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dassaultsystemes

Dassault Systèmes joins the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)

September 23, 2020 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes announced it has joined the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), a global organization focused on enabling digital sustainability. Becoming a member of GeSI means that Dassault Systèmes is adding its name to a growing number of major information, communication, and technology (ICT) companies and organizations from around the world that are seeking to enable social and environmental sustainability through technology.

“An innovation can’t be sustainable if its impacts on the environment and on people haven’t been thought through. Modeling these impacts in virtual universes can dramatically accelerate a more sustainable future and our collective ability to deliver on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals,” said Alice Steenland, Chief Sustainability Officer, Dassault Systèmes. “We are a purpose-driven company with the ambition to be the catalyst and enabler of a sustainable world, working constantly to improve people’s lives by addressing major sustainability challenges with our customers. We look forward to driving solutions in collaboration with other sustainability leaders as a part of GeSI.”

Luis Neves, Managing Director and CEO of GeSI, said that the organization welcomes a member like Dassault Systèmes with its vast experience in 3D digital technology.

“GeSI’s mission is to help create a smarter, more sustainable world with digital solutions at its core,” Neves said. “We are thrilled to have a company like Dassault Systèmes, a leader in its industry sector, join us as a Member. Their engagement reinforces GeSI’s work to harness innovative digital solutions as a force for good as we commit to the 2030 Agenda. We look forward to a long partnership with Dassault Systèmes.”

Through its 3DEXPERIENCE platform and digital applications, Dassault Systèmes provides business and people with collaborative 3D virtual environments to imagine sustainable innovations. Recognizing that sustainability is the primary driver of innovation in all sectors of the economy and progress in all domains of society, Dassault Systèmes is focused on helping its customers achieve sustainable growth, on creating a better world for people, and on empowering the workforce of the future.

GeSI is a globally recognized thought leader, partner of choice and proactive driver of the ICT sustainability agenda as measured by the development and use of its tools, broad member base and contributions to relevant policies. Its vision is to create a sustainable world through responsible, ICT-enabled transformation. Its members and partners use their collective knowledge and experience to identify opportunities and develop effective solutions in a number of critical areas including: climate change, energy/resource efficiency, e-waste management, responsible supply chain practices, labor rights and public policy.

Dassault Systèmes
www.3ds.com

Filed Under: Dassault Systemes Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

Generative design for flow applications

April 20, 2020 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Flow driven generative designer is a new application from Dassault Systèmes. Its intended use is to give users or designers access to simulation capabilities for fluid optimization.

As many designers know, the process of creating a part is typically based on experience and intuition. Generative design, however, offers a different approach. Generative design programs use boundary conditions, set by the designer, to drive and simulate how a part should look. Applications for flow driven generative design include powertrain design, HVAC, jet propulsion, injection molding, and valve and piping design.

Within the program, designers are encouraged to ask different questions. For example, rather than ask, ‘Does this shape meet the requirements?’, the question changes to ‘Which shape best meets the requirements?’

According to Colin Swearingen, generative design expert at Dassault Systèmes, “optimizing fluid flow for a particular component is a difficult process as it incorporates a number of aspects of engineering.” These aspects create an “over-the-wall” process where various engineering disciplines such as CAD, analysis, simulation, manufacturing, PLM and so on, are siloed and there is little collaboration.

One of the risks of siloed engineering is an increase in the number of data translation errors that can compromise a design. Another drawback is the lack of expertise in more than one engineering discipline. Few companies have designers who are experts in CAD, CFD, and analysis.

Thus, in a typical traditional design process, a designer begins with a design space and sets up boundary conditions. In the case of fluid, what are the inlet conditions and what are the outlet conditions? Are there any other restraints that need to be applied to the model?
Then the design is handed off to an analyst, who must then mesh the data and prepare it for a CFD model run.

The new shape also needs to be validated. In a typical design process, that’s a different tool that is used to compute the flow analysis as opposed to optimizing the shape to begin with.
So, designers do their best version of the design. However, it quickly becomes an iterative process every time a change is made.

The flow driven generative program is in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which also includes other engineering tools, such as CAD, simulation, analysis, optimization, and manufacturing. All of these are unified into one environment so that a designer can streamline the design process. This platform makes the process intuitive, helping users optimize the design earlier and eliminates all the data translations required in other tools and platforms.

In Flow driven generative, once the designer is satisfied with the initial iteration of the design, they simply click a button to begin a simulation. Then, they can run a flow analysis without leaving the design program.

File exchange is not needed in this process, and no data translation is necessary. Said Swearingen, “It’s intuitive, easy to use, and we really streamline the process. What we see is about a 10-times faster turnaround time.”

The program includes a design assistant that prompts the designer to answer specific boundary questions that help the program create a design.

Noted Swearingen, the program leverages best in class TOSCA fluid technology in the background. Tosca fluid and many of the Tosca applications are typically known as an expert tool. However, that’s being run in the background here. The designer is getting access to this simulation capability without needing to be a full-fledged expert in the program.

The goal of the Flow driven generative program is to remove the bottlenecks that make it cost prohibitive to explore optimized parts. Another goal is to develop a seamless collaboration with design and simulation departments. “In a unified environment,” said Swearingen, “it’s enabling collaboration and opening doors for users in a much more streamlined and efficient manner, to tackle the problems that arise with this type of workflow.”

Dassault Systèmes
www.3ds.com

Filed Under: Dassault Systemes, Simulation Software Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020

February 7, 2020 By wpengine Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes announced 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020 February 9-12 at Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn., where 6,000 designers, engineers, makers, entrepreneurs, students and business leaders from all industries can learn, collaborate, innovate and experience the latest 3D technologies driving the Industry Renaissance.

The inaugural 3DEXPERIENCE World builds on the 20-year legacy of Dassault Systèmes’ SOLIDWORKS World events dedicated to the 3D design and engineering community. With a larger selection of learning opportunities, presentations, products, new technologies and experts, attendees can develop and expand their skills to become more inventive, efficient and responsive across the different processes involved in the creation of new experiences that transform how the world thinks, works and lives.

In particular, 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020 will introduce SOLIDWORKS users to new strategies for business innovation through discussions and demonstrations of 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS, Dassault Systèmes’ portfolio of digital applications on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for collaborative design to manufacturing.

Other event highlights include:

• Keynote presentation from industry thought leader Charles Adler, co-founder and former head of design, Kickstarter.com, Kickstarter.
• Customers, innovators and partners on the cutting edge of design including Sam Rogers, additive design lead and jet suit pilot, Gravity Industries; Mikael Kajbring, CTO, Awake, makers of the Awake electric surfboard; Mike Schultz, founder of performance prosthetic manufacturer, BioDapt; Matt Carney of the MIT Media Lab Biomechatronics group; and more.
• More than 350 technical sessions in the form of lecture-style breakouts, hands-on workshops, and expert-led panel discussions on the latest innovations in 3D design, data management, simulation and manufacturing.
• The 3DEXPERIENCE playground, a dedicated space to discover new technologies, tools and applications from more than 100 partners, experience virtual and augmented reality innovations, participate in hackathon and Model Mania challenges, and see the impact of 3D technology on education and startups.

“We’re continuing the long legacy we’ve built with this community. 3DEXPERIENCE World, like last year’s SOLIDWORKS World, is a unique gathering where 3D enthusiasts can think creatively, network, and be inspired by future technological advances,” said Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, SOLIDWORKS, Dassault Systèmes. “Past SOLIDWORKS World attendees will still find everything they’ve come to expect each year, but also applications and uses of 3D technology they didn’t expect. First-time attendees will find a large selection of solutions and experts to connect with. We aim to showcase all the possibilities within the vast Dassault Systèmes ecosystem that help our user community to go about their work and successfully achieve their ambitions.”

Dassault Systèmes
www.3dexperienceworld.com

Filed Under: Dassault Systemes Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

Developing a zero-emission, all-electric regional commuter aircraft

November 12, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes announced that the electric air mobility pioneer, Eviation Aircraft, used the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud to develop the first prototype of its zero-emission, all-electric regional commuter aircraft – Alice – in two years.

In the race to create and commercialize new categories of sustainable air mobility systems, Eviation Aircraft accelerated the prototype’s development by deploying the “Reinvent the Sky” industry solution experience based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This scalable cloud solution supported the company’s holistic approach to 3D, composite design and flow simulation with improved collaboration while securing data in a single, standards-based environment.

“The electrification of aircraft isn’t a question of if, but when. As we aim to make clean regional air travel accessible for all, we needed to be able to make a product that people trust, sit in and fly, and do it quickly,” said Omer Bar-Yohay, CEO, Eviation Aircraft. “The right way to go about it was to use tools that we would want to use in the long run, and to work in the cloud to ensure fast, secure access and global collaboration. When we selected the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, we were an early-stage startup with limited resources and time. We’ve developed our commercial-stage prototype faster than we imagined, and have already signed our first customer in the U.S.”

Eviation Aircraft realized that transforming a prototype into a product that can be manufactured by the hundreds each year would require empowering its engineers with the long-term knowledge and know-how to build it to maturity for the next generation.

Once commercialized, Alice will be the world’s first all-electric regional commuter aircraft, capable of carrying nine passengers and two crew on a single charge for 650 miles at 10,000 feet.

Dassault Systèmes
www.3ds.com

Filed Under: Dassault Systemes, Smart manufacturing software Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

Dassault Systèmes introduces SOLIDWORKS 2020

September 18, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes introduced SOLIDWORKS 2020, the latest release of its portfolio of 3D design and engineering applications. SOLIDWORKS 2020 features enhancements, new capabilities and workflows that enable users to accelerate and improve product development, from conceptual design to manufactured products.

By seamlessly connecting to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, SOLIDWORKS 2020 addresses the emerging trends and business needs in the global marketplace that require competitive organizations to seek new levels of collaboration and agility to more quickly and cost-effectively deliver new categories of experiences to their customers.

With SOLIDWORKS 2020’s hundreds of new enhancements, users can benefit from an array of choices and opportunities to improve system performance in their daily operations, streamline workflows and extend their design to manufacturing ecosystem from the desktop to the cloud with seamless connection to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Among the hundreds of new enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2020 are:

–New Detailing mode and graphics acceleration for drawings: This mode lets users open their drawing in seconds while maintaining the ability to add and edit annotations within the drawing. Detailing mode is useful if users need to make minor edits to drawings of large assemblies or drawings with many sheets, configurations, or resource-intensive views.

–Make Part Flexible is a new capability that allows users to display the same part in different conditions in the same assembly. For example, the same spring exists twice in the same assembly, but in two different conditions – compressed and not compressed. Make Part Flexible is useful in many design applications such as springs, bellows, hinges, o-rings and just about any part that can flex or change condition.

–Improvements to SOLIDWORKS PDM, the SOLIDWORKS Electrical connector and a new SOLIDWORKS PCB connector allow for complete electronics design and data management – including the secure storage, indexing and versioning of all user data – while enabling tighter collaboration between ECAD and MCAD teams.

With SOLIDWORKS 2020, and the 3DEXPERIENCE.WORKS portfolio, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform offers a growing set of cloud-based solutions that work together to help manage every aspect of developing concepts, designing products, and manufacturing and delivering them. Solutions like 3D Sculptor, which includes the xShape (sub division modeling) application, 3D Creator featuring the xDesign (parametric modeling) application, 3D Component Designer (data management), Project Planner, and Structural Professional Engineer (advanced simulation), enable users to reduce friction in their design to manufacturing process.

As announced at SOLIDWORKS World 2019 earlier this year, all these cloud-based solutions will be part of the 3DEXPERIENCE.WORKS portfolio.

“We aren’t just bringing powerful new capabilities to the SOLIDWORKS portfolio everybody knows and loves, but also extending it to the cloud through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the only holistic digital experience platform in the world. We’ve built a bridge to our platform-based portfolio, empowering our users to take advantage of 3DEXPERIENCE.WORKS offerings,” said Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, SOLIDWORKS, Dassault Systèmes. “This gives organizations the environment and the applications to truly embrace the Industry Renaissance and its spirit of discovery for new ways of inventing, innovating, collaborating and producing.”

“Since 2002, Omax has used SOLIDWORKS applications to design every part of the fastest and most precise waterjet cutting technology in the industry,” said Eric A. Beatty, Senior Mechanical Designer, Omax Corporation. “Omax will continue to innovate and develop its waterjet machines and accessories with SOLIDWORKS 2020, which offers game-changing power, performance, and collaboration in the field by opening up access to the value creation process to everyone, everywhere, on any device.”

Dassault Systèmes’
www.3ds.com

Filed Under: SolidWorks Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

Dassault Systèmes and Cognata announce partnership to accelerate launch of safer autonomous vehicles

January 10, 2019 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes and Cognata, Ltd. announced that they are partnering to embed Cognata’s Autonomous Vehicle Simulation Suite into Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The partnership will help autonomous vehicle makers define, test and experience autonomous driving throughout the development cycle within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform brings features such as Smart, Safe and Connected to the transportation and mobility industry. Cognata’s simulation solution enables autonomous vehicle manufacturers to run thousands of different scenarios based on various geographic locations, traffic patterns, and weather conditions.

Incorporating the Cognata simulation suite into the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and leveraging CATIA systems engineering and applications, gives engineers a one-stop-shop for autonomous vehicle design, engineering, simulation and program management.

“Simulation is key at all stages of cyber systems engineering. Billions of miles must be virtually run before a car can be considered safe. AI-powered experiences that combines vehicle behavior, sensors and traffic models allow alternative designs to be tested in the concept phase to identify the optimal engineering solution,” said Philippe Laufer, CATIA CEO.

Said Danny Atsmon, CEO and Founder of Cognata, “The earlier simulation is used, the easier it is for engineers to modify each component of the autonomous vehicle and test it through a virtual environment, to see how it works once incorporated in the vehicle and confronted with unexpected edge cases.”

Dassault Systèmes
www.3ds.com

Cognata
www.cognata.com

Filed Under: Dassault Systemes Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

SOLIDWORKS 2019 includes Extended Reality to experience designs in VR, AR

September 14, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes launched SOLIDWORKS 2019, the latest release of its portfolio of 3D design and engineering applications. SOLIDWORKS 2019 delivers enhancements and new functions that help innovators get products into production faster, and create new categories of experiences for new categories of customers in today’s Industry Renaissance.

Powered by Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, SOLIDWORKS 2019 supports the design to manufacturing process with digital capabilities to solve complex design challenges and facilitate detail work in engineering. New features let product development teams better manage large amounts of data and capture a more complete digital representation of a design. The program also offers new technologies and workflows that improve collaboration and enable immersive, interactive experiences during design and engineering.

https://www.3dcadworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/media3.mp4

 

“We are using SOLIDWORKS to support implementation of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer 10-meter-class telescope that will open new possibilities for scientific discovery,” said Greg Green, Mechanical Designer/Instrument Maker, Canada France Hawaii telescope facility. “Our design processes generate a large and growing dataset. The final production version of the telescope will contain over 100,000 parts. We needed technology that can tackle large design projects, and SOLIDWORKS delivers.”

Among its new features, SOLIDWORKS 2019 provides greater design flexibility to quickly interrogate or rapidly make changes to a model through an enhanced Large Design Review capability. It also improves performance view manipulation to scale with higher-end graphics hardware. In addition, SOLIDWORKS 2019 allows teams to communicate outside of the design community by adding markups to parts and assemblies directly using a touch device, storing them with the model, and exporting them as a PDF.

https://www.3dcadworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/media5.mp4

Another feature is SOLIDWORKS Extended Reality (XR), a new application for publishing CAD scene data created in SOLIDWORKS – including lights, cameras, materials, decals, and motion study animations – and experiencing it in VR, AR and web viewers. Engineers can use SOLIDWORKS XR to improve collaborative internal and external design reviews, sell designs more effectively, train users how to assemble and interact with their products, and boost confidence in designs throughout the product development process.

Dassault Systèmes
www.solidworks.com/product/whats-new

 

Filed Under: Dassault Systemes, SolidWorks Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

Dassault Systèmes and Granta Design partner to deliver materials knowledge

May 24, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes is collaborating with Granta Design to help product innovation teams make more informed decisions about the materials they use for the products they are developing and the experiences they want to deliver.  Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform will integrate with Granta Design’s GRANTA MI system for materials information management, improving productivity and collaboration.

