This session will focus on the impact that PLM technology and methodologies has had on Powertrain development at Ford Motor Company. Employing a combination of industry-proven methods, best practices and a Knowledgeware Lean framework, the application of CATIA V5 has resulted in substantial benefits in an attempt to leverage its full capabilities. This presentation will focus on the criticality of process mapping methods and alignment of technology to new process goals. It will outline how these tools have been implemented at Ford Motor Company production environment and enabled the adoption of new engine and transmission development processes.

An Ambiguous Design is one that is overly dependent on boundary elements (Vertices, Edges), specification element orientation (curve direction, surface orientation), or component position to ensure a stable realization of design intent. This presentation provides an explaination and solutions to some of the most common problems a user may encounter while creating a releational design or a knowledge template.

In large, complex products there can be many changes that affect the form, fit and function at the lowest levels yet do not impact the form, fit or function at a higher level. This presentation will discuss how to implement the philosophy of rolling the configuration of the product only to the level of interchangeability using the ENOVIA LCA product data manager.

Designing sheet metal stamping dies issues with Catia. Standardizing Die Design though Catalog components. Purchased components and Custom NC  parts. Using Define Component to insert Die components. The use of Technological Results for Holes and Assemble for Pockets and Keyways. The advantage of Tool Design Splits and Publication of Surfaces. Automated Detail Drawing creation using Visual Basic. Automated Drilling of Technological Results  with Preparation Machining Assistant. and Visual Basic.

Creating and implementing a KBE application using CATIA Knowledgeware tools is sometimes only the first step in getting an Automation project off the ground. This presentation examines the Parker Actuator Configurator – a generic KBE application that could “engineer2configure” multiple actuator solutions right from input specs -- deployed with a VB.NET user interface. Presentation will discuss the rationale for using knowledgeware tools, generative creation of CATIA models via scripts and few elegant KBE concepts (e.g. Smartpart) for solution derivations and generalizations so that many types of actuators can be designed and configured just by changing few input specifications. This presentation will also review how providing a robust interface that relieves the user of the tedium of manually setting parameter values, solving rule bases, and firing scripts not only automates the use of knowledge but also helps promote its acceptance in the workforce. Project challenges during application definition, code development, deployment and lessons learned will also be discussed.