The results were announced last week and published in a CPDA report titled, Simulation Data & Process Management – Vendor Scorecard. The report details the evaluation of five leading suppliers of software in this category, and was conducted using 60 criteria in four main categories. These categories were further subdivided into a total of 27 subcategories in which each vendor was given a score of one to five, with five being the highest possible score. Teamcenter outperformed the competition throughout the report with a series of impressive statistics.

·Teamcenter outscored all other vendors in all four main categories

·No other solution scored higher than Teamcenter in 24 of 27 subcategories

·Teamcenter scored a perfect “five” in 21 of 27 subcategories

·Teamcenter achieved a score of four or higher in 26 of 27 subcategories

According to the independent CPDA report, “The natural integration of the SDPM layer in the overall PLM framework (of Teamcenter) provides additional benefits for the sophisticated user willing to work with the full capabilities of PLM concepts. Linking together requirements management, system engineering, product design, simulation, manufacturing, and support represents the core capabilities targeted by Teamcenter. Teamcenter for Simulation perfectly covers analysts’ needs in that environment.”

In addition to Siemens PLM Software, CPDA’s evaluation also covered four other vendors – ANSYS, Dassault Systemes/SIMULIA, MSC.Software and Altair. Each vendor demonstrated its solutions in live sessions with intense discussion with the exception of Altair, whose new offerings were scheduled to start delivering at the end of 2009.

Siemens PLM Software
www.siemens.com

::Design World::

Source: :: Design World ::

The first podcast will focus on realistic rendering and examining the integration of CAD files in modo. Future podcasts will explore additional features within modo and how the software fits into larger visual effects pipelines in a variety of industries. While Pixel Corps has always centered heavily on training and education, this will mark a new initiative to provide software training to the public for free. For more information or to download the complimentary podcast, please visit http://www.pixelcorps.tv/modoshop.

Luxology LLC
www.luxology.com

Pixel Corps
www.pixelcorps.com

::Design World::

Source: :: Design World ::

Today, a key task for innovators is to test and validate ideas quickly, and beat your competition to market.

The Internet enables us to easily share data and connect with others using text, image, music and video. Each year, as bandwidth and computing power increase and networks become more available, sharing ideas becomes easier, faster and cheaper. As ideas are so freely transmitted, we are presented with more ideas than we, as engineers, could possibly come up with on our own. But turning ideas into reality is where the cost comes in – and it is usually an expensive price tag. In an age where ideas are produced cheaply, innovators become the people who can test and validate ideas quickly, enabling them to not only determine profitable ideas, but also release products to market faster than the competition.

Animage LLC used prototyping to demonstrate their imaging algorithms
on a bench-top device before finalizing their design.

Prototyping is an often overlooked or underinvested step in product development; however it can be a serious competitive advantage in research-intensive industries such as medical device and robotic design. If you can demonstrate your capabilities and get a prototype into the investor or customer’s hands to achieve real feedback on the value of your innovation, the probability of business success greatly increases. If you want to stay ahead of your competition and move your idea out of your head, develop a prototype with the following guidelines in mind.

Reduce cost and risk: Prototyping reduces the cost of developing an idea by minimizing the end product to a set of features and requirements indicative of the final design. The goal of prototyping should be to quickly provide a proof of concept demonstrating functionality that will be examined and evaluated by customers, clients and definitely the design team itself. By developing this proof of concept, your engineering team can prove the validity of their ideas though software algorithms and hardware designs. Two objectives will determine which elements to include in a prototype – feasibility testing and customer feedback. Feasibility testing allows the engineering team and investors to understand the risks associated with the development process, while customer feedback will provide valuable insight on how to revise your design to meet the market’s needs. However, remember not to fall in love with the process of prototyping and iterating. The point of prototyping is to put in just enough work to meet your design objectives.

Fight “reversion to the mean:” While it is important to put in just enough work while prototyping, don’t fall into the trap of developing something that is too simple and will generate little interest, rather than delivering a functional prototype that maintains the “wow” factor of the idea. By staying true to the original vision, you can develop a prototype that separates them from the masses by capturing the original thought of the innovation. The “wow” factor can be an impressive user interface or a breakthrough in processing capabilities. It is what will attract potential customers, investors and other engineers that will take the product from lab to market.

Animage for vets: Being able to quickly create an impressive user interface coupled with advanced imaging algorithms and a mechanical system helped Animage LLC. “wow” prospective customers when developing their prototype Fidex system. Fidex is a multimodality diagnostic imaging system for small animal veterinary practices. The competitive advantage for Animage was their expertise in algorithm development for imaging products such as cone-beam computed tomography (CT) scans. They decided to expand into hardware system design to create a revolutionary three-in-one imaging system for the veterinary market to provide high-quality images to improve animal treatment.

Their prototype was a bench-top imaging system that could control an X-ray source, X-ray detector and motion system, demonstrating their imaging algorithms running on an embedded system with a rich user-interface. This functional prototype successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the product idea. Using this initial bench-top prototype, Animage was able to create several other pre-production units to conduct clinical trials. Through clinical trials, Animage anticipates additional requirements to be uncovered, which they prepared for by creating a flexible and reconfigurable design.

Developing modular prototypes enabled Saara Embedded Systems Pvt Ltd to customize
their front-ends depending on customer requirements including Web based front ends.

Saara for power control: As Animage pointed out with their Fidex prototype, requirements and features are bound to be uncovered as the idea progresses from prototype to product. With this potential for course correction, it is important to design your prototype with modularity in mind. Great prototypes are often scalable, meaning you can quickly adapt them to meet customers’ unforeseen needs. Develop your prototype with the capability for expansion, increased performance and a number of packaging options.

Take for example Saara Embedded Systems Pvt Ltd, who created a rugged and flexible embedded power monitoring and control system for monitoring and reducing the energy consumption of large facilities. Their system provides real-time access to parameters from diesel generators, HVAC, signage boards, security systems and refrigeration equipment allowing customers to monitor and control different points on their infrastructures effective energy consumption and optimization.

The dynamic nature of this project required a scalable solution to communicate over a variety of protocols, with a number of sensors and remote monitoring interfaces. By choosing a modular, open, and flexible platform to develop their product, Saara Embedded Systems was quