outdated and conflicting information removed, and clear responsibilities for maintaining product data were defined.

This laid a strong foundation for PLM implementation and prepared data content for the upcoming ERP renewal. With structured and reliable data, new systems can be adopted smoothly and their benefits realized faster.

Ten-year collaboration strengthened Vahterus’ decision to choose Sovelia Core PLM

Vahterus and Symetri began collaborating about ten years ago when the sales drawing generator was updated to an Autodesk Inventor-based solution. This was the first step toward automating design and sales processes. About five years ago, the partnership deepened when Vahterus adopted Sovelia Configurator’s Design Automation features to support design. This solution allowed repetitive design tasks to be automated and ensured consistency in technical specifications.

At the time, Vahterus needed a tool that enabled fast, error-free, and rule-based product variant sizing and automatic documentation generation. With a vast number of product variations, the absence of a configuration tool significantly increased the risk of errors and slowed down sales and design processes. Manual updates and data transfers between systems could lead to conflicting information, confusion, and delivery delays.

For example, when a customer orders a complex product requiring precise sizing and multiple customized parts, sales must manually compile technical data from various sources to ensure all parts fit together. This time-consuming process was prone to human error, potentially causing production delays, extra corrections, and customer dissatisfaction.

In design, repetitive tasks and complex technical specifications are often handled manually without a configurator, increasing error risk and slowing down the process. Data may be inconsistent when updated separately in different places, leading to extra checks and corrections and delaying production start.

Symetri’s Sovelia Configurator provides a clear improvement to these challenges:

• It speeds up sales and delivery processes, 
• reduces error potential,
• and strengthens collaboration between design, sales, and production.

Symetri’s strong understanding of Vahterus’ operating environment built trust to continue collaboration in developing product data management.

Data first – Vahterus ensured benefits through thorough preparation

Before full implementation, Symetri conducted a comprehensive Proof of Concept (PoC) phase to ensure the PLM solution genuinely met practical needs and supported processes in design, sales, and procurement as smoothly as possible. During PoC, the expectations and requirements of different teams for the new system were carefully mapped.

PoC revealed that fragmented product data and inconsistent item structures slowed down process efficiency. Based on this, item standardization was initiated to ensure consistent and clear data management across all organizational levels. Duplicate items were removed, data quality improved, and a strong foundation for future integrations was created.

This preparatory work enabled controlled PLM implementation and now ensures reliable product data management throughout the product lifecycle.

“Standardizing item structures was a large and laborious process, but it significantly improved data consistency, eliminated redundancies, and strengthened data quality. This preparation enabled smooth PLM adoption, which now reliably supports the entire product lifecycle and facilitates future ERP integration.” — Mika Härkönen, Design Engineer

Individual solutions require unified data

Vahterus operates in a technically demanding and rapidly evolving market where maintaining competitiveness requires continuous development and smooth processes. The company invests heavily in product development and customer-specific customization to meet individual needs and deliver high-quality solutions. Sovelia Core PLM supports this by providing a clear structure for designing and manufacturing customer-specific products in a controlled manner.

All product data – CAD models, technical specifications, and documentation – is now centralized in one system. This single source of product data:

• improves information flow,
• reduces manual work,
• and strengthens collaboration between departments.

Sovelia Core PLM integrates seamlessly with other systems, ensuring data is up-to-date across the organization. The system also offers comprehensive traceability and quality management, which are essential in demanding industrial applications. Item management is consistent, and model data – precise information on product dimensions, shapes, and components – flows automatically through the process, enhancing overall efficiency. This enables Vahterus to meet customer requirements more effectively and strengthen its competitive position in international markets.

“Sovelia Core PLM has felt like an excellent solution for many reasons – it consolidates scattered data and brings much-needed clarity and manageability to operations.” Mika Härkönen