DELMIA Announces End-to-End Machining Solutions

Reduces time and cost involved in component machining

DELMIA Corp., a Dassault Systèmes company, has announced the availability of its End-To-End (E2E) Machining Solutions comprised of a suite of DELMIA applications that encapsulates numerous activities found throughout the machining process – from Process Planning to NC programming to NC Verification and Inspection.

Using DELMIA’s Process Engineer, a project is initialized in the conceptual product design phase, capturing logistical information such as location, labor, production shifts, production volume and budgets. This data is then integrated with DELMIA’s Manufacturing Hub to facilitate all ongoing communication and collaboration. A rough skeleton process plan is thus able to be produced even before the 3D design data is available.

As the 3D engineering design matures, logistical information in the skeleton plan is enriched and associated with the 3D information to generate machined in-process models. This early access to machined models in the manufacturing cycle facilitates better and more cost-effective decision-making. In-process models form the basis for numerous other activities in the E2E machining flow such as tolerance charting, 2D drawings, fixture design and NC programming. Details on tool paths, tool orientations, approach/retracts and tool change positions are eventually added to these models, resulting in the NC code that drives the machines.

Using the powerful machining simulation offering from DELMIA, manufacturers can quickly and efficiently verify both parts and processes to reduce man-hours, increase machine utilization and improve product and process quality. Part verification features material removal simulation and analysis of machined parts based on tool paths. Tool paths can also be verified upfront from a process perspective by simulating machine movements to check reachability and detect potential collisions on tool paths even before the NC code is generated. And, once the tool path is verified and optimized, a programmer can validate the entire NC process using a model of the machining center including tool changer and material handling devices using the post-processed NC code.

Once the parts are machined, DELMIA’s E2E solution enables virtual inspection and off-line programming of the CMM. Powerful, yet easy to use, DELMIA’s INSPECT allows users to design inspection paths with desired probe approaches, retracts, part alignments -- and verify them for collisions. Any conflicts can be resolved in the virtual environment, increasing productivity and reducing time-to-market.

“DELMIA’s E2E Machining Solution collaborates engineering and planning teams and enables users to execute process planning activities simultaneously during the design phase,” says DELMIA’s N.C. Kishore. “In this virtual environment, best practice information can be captured, shared and re-used. The result is high quality, structured process planning to help manufacturers to increase productivity, reduce time-to-market and help them gain a real competitive advantage.”

Dassault Systèmes and IBM Announce Version 5 Release 14 of their Product Lifecycle Management Portfolio

New version enables users to “Imagine and Work as a Global Team” with advanced collaboration functionalities

Dassault Systèmes and IBM today announced the release of Version 5 Release 14 (V5R14) of their product lifecycle management (PLM) portfolio, comprised of CATIA for collaborative product development, and ENOVIA and SMARTEAM for product data and life cycle management, collaboration, and decision support. Concurrently, Dassault Systèmes announced V5R14 of DELMIA for digital development of factory and production processes.

The new release “Imagine and Work as a Global Team” introduces breakthrough technologies for industrial design and improved collaborative product development. For example, a new Workpackage Exchange product enables companies across the value chain to exchange detailed product definitions, promote concurrent relational design, and protect corporate intellectual property.

A revolutionary new CATIA Imagine and Shape product extends V5 PLM to industrial designers by enabling them to explore product ideas more rapidly, while permitting last-minute styling modifications for greater product success.

A new web-based ENOVIA LCA navigator provides role-specific access to PLM information throughout the enterprise. Engineers and non-engineers alike can navigate product, process, and resource information they require to perform their jobs.

“V5R14 will extend the breakthrough success we attained with the virtual development platform for the Falcon 7X,” said Jacques Pellas, CIO, Dassault Aviation. “It will enable us to broaden the scope of PLM to include 7X digital support and operational maintenance. V5 PLM is essential to us as we build the most efficient and competitive aircraft in its category.”

“As a supplier of gas turbine engines and a partner of the Falcon 7X program, we demonstrated the efficiency of the global collaborative workspace, thus increasing our pace of innovation,” said Amal Girgis, CIO, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “V5 PLM Solutions give us world-class tools for collaborative innovation while improving data exchange, integrity, and security.”

