Jean Thilmany

SolidWorks and Rize Inc., a maker of 3-D printing technology have joined to integrate the CAD software with Rize’s additive manufacturing capabilities. The companies announced their business partnership at SolidWorks World held in Dallas in February.

The SolidWorks CAD software will now feature a 3-D print add-in from Rize Inc. The feature will streamline 3D printing and make use of of Rize’s augmented polymer deposition (APD) technology, which does not produce harmful emissions and makes use of safe and recyclable materials, says Andy Kalambi, Rize chief executive officer.

Users of the SolidWorks CAD system can download the feature from the Rize website. After it’s been installed, SolidWorks users can select a “Rize 3D Print” option that transfers their CAD files to the Rize platform. The model will then be automatically pre-processed to  be ready for 3D printing. This reduces the time designers spend performing pre-processing and post-processing for their models, Kalambi says.

Post processing can account for 80 percent of the costs of creating a part via additive manufacturing, he adds.

The collaboration came about because Dassault Systèmes, which owns SolidWorks, recognizes the importance of 3-D printing to the CAD and engineering community, says Gian Paolo Bassi, chief executive officer of SolidWorks.

“Printing like this is beginning to replace not only what we manufacture but the way we design and the way we work,” he says. “And wherever there is a 3-D printer there must be a design tool.

“Now we’re going to fine-tune the design process to work perfectly for 3-D printing,” Bassi adds. “Another important part of this partnership is that we can now move 3-D printing closer to the design experience.”

The partnership will allow more designers to make use of additive manufacturing, Kalambi says.

“We want to make 3D printing inclusive so anyone who wants to can use it to produce real industrial parts, not parts for play,” he says. “We want to drive sustainable innovation, which means being totally compliant with environmental standards.

“As an industry, 3-D printing has done a lot in terms of bringing new productivity to engineering, so engineers can reduce the costs and time spent making parts,” he says.

The partners hope to cut post-processing costs and to make additive manufacturing a “one-touch operation” that will allow engineers to launch a part within the SolidWorks system, manufacture it, and pick that part up from the printer within a short period of time.

“The capability to do this drives innovation. Engineers can iterate much more quickly and improve the product quality and the speed at which the product is developed,” Kalambi says.

As part of the partnership, every Rize One 3-D printer purchased will include a coupon redeemable for a SolidWorks license, he adds.

 

 

 

 

In a recent post, we detailed SolidWorks’ recently unveiled 3DExperience.Works portfolio, which brings together cross-industry applications on one platform, called the 3DExperience platform. That platform was created after Dassault Systèmes (which owns SolidWorks) acquired IQMS, an enterprise resource planning software company, late last year.

We’ll give a bit more background on IQMS and what the integration means for SolidWorks.

IQMS develops both its ERP and its manufacturing execution systems (MES) for the automotive, medical, packaging, consumer goods and other markets.

Now its software products have been renamed Delmia.Works, or, alternately, Delmia, powered by the 3DExperience platform. The company’s offerings are aimed at mid-market manufacturers.

The acquisition takes Dassault Systèmes’ offerings from design to business and manufacturing processes, said Manish Kumar, Dassault Systèmes’ vice president for SolidWorks research and design.

“This seamless business loop brings IQMS and SolidWorks together,” he said. “Before, they inhabited two separate worlds that didn’t talk together. Now, everything is being driven by the 3DExperience platform. Everything is connected.”

In fact, SolidWorks World, held in February 2019 in Dallas, is to be renamed 3DExperience World and will be held in 2020 in Nashville.

 

In 2013, IQMS announced integration with SolidWorks. The acquisition takes that integration even further by targeting midsize manufacturers who are SolidWorks customers. Those customers will now be able to carry out both manufacturing (ERP) and engineering processes on the same, integrated, software platform.

“We must no longer think of industry as a set of means of production, but as a process of value creation,” said Bernard Charlès, chief executive officer at Dassault Système. “This applies not only to disruptive startups and established corporations, but also to the hundreds of thousands of mainstream manufacturers that produce parts integral to the development of new consumer experiences.”

Today’s manufacturing ERP mid-market is estimated at $5 billion, with a 7 to 8 percent annual growth rate through 2023, according to Charlès.

The world’s 250,000 small and midsized manufacturers must adopt and optimize new ways of producing and doing business through digital transformation in order to innovate and accelerate their growth in an increasingly competitive, global marketplace, he said.

“For years, our business has been committed to maximizing our manufacturing customers’ success by delivering a comprehensive manufacturing ERP system built specifically for the mid-market manufacturers,” said Gary Nemmers, chief executive officer at IQMS. “As part of Dassault Systèmes, we can take the next steps in providing customers with new approaches to achieving operational efficiency and effectiveness and do so with a global reach.”

IQMS’s solutions are used by 1,000 customers based primarily in the United States whose 2,000 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries produce for the automotive, industrial equipment, medical device, consumer goods, and consumer packaged goods industries, he said.

In a recent post, we detailed SolidWorks’ recently unveiled 3DExperience.Works portfolio, which brings together cross-industry applications on one platform, called the 3DExperience platform. That platform was created after Dassault Systèmes (which owns SolidWorks) acquired IQMS, an enterprise resource planning software company, late last year.

IQMS develops both its ERP and its manufacturing execution systems (MES) for the automotive, medical, packaging, consumer goods and other markets.

The company’s offerings are aimed at mid-market manufacturers and its software products have been renamed Delmia.Works, or, alternately, Delmia, powered by the 3DExperience platform.

The acquisition takes Dassault Systèmes’ offerings from design to business and manufacturing processes, said Manish Kumar, Dassault Systèmes’ vice president for SolidWorks research and design.

In 2013, IQMS announced integration with SolidWorks. The acquisition takes that integration even further by targeting midsize manufacturers who are SolidWorks customers. Those customers will now be able to carry out both manufacturing (ERP) and engineering processes on the same, integrated, software platform.

It has already been the case that SolidWorks users can link parts, tools and other assembly file details and configurations to create engineering change orders and cross-populate the inventory, bills of material. project management and preventative maintenance modules for increased productivity and to elimination of data inconsistency. With the help of a SolidWorks add-in, users could also check documents in and out of a document control system to avoid overwriting changes, create workflows to ensure that sign-offs occur in a timely manner, manage document libraries, view and print SolidWorks PDFs and track document history.

“We must no longer think of industry as a set of means of production, but as a process of value creation,” said Bernard Charlès, chief executive officer at Dassault Système. “This applies not only to disruptive startups and established corporations, but also to the hundreds of thousands of mainstream manufacturers that produce parts integral to the development of new consumer experiences.”

 

 

 

Dassault Systèmes executives announced the company’s 3DExperience.Works portfolio at SolidWorks World 2019, held in Dallas this week. The applications on the portfolio run on the company’s 3DExperience platform and are tailored to SolidWorks users and mid-market companies.

SolidWorks executives term the set of software  a “business experience platform.” It provides software solutions for every organization within a company—from design to enterprise resource management.

Use of the applications across the platform should improve collaboration, manufacturing efficiency, and business agility, he added.  Companies can accomplish their work using one cohesive digital innovation environment instead of using a complex series of point solutions that requires jumping between applications and interfaces, said Bernard Charlès, vice chairman and chief executive officer for Dassault Systèmes.

3DExperience.Works connects data and streamlines processes from concept to delivery by providing dashboard templates, managed services, access to industry-focused communities and user groups, and applications specific to a variety of job roles.

The software on the platform includes 3D design, analysis, simulation, manufacturing, and ERP applications. It is available on-premise and in the public or private cloud.

“Basically, SolidWorks went shopping at Dassault Systèmes’ headquarters in France and picked technologies to incorporate into its solutions,” said Gian Paolo Bassi, chief executive officer of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks.

“You’ve been asking for simulation and other technologies to meet the needs of today’s business environment,” he told conference-goers. “We’re uniquely able to leverage most of those needs through our own products, all with the unique SolidWorks DNA.

The new portfolio offers capabilities such as advanced simulation and sub-D modeling, Bassi said.

“3DExperience.Works expands the ease of use and simplicity of SolidWorks applications to a new category of business solutions on the 3DExperience platform,” he added.

Small and midsize firms can work within one cohesive digital innovation environment rather than using a series of solutions that requires jumping between applications and interfaces, Charlès said.

The applications on the platform connect data and streamlines processes by providing dashboard templates, managed services, access to industry-focused communities and user groups, and applications specific to a variety of job roles, he said.

Dassault Systèmes created the portfolio after it acquired IQMS, which produces a manufacturing ERP portfolio of software applications for mid-market manufacturers that has now been rebranded as DelmiaWorks.

“Small and midsized firms worldwide need digital solutions to grow but have long been challenged to find ones that are right for their size,” Charlès said. “We see the benefit the platform has quickly brought to designers using SolidWorks to expand their business.

DelmiaWorks provides a full digital thread for business operations, he added.

Meanwhile, Dassault Systèmes acquisition of Trace Software’s elecworks, set to be completed in March, brings electrical applications to the platform. Users can create schematic designs and control panel design and conduct small-wiring capabilities. Included in the elecworks deal, Dassault Systèmes will also now own a library that holds over 500,000 electric symbols and data for design components.

 

 

IronCAD, of Atlanta, has upgraded its Multiphysics for IronCAD (MPIC) 2019, the company’s integrated FEA simulation tool. In December, IronCAD released its IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2019.

The majority of IronCAD customers are involved with the design and manufacturing of large, complex machines with many thousands of parts, factory automation layouts, and other assembly layout processes, according to an IronCAD statement.

Engineers that work with extremely large data sets use IronCAD design software because 3D models made in IronCAD only require one file, regardless of how complex the model is. Assembly part data is integrated into a file’s unified design environment rather than linking to external files. Feature, part, and assembly data can be stored in catalogs that can be pre-built to include frequently used parts and assemblies, allowing designers to extend the use of 3D data throughout the enterprise.

The suite is a range of CAD products that provides collaboration between 3D and 2D to optimize the engineering team’s design process and simplify 3D and 2D CAD data management and communication throughout its organization and with outside customers and suppliers.

Included is the IronCAD design product with integrated 3D and 2D design capabilities that allows users to choose from parametric, direct, or a combination of both modalities on demand in a single environment. Also included  is the a 3D design and collaboration product, the 2D detailing and 3D collaboration product, and a product for 3D configuration and collaboration.

The 2019 release extends the CAD system’s Shrinkwrap capability to simplify imported and native models and gave users the ability to load the simplified or full versions of their models. Using the simplified version allows designers to focus on the design tasks and limit the performance impact of unrelated areas.

Typically, a design team receives files from their partners. By using the Shrinkwrap tools on imported data to remove unnecessary geometry, engineers can reduce the overall design file size and improve graphical and process performance during operations such as during saving and loading.

Users can also employ the Shrinkwrap tools to hide selective parts, non-visible parts, and hole and pocket regions while forcing critical components to remain. This is essential for sharing downstream when companies need to protect intellectual property while offering a reasonable-size model for sharing.

Originally introduced in 2014, MPIC provides fully coupled multiphysics with stress, thermal, and electrostatic analysis.

With the tool, users at any skill level can use full FEA capabilities by adding material, forces or constraints. The AutoSolve meshes and returns analysis results. Any modifications to the model allows for an analysis re-solve in seconds.

The solution is powered by software from AMPS Technologies.

“We designed MPIC to deliver a video game-like experience to analysis but behind the scenes, the advanced and robust AMPS technology provides a true what-if analysis tool for designers who need to pre-check, concept-proof, and experiment with different design scenarios,” says Chuck Paulsen, business director of AMPS Technologies.

MPIC 2019 brings several new technologies designed specifically for CAD assembly analysis. The new rigid body kinematic capability can speed analysis by mixing rigid body and finite element technologies. Critical parts continue to be analyzed using Sefea multi-physics while non-crucial parts or connecting mechanism are treated as rigid bodies to transmit the constraints, loads, or motion needed for an integrated assembly analysis.

In addition, new additions to MPIC include review features (comprised of new contour coloring controls and more extensive result displays), enhanced stabilization processes and improved contact-pressure predictions.

 

 

 

Konecranes, a Finnish company that makes and service cranes and lifting equipment, has implemented Siemens’ digital innovation platform to speed product development and connect product and performance data.

The company is using MindSphere, an open, cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) operating system, and the Teamcenter digital lifecycle management software to leverage the digital twin and reduce the number of physical prototypes. This helps increase efficiency and decrease product validation time, says Juha Pankakoski, executive vice president of technology Konecranes. His company uses IoT to connect and synchronize the virtual (engineering design, analysis and simulation) and physical (testing and operational reliability) worlds.