Thanks to the integration of GRANTA MI technology, approved information from a company’s materials database will be directly available to its product innovation teams on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.  Designers, engineers, simulation analysts and other stakeholders will be able to quickly access accurate and consistent information on materials and their properties, and check that requirements on their structural behavior, cost, application, compliance or sustainability are fulfilled.

“Science-driven companies using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to explore materials now gain higher levels of confidence and flexibility in their innovation process,” said Leif Pedersen, CEO, BIOVIA, Dassault Systèmes.  “The ability to search and assign the right material directly impacts the user experience, from the stiffness of a tennis racket or the cushioning of a car seat, to the right material for additive manufacturing, all while addressing increasing consumer awareness of the environmental impact of their product investment. Our customers need to understand the materials they are using, throughout the product innovation process.”

Materials are at the core of the next generation of products and experiences, giving rise to lighter and faster airplanes and automobiles, flexible high-tech devices, smart clothing, or 3D-printed medical devices.  Improved and consistent access to materials data throughout the design, development and manufacturing process will boost innovation, reduce the time needed to bring a product to market, and lower risks of product design errors or poor performance.

“We’re pleased to be working with Dassault Systèmes to bring the benefits of material intelligence to users of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform,” said Patrick Coulter, Chief Operating Officer, Granta Design. “We know that customers are eager to see this integration, and we look forward to delivering it to them – and to working along with Dassault Systèmes to build further applications that help engineering enterprises to get more value from materials knowledge.”

Dassault Systèmes

Granta Design

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Dassault Systèmes announces Global Entrepreneur Program to accompany startups, entrepreneurs and makers

January 9, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Dassault Systèmes announced at CES its Global Entrepreneur Program to accelerate the development of breakthrough innovations by startups, entrepreneurs and makers. The program, which leverages Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, applications, expertise, and community of mentors and services, delivers a full portfolio of tailored solutions and different types of engagement to accompany innovators at every step of their development, from seed to late stage.

More than 1,000 startups, entrepreneurs and makers have already embarked with Dassault Systèmes on digitally developing real-world products and experiences. With the Global Entrepreneur Program, they can use virtual worlds, collaboration, collective intelligence and communities to facilitate innovation, creativity, and to bring ideas to fruition. Innovators can advance projects integrating internet of things and other technologies, design and test products, access online prototyping services using the latest 3D printing methods, and share knowledge and knowhow with a qualified network of professionals, experts and peers from many industries.

Startups have different needs at each phase of their lifecycle. A one-size-fits-all technological, mentoring and marketing approach falls short of providing the diverse levels of support required to help them get products to market faster while, in parallel, addressing business challenges inherent to the startup world such as funding, staffing, IT infrastructure or sales.

The Global Entrepreneur Program’s tracks include design applications and training from SOLIDWORKS for Entrepreneurs for projects focused on mechanical innovation, as well as immersive acceleration in the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab for disruptive startups transforming society that require mentoring, prototyping and marketing support through a network of incubator, accelerator and Fab lab partners across the U.S. and Europe.

The Global Entrepreneur Program also includes the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform, community management, support and services that bring speed, agility, flexibility, experimentation and collaboration to projects that require more than just a new product engineering activity.

“Entrepreneurs have told us that they value the social community of an incubator above all else, and we listened,” said Frédéric Vacher, Director, Corporate Strategy Innovation, Dassault Systèmes. “Dassault Systèmes loves startups, and our Global Entrepreneur Program supports their innovation processes by providing cloud applications and online communities and services, whatever their industry, product, needs or maturity level. Gone are the days when only large companies had the myriad of skills, resources and capabilities to yield breakthroughs. We are a catalyst and enabler for large companies and startups alike to create concepts, bring virtual and real worlds together, and empower a renaissance of innovation.”

Dassault Systèmes
www.3ds.com

Filed Under: SolidWorks Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

Is SolidWorks CAM Better Than an Integrated System?

December 15, 2017 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

When the engineering software vendor announced it was moving from integrated CAM to a total CAD/CAM solution industry watchers took note.

Jean Thilmany, Contributing Editor

For engineers and design companies, it’s not difficult to find integrated computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing technologies. Yet, the announcement of SolidWorks CAM, released in October as a SolidWorks 2018 add-on, has created a small buzz in engineering technology circles.

Why?

It’s no secret that engineers struggle to create designs that are easy to manufacture while machinists complain about receiving unworkable CAD models.

An imperfect fit

CAM software uses the CAD models to generate the toolpaths that drive computer numerically controlled manufacturing machines. Engineers and designers who use CAM can evaluate designs earlier in the design process to ensure they can be manufactured, thus avoiding product costs and delays.

Without CAM, manufacturers can be on their own when programming machines to make the CAD model. And not all those who design in CAD enter design features into CAM to control the machine tools. Without CAM, manufacturers use the CAD design to program the tools themselves.

SolidWorks CAM could create codes for the end machine used for manufacturing.

“The general idea has been that engineers design something and then the manufacturing people eventually figure out how to manufacture it,” says Sandesh Joshi. “With integrated CAM, they’re not as disconnected as that, but there’s still a disconnect. This SolidWorks tool could close that disconnect.”

Closing the CAD/CAM disconnect

Joshi is chief executive officer at the CAD outsourcing firm Indovance. Previously, he spent six years on the SolidWorks research and development team.

The SolidWorks offering could ramp up the number of CAM users by making the tool available to more engineers and designers, Joshi says. The SolidWorks 2018 release marks the first time that SolidWorks is providing the CAM product as part of its design solution.

SolidWorks CAM is “powered by” CAMWorks, in the vendor’s parlance. Before the October release, CAMWorks, from HCL Technologies, was one of many third-party CAM tools available for integration with the vendor’s CAD program.

Of course other CAD vendors offer integrated CAD and CAM solutions.

Siemens PLM Software, for example, also offers CAMWorks as an embedded solution within its Solid Edge CAD program. NX CAM, also from Siemens PLM Software, is integrated with other NX solutions, which allows NC programmers and manufacturing engineers to associatively access design, assembly and drafting tools in a one part-manufacturing environment, according to that software maker. And CAM features are integrated into the Fusion 360 design tool from Autodesk.

But rather than taking on two separate software solutions, CAD and CAM can act as one system within SolidWorks CAM, Joshi says. That could make CAM easier and more straightforward to the software’s users.

The solution is fully integrated with SolidWorks so users need not leave the familiar SolidWorks environment, says Mike Buchli, senior SolidWorks product and portfolio manager. It supports feature recognition and can generate machining operations directly from native SolidWorks files or from imported data. Toolpaths are automatically updated based on changes to the model.

If SolidWorks 2018 engineers and designers feel they’re working within one integrated system–rather than two separate but connected software systems—they might begin to automatically use CAM and to consistently consider manufacturability as they design the product, he adds.

The vendor’s tool opens the way toward making CAM ubiquitous on engineers’ desktops, much as 3D CAD is now more-or-less used across an industry that once relied on 2D drawings, he said.

The part process from CAD to machining will never be a “one-click process,” Joshi says. But it certainly can become more streamlined through the use of a common CAD and CAM system.

“The difference is engineers would be using CAM as they design so manufacturability is easier,” he says.

“When we build assemblies, we have clash detection. Similarly, CAM gives us red flags for manufacturability right at he design stage, saves a lot of time and money,” Joshi says. “Today all design engineers don’t necessarily deal with CAM, so having access to that will help engineers design for manufacturing way ahead in the product design cycle.

SolidWorks CAM holds the potential for both designers and manufacturers–the possibility of a key to the elusive quest for CNC standardization.

“Some kind of machining cannot be done, and if that’s true it’s better to change the design right away rather than during the manufacturing process,” he says.

The system offers tools to validate and improve part and tool designs, including part-manufacturability checks and tool-motion simulation, Buchli says.

In a blog post introducing the tool, he outlined other benefits, such as the capability to:

–Recognize certain types of geometry to understand how those features will be manufactured, and how much it will cost to manufacture.

–Read tolerances and surface finishes and make decisions about how to manufacture the product

–Automatically apply best manufacturing strategies so manufacturing processes faster and more standard

–Automate quoting and compare it to traditional methods to ensure all aspects of the part are accounted for ahead of time

Fewer codes in the future?