“The Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG is leveraging the power of the full V5 solution suite in the vehicle product development process,” said Ron Bienkowski, director, Technical Computer Center, Chrysler Group, DaimlerChrysler Corp. “This means that each of our V5 users will be a power user. In this context, the VPM Navigator will effectively manage vehicle product data. The CATIA embedded user interface enables our engineers to work quickly and effectively in the context of their activity as part of the whole vehicle product definition.”

The V5R14 product portfolio brings business value to manufacturers in the following areas:

Global Collaborative Workspace – V5R14 strengthens collaboration across the value chain, enabling companies to work as one with their customers and partners to develop industry leading products. Along with the new Workpackage Exchange product, V5R14 also offers new products for communication between OEMs and suppliers in the virtual product development environment, and for co-design among designers informally working together on the same design either in real-time or in asynchronous mode.

Innovation Catalyst – In addition to the CATIA Imagine and Shape product, V5R14 offers enhancements to Functional Modeling that extend to molded and cast parts. The release provides improved design-to-simulation capabilities for composite parts and new and improved Industry Solutions for Aerospace Structures Engineering, Integrated Mechanical Product Development for the Electronics industry, and Collaborative System Engineering.

Personalized Navigation – The ENOVIA LCA Navigator improves productivity by enabling all users in an extended enterprise to navigate Product, Process, and Resource definitions. It offers 2D/3D Web viewing, instant collaboration, and lifecycle management services. An enhanced VPM Navigator includes capabilities for easier session building, faster navigation, and extended relational design support. The release also offers faster retrieval of product-related process and resource information from the Manufacturing Hub, and improved SMARTEAM web-based client capabilities.

Capture, Protect and Reuse Intellectual Property – V5R14 introduces new Technological Packages in the Engineering Hub comprised of rules, specifications, and tolerancing data, enabling companies to capitalize on their valuable intellectual property by capturing, protecting, and reusing their corporate knowledge assets.

Proven, Open, and Standard – The new release incorporates specialized PLM technology from new CAA V5 software community members such as Galaxia, Metrologic, Noesis, and Lattice Technology, bringing to 48 the total number of CAA V5 SCP partners.

“With V5R14, we are expanding on our strategy of collaboration and innovation with major advances in areas such as easy PLM navigation, imaginative design, and global collaborative PLM,” said Bernard Charlès, president and CEO, Dassault Systèmes. “The web-based ENOVIA LCA Navigator opens PLM to new categories of users and sets new standards for accessibility and openness.”

V5R14 Brand Highlights: for detailed V5R14 brand information, visit http://plm.3ds.com/V5R14.

CATIA for collaborative product development – In addition to Imagine and Shape, CATIA V5R14 broadens the use of collaborative engineering across the extended enterprise with the new CATIA - Instant Collaborative Design product and offers advanced capacities for exchanging and reconciling engineering packages. It also bolsters the revolutionary CATIA – Functional Molded Part product to address casting parts modeling for the Automotive and F&A industries.

ENOVIA for product data and lifecycle management and decision support – ENOVIA V5R14 extends the capabilities of next-generation VPM with 3D session building. It also extends ENOVIA LCA to web-based applications that are: easy to deploy on top of enterprise middleware; easy to learn; and work with DELMIA to deliver engineering-to-manufacturing common change management.

SMARTEAM for product lifecycle collaboration – SMARTEAM V5R14 delivers expanded industry and cross-industry business process solutions through accelerated PLM deployment of optimized product development, and enhances management of fully integrated product and project data, facilitating productivity, knowledge reuse, and use of resources.

DELMIA for digital development of factory and production processes – DELMIA V5R14 refines the solutions for Final Assembly with the DELMIA – Electrical Harness Process Simulation product. It also provides process planners with easy-to-use machining feature tolerancing capabilities with the new DELMIA - Machining Tolerancing Assistant product.

