Hydraulic Design Software and Heating Systems - Unlikely Union? Or Match made in Heaven?

It was a bit of a surprise when Ariston contacted us about using HydroSym for the layout of their Heating Systems. Ariston, global leader in sustainability led heating systems and electrical products with direct presence in 40 countries and 28 production facilities was looking for a way to present the schematics of their heating systems and share it across different sales channels, geographies and technicians. HydroSym of course is a dedicated hydraulic schematic design software with a hydraulic parts library that is in the millions, which in fact can also be used for pneumatics design. Of course hearing more about how Lorenzo Sileoni, Applications Solutions Director at Ariston Group, envisioned using HydroSym, we quickly realized that with a few adjustments it can be the perfect solution for the task at hand! 

We talked to Lorenzo about their work process and implementation of HydroSym Software. Initially, Lorenzo was looking for an elegant solution to visualize the schematics of Ariston’s heating systems and products, and then be able to easily share these with technicians installing them. What was needed is a tool that could serve as one point of truth, contain updated information about the parts and be shared easily between departments and globally dispersed teams. Simple drawing programs used previously, were just not cutting it. 

“Usually this need was covered by common simple drawing tools not dedicated to schematics. They are simple and easy to use but on the other hand they are not efficient and they don't allow you to have synergies between different teams. For this reason we looked for a specific tool for schematics and HydroSym appeared to be the best solution for us in terms of ease of use, completeness and flexibility.” Explains Lorenzo. 

Hydraulic and Electric schematics are key elements in heating systems and the knowledge about proper installation is an important added value Ariston has and wanted to provide this input to the technicians executing installation. A good tool for presenting the schematics was essential. There was however a bit of vision needed to imagine HydroSym as a tool for heating systems. Besides hydraulic parts, which the famed PARO Library contains millions of, new components needed to be added. Which is exactly what the PARO team has done. 

First there was a process of taking inventory of all the parts that Ariston needed to use in the diagrams. The result was creating a new folder in the PARO library for Ariston and loading a couple of hundred newly created components. 

Lorenzo describes the implementation process: 

“The implementation of HydroSym in our company was straightforward. We started with the mapping of our needs in terms of components, layouts and ICT architecture. The support of Paro in this first phase was very good as they helped us to face all the issues and gave us valuable insights of how to fully exploit the tool. Moreover, we received great support from Paro in terms of adaptation to our needs, therefore it was quite easy to integrate the HydroSym tool inside our processes after the implementation.”

Adapting HydroSym enabled Ariston to create a single tool that can be used across teams. Custom elements can be used, workflow and important hierarchy can be observed. This allows Ariston to provide the same high level of technical support and thus ensure uniform quality regardless of technical level of installation team, sales channel, or geographical region. Having one point of truth within HydroSym enables everyone to “speak the same language”. The result; everyone wins on quality and customer satisfaction.