The introduction of SolidWorks CAM holds the potential for another big benefit for both designers and manufacturers: the possibility of a key to the elusive quest for CNC standardization, Joshi says.

If the CAM tool becomes popular among SolidWorks users, Joshi can envision a day when the software automatically produces the G-codes that drive the machines that manufacture the part.

Right now, manufacturers struggle to drive their machining processes directly from their design software. The CAD systems don’t “speak the language” of various machines such as cutters and laser cutters, CNC mills and lathes.

“There are different flavors of G-codes depending on the CNC controller,” Joshi says. “The basic commands and operations generally will work on all machines but there are particular specialties and differences.

If SolidWorks CAM becomes widespread with designers who already use the vendor’s CAD program, the vendor “could potentially create codes for the end machine used for manufacturing,” Joshi adds. “The designer may not have to worry about that up front, but it makes manufacturing a lot smoother.”

With enough popularity, others will adopt those same end-machine codes, he says, creating a more-or-less-standard manufacturing-machine programming code.

And he knows of what he speaks. Currently, designers often rely on machinists and production engineers to develop strategies to effectively make the part.

“Job shops and manufacturing generate G-code for their CNC machine tools based on the CAD models they receive,” Joshi says.

Technologists at his company help interpret “on the back end” how to machine CAD designs, he says. He sees the issues manufacturers have with CAD designs.

“These companies get models from anybody and everybody and they don’t necessarily have all the types of CAD software. So they’re importing raw data rather than inclusive parametric models,” Joshi says. “It still works, but it’s more work.

“If the process is more integrated from end to end, it’s more likely to be seamless,” he adds. “If something has to be changed or modified it can be done quickly rather than going to engineering and coming back and being modified for machining.”

At SolidWorks World 2017, held last February, at which SolidWorks CAM was teased, Buchli related the benefits integrated CAD and CAM can mean for a company, specifically CP-Carillo, of Irvine, Calif., which makes pistons and connecting rods for high-performance race vehicles. The company saw a “significant increase in throughput” when using the then-integrated SolidWorks and CAMWorks, Buchli said in February.

Before using CAMWorks, the manufacturer input SolidWorks model geometry into the Mastercam program to create toolpaths and generate G-codes.

“We programmed each custom piston order manually, slowing down manufacturing,” says Karl Ramm, former CP-Carillo senior technology manager and project developer.

“Each job would take about 10 minutes for non-complex pistons and up to 40 minutes for complex pistons–and that’s programming time alone,” Ramm adds.

When the company brought in the integrated CAD and CAM solution, “custom orders that took days to design and program went down to hours,” Ramm says. “What used to take five to 15 minutes takes seconds now.”

The time-savings comes because the process is automated. Designers load custom criteria into a database and launch SolidWorks. The design application automatically pulls in that criteria and the designer can then create the new piece, which it transfers into CAMWorks. The CAM program then automatically generates new toolpaths and posts them to CNC machines in the shop, Ramm says.

The capability to share that kind of design and programming knowledge between engineering and manufacturing speaks to one of the biggest benefits of an integrated CAD and CAM system, Buchli says.

Another benefit is consistency of workflow. At CP-Carillo, custom orders always follow the same path. Design engineers and manufacturers know what’s expected of them when creating and manufacturing custom orders, Buchli adds.

SolidWorks CAM is much too new to see if any of Joshi’s predictions about standardization and popularity will play out.

But product lifecycle management consultancy CIMdata Inc. says it welcomes the decision to package and offer SolidWorks CAM.

“It protects the investment of CAMWorks users and adds proven CAM capabilities to SolidWorks,” according to a CIMdata statement.

While it remains to be seen if SolidWorks CAM is a step beyond the type of integrated CAD and CAM systems that exist today, Joshi and CIMdata are certain the engineering software vendor has taken a step in the direction down which the industry must travel to iron out disconnects between engineering and manufacturing and to save manufacturers costs and development time in the future.

Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corporation
Solidworks.com

Filed Under: CAD Package, CAM, Featured Tagged With: dassaultsystemes

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