About IBM

IBM is the world’s largest technological company, providing leadership and innovation throughout the world for more than 80 years. IBM is the largest supplier of “hardware”, “software” and Information Technology services, and pioneered the development and implementation of “e-business” solutions. IBM Sales & Distribution, which supports more than a dozen key industries worldwide, works with companies of all sizes around the world to deploy the full range of IBM technologies. The fastest way to get more information about IBM is through the IBM home page at http://www.ibm.com

Christopher P. Sciacca
Strategic Communications, Manager
IBM Product Lifecycle Management

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Gardena to Cultivate Product Development with CATIA V5 and SMARTEAM

German garden supply vendor deploys PLM Solutions from IBM and Dassault Systèmes

IBM and Dassault Systèmes announced that Gardena AG, a leading international supplier of products for the planning, design and care of gardens, has chosen to deploy the CATIA V5 and SMARTEAM Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Solutions.

Gardena will use its expanded PLM implementation to focus on improving its product-development processes. Using CATIA V5, the world’s leading 3D digital product development solution, Gardena’s engineers will design products ranging from gardening shears to irrigation computers. With SMARTEAM, for collaborative product data and lifecycle management, engineers will be able to share data with partners and across other Gardena departments, and manage product development collaboratively in real time. Both products are developed by Dassault Systèmes.

IBM PLM Solutions will enable Gardena, which had previously installed CATIA V4, to define its entire product line virtually, before production, thereby eliminating the need to create expensive product prototypes. The company will also be able to better manage and reduce the number and variety of parts used in its products, thereby saving overhead costs.

Participating in the Gardena PLM implementation with IBM and Dassault Systèmes are IBM Business Partners Ei-Tea GmbH, Schwindt CAD/CAM Technologie GmbH, and T-Systems.

“The primary reason why we decided to implement PLM solutions from IBM and Dassault Systèmes was the integration of CATIA V5’s design capabilities with SMARTEAM’s collaborative product data and lifecycle management functionality in a single package,” said Johannes Stephany, head of product development processes, Gardena AG.

"The availability of 3D models in early phases of development projects gives us a chance to qualify concepts and development plans," said Peter Lameli, head of research and development, Gardena AG. "Virtual prototypes minimize risk and allow us to avoid cost-intensive prototypes."

“ Gardena’s choice underscores the capabilities and the openness of our PLM solutions, which enable our consumer goods customers to integrate them readily in their current environments and reuse legacy data,” said Raoul van Engelshoven, vice president, PLM, IBM Europe Middle East and Africa. “The integration of design functionality in CATIA V5 and the networked process management functionality in SMARTEAM offer consumer goods companies a powerful solution for innovative product development.”

“As Gardena’s decision to expand its implementation shows, the consumer goods market is the next frontier for PLM Solutions,” said Denis Senpéré, vice president of PLM, Europe, Dassault Systèmes. “Companies in this market are discovering that they too can experience the same return on investment that our PLM solutions have delivered to companies in other industries for years.”

About Gardena
Gardena AG is the market leader in garden accessories and sells its products throughout the world. The group employs more than 3,000 people and has its headquarters in Ulm, Germany. From 2002-2003, Gardena AG earned revenues totaling EUR 440.3 million. For more information, visit www.gardena.com.

Integral Powertrain Ltd. Speeds Projects and Drives Revenues with SMARTEAM

Leading automotive engineering services supplier relies on SMARTEAM for multi-CAD engineering, collaborative design and streamlined engineering change management

Integral Powertrain Ltd. is a well-respected automotive powertrain engineering consultancy supplying vehicle manufacturers and OEMs with engineering of engines and engine installation systems, engine design tools, and engine management system applications. Established in 1998 and based in Milton Keynes, UK, the company has prestigious customers among automotive OEMs, engine manufacturers, and Tier 1 suppliers, including DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford, Nissan Motor Co., Cummins Engines, Visteon and many more.

Integral Powertrain and the Automotive Supply Chain

Most Integral Powertrain projects involve design changes and re-engineering of engines and related systems for OEMs. Typically, Integral Powertrain works with each customer to define project inputs, assumptions and goals and then delivers against these the designs, drawings, benchmark and test data, part models and simulation results.

To perform these tasks efficiently, Integral Powertrain uses a variety of specialized templates to consistently apply its engineering and manufacturing knowledge and rules. For example, when creating part models, Integral Powertrain collaborates with the customer’s manufacturing group and key suppliers to create the models in the customer’s native CAD environment. The need to systematically and quickly access data, enable collaboration among several different engineers and to manipulate the data in multiple CAD systems spurred Integral Powertrain to seek a system such as SMARTEAM.