In the past, the company’s product design process has been based more on an engineer’s experience and generally shared assumptions than measured facts from existing products, he says. Now it uses the concept of a digital twin.

“These assumptions often lead to non-optimized designs that are over engineered,” Pankakoski says. “With an integrated digital-twin platform we see major potential in speeding up the product development process, reducing prototypes, increasing traceability and thus improving quality and reduce development cost.”

Design, simulation and prototype testing organizations tend to operate in their own silos, often using out of date processes for their work, says Tony Hemmelgarn, chief executive officer at Siemens PLM Software.

Now the Konecranes, digital twin communicates among all aspects of the organization. It is used to review data and provide feedback around engineering, simulation and testing intent.

The digital twin has been reconsidered other areas in light of a number of new information and operations technologies, including the Internet of Things (IOT) and cloud and cognitive computing. It serves as a digital, exact replica of a product or factory. The digital aspect of this eliminates the need for prototypes, reduces the amount of time needed for development, improves quality of the final manufactured product and enables faster reiteration in response to customer feedback.

Mindsphere is part of Siemens Digital Enterprise Suite. It’s a connection available in the DES and it allows users to evaluate key performance indicators for its digital twin; data such as the number of items produced, analyses of downtime and failure rates, as well as viewing energy data.

With the Siemens platform, Konecranes has been able to connect the data from all of these organizations to create one 360-degree view of how prototypes are running and performing, and correlating requirements to real world performance data.

A closed-loop digital twin framework using IoT and product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies can lead to faster design issue resolution and shorter prototyping phases by leveraging virtual sensor data in product simulations to provide accurate results. It can also improve overall quality and a support downstream product lifecycle processes, Hemmelgarn says.

“Bringing together assets from both the physical and virtual domains provides a seamless framework of business data which can help eliminate rework, leverage factual data surrounding prototypes, and provide closed-loop feedback regarding physical and virtual assets,” he adds. “The proof of value of the digital twin achieved at Konecranes confirms the business value of integrated IoT and PLM technology.”

 

 

IronCAD, the 3D computer-aided design platform for metal fabrication and custom machinery manufacturers, has been updated to IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2019. This is the 20^th anniversary edition of the software.

The software continues its performance with the large assembly designs and workflows needed by machinery manufactures.

IronCAD was originally based on the idea of “design for all,” said Tao-Yang Han, IronCAD’s president.

The new release extends IronCAD’s Shrinkwrap capability to simplify imported and native models and gives users the ability to load the simplified or full versions based on their preference. Typically, a design team receives from their partners the files they will need to use in their own design. They can use the Shrinkwrap tool on imported data to remove unnecessary geometry, which reduces the size of the design file size and improves graphical and process performance during operations like and loading.

This shorts the design cycle, Han said.

Users also can load either the simplified or the full design components in their working file. Using the simplified version allows designers to focus on the design tasks and limit the performance impact of unrelated areas. Whether it is native design data or imported, users can use the Shrinkwrap capabilities to optimize their design process by reducing time it takes to to process larger data sets. Users can also employ the Shrinkwrap tools to hide selective parts, nonvisible parts, and hole and pocket regions while allowing critical components to remain. This is essential for downstream sharing because  companies need to protect their intellectual property while offering a reasonable-size model for sharing.

IronCAD’s Web Viewer has been enhanced so users can easily share 3D Designs with anyone with an internet connection and a HTML 5 supported browser on any device. Simply load your design in IronCAD, and select the Share button. Users will receive a hyplerlink to the file that they can share that with their collaborators to allow them to load, view, and interrogate your 3D design. The files are automatically deleted a week later, so users don’t  need to keep a repository or storage device for their collaboration process.

IronCAD’s Smart eBehavior allows users to build intelligent connection, position and orientation. Customizable rules, another major focus of the updated edition, give users more methods for defining connection locations and naming them with alias names to make them easy to identify. Users also have access to mechanism behaviors when connecting components in cases like four-bar linkages.

This edition includes a number of enhancements in the user interface. Improvements such as bold edges, updated handle and TriBall displays, quick sizing behaviors on input, direct input on drop of features, improved dimensional display in sketches, and direct access to the TriBall positioning tool improves the usability of the software.

The company offers a free online trial of the anniversary edition. This trial doesn’t require downloading or installing the product on a desktop PC. It can be run in a web browser on any device. To get started, visit www.ironcad.com/TryIronCADNow.