PLM Challenges

As competition in the powertrain market becomes fiercer, Integral Powertrain must provide OEMs with distinct advantages in order to secure their business. Integral Powertrain decided that PLM would help its customers reduce powertrain program cost and duration while improving supplier and client design collaboration, providing OEMs with unique powertrain engineering knowledge using state-of-the-art technology. By eliminating redundancy and improving decision-making, SMARTEAM contributes to the overall success of the powertrain engineering program.

SMARTEAM optimally manages Pro/ENGINEER data

Data Management

On the most basic level, SMARTEAM controls data flow and automates CAD data management. Says Luke Barker, Technical Director, “SMARTEAM provides a single point of controlled access to the majority of Integral Powertrain’s CAD and non-CAD data, which was previously distributed across various network drives. Eliminating multiple copies of the same data, together with providing full revision management and document history tracking, facilitates the reuse of design data. Excellent search and retrieval mechanisms mean that engineers always have access to the latest data when required; re-using existing data is therefore a much simpler and painless process.” In responding to RFQs, Integral Powertrain is expected to carry out a comprehensive feasibility study in minimal time; this means that data management is extremely important and the level of change to the data is very high.

Collaborative Design and Engineering Change Management

SMARTEAM enables Integral Powertrain to collaboratively integrate data and business process management. Designers are confident that they are working on the latest revision of data. “The latest project data is easily available to all engineers employed on the project, thereby ensuring that engineers are not working in isolation; they have full visibility of all design changes as they happen,” explains Barker. “The internal SMARTEAM viewer provides a valuable overview tool, enabling project leaders and managers to view the latest project data without having unnecessary and expensive CAD software installed on their machines.” Says Darren Cairns, Director of CAE, “We work as a team using a number of linked CATIA V5 models and associated design tools to ensure that designs adhere to defined rules. In addition, the use of SMARTEAM – Workflow provides a mechanism to manage our change control approval management and lets us maximize the benefit of our investment in knowledge-based design tools.” The greatest impact on the business is through the use of SMARTEAM-Workflow to formalize and control the Engineering Change Process. Says Cairns, “It is a vital part of our business to keep a clear record of design changes. It is clear that the benefits achieved through the use of Workflow alone have justified the implementation of SMARTEAM.”

Multi-CAD Integration

When carrying out projects for large vehicle manufacturers, the programs often stipulate that Integral Powertrain use the same CAD solution as the customer. Simultaneously meeting these requirements for different customers is a challenge. The multi-CAD capability of SMARTEAM allows Integral Powertrain to manage data in the long term across all CAD systems and to interface with the different PDM systems specified by their customers. Integral Powertrain currently utilizes integrations to SMARTEAM CATIA V5, Pro/ENGINEER and Microsoft Office to store both CAD and non-CAD data in a single SMARTEAM database. Integration with ideas is in early stages of deployment.

SMARTEAM Integration to Pro/ENGINEER

Integral Powertrain chooses SMARTEAM to manage data on projects where the customer dictates that Pro/ENGINEER must be used. The integration provides access to SMARTEAM managed data from within Pro/ENGINEER and manages the links created when working with complex product structures. When combined with the SMARTEAM revision control mechanism, the integration enables a concurrent engineering approach to working with Pro/ENGINEER. Using SMARTEAM to access Pro/ENGINEER data simplifies searches and re-use of existing designs, as desired components can be added directly to the Pro/ENGINEER session. ‘Where Used’ and ‘Composed Of’ information for all parts is easy to access. The SMARTEAM viewer allows individuals in management or overview roles valuable access to Pro/ENGINEER data from outside the CAD environment.

SMARTEAM and Supply Chain Collaboration

Integral Powertrain targets accelerated concurrent and collaborative engineering with their suppliers via SMARTEAM solutions. “Our aim is to have all of our suppliers either using SMARTEAM, or having access to SMARTEAM, so that we can collaborate more effectively by giving our suppliers greater accessibility to our live database, rather than a copy of the data,” said Darren Cairns. Integral Powertrain plans to deploy SMARTEAM Web Editor and Community Workspace products to improve communication with suppliers. The use of SMARTEAM within Integral Powertrain will expand in parallel to the increased use of CATIA V5.

SMARTEAM Implementation

Integral Powertrain found installation of SMARTEAM to be very straightforward. All of the tools needed to perform customizations were supplied with the product and found fairly simple to use. The daily maintenance of their SMARTEAM system proved negligible. IBM Business Partner Intrinsys, who installed SMARTEAM at Integral Powertrain and is, in fact, part of the same business group, has broad experience installing, implementing, maintaining and servicing SMARTEAM applications. Intrinsys has been responsible for some of the largest SMARTEAM installations in the UK.

Benefits from SMARTEAM

Integral Powertain has reduced development time for powertrain design by up to 40% with the IBM and Dassault Systèmes PLM solution, of which SMARTEAM is a key component. By facilitating design reuse, SMARTEAM contributes to Integral Powertrain designers making better decisions and reaching optimal, error-free designs in a shorter amount of time. Concurrent engineering and faster tooling design shorten powertrain engineering design time as well. According to an independent study by CIMdata, Integral Powertrain has achieved significant time and cost reductions with its IBM and Dassault Systèmes PLM implementation, including the following benefits:

• Engineers and designers can find information approximately 90% more quickly through the use of data management;
• The use of better automation has improved the management of design changes, with Engineering Change (EC) cycle times reduced by about 25%;
• The time required to create Bills of Material (BOMs) has been cut over 65%; costs of fixing errors in BOMs has fallen by 85%;
• In particular, EC review time in the manufacturing stage is down by up to 75%, while the cost of errors found during production has been reduced by up to 60%;
• EC administration and execution costs are down by as much as 75%;
• The cost of new parts in product designs has dropped by over 40% due to the reuse of designs from previous projects; Rework costs
• have been reduced by 60%;

Conclusion

Integral Powertrain believes that the impact of PLM on the automotive supply chain will be huge as companies realize that there is more to be gained from software tools than just CAD geometry. The company sees that the widespread use of CATIA V5 across the industry within both OEMs and the supply chain will dictate greater need for a PDM solution that supports links management. Integral Powertrain views PLM as a vital enabler, ensuring the readiness of the company to cope with the future demands of the industries it serves.

Solution Snapshot

Challenges:

• Reduce cost and duration of powertrain engineering programs
• Improve design collaboration with suppliers and clients
• Provide OEMs with unique powertrain engineering knowledge using state-of-the-art technology

Solution:

• By facilitating design reuse, SMARTEAM aids Integral Powertrain to make better decisions and produce optimal, error-free designs faster
• Concurrent engineering and faster tooling design accelerate powertrain engineering design projects
• Using SMARTEAM within the IBM/DS PLM solution, Integral Powertrain has achieved:
• reduced engineering change cycle times by some 25%
• reduced BOM creation time by over 65%
• reduced development time for powertrain design by up to 40%

Intrinsys

Following on from developing its own CAE systems and carrying out implementations at selected clients, Intrinsys now provides comprehensive CAE solutions to the wider engineering community. Intrinsys specializes in providing complete CAE services to its clients, including software and hardware sales, systems installation, training, help desk and extensive support services.

At the hub of Intrinsys methods is CATIA software. The company has been working closely with IBM and Dassault to incorporate the powerful knowledge-based parametric capability of V5 into its in-house design process. For more information, visit www.intrinsys.co.uk.

About SMARTEAM Corporation Ltd.

SMARTEAM develops, markets and supports rapidly implemented, yet totally customizable, product lifecycle collaboration solutions that drive efficiency, quality and responsiveness for customer-centric organizations and their value chains. Founded in 1995, SMARTEAM is one of the fastest-growing companies in the PLM market, with more than 3,000 customers worldwide. Its broad solutions portfolio enables manufacturing organizations and their suppliers and customers to efficiently manage and leverage product knowledge and business processes, from concept through maintenance. SMARTEAM solutions help companies of all sizes gain improvements in product quality, reduce costs, expedite project turnaround, comply with industry standards and shorten time-to-market. SMARTEAM is a Dassault Systèmes and IBM PLM solution and is delivered by world-class resellers on every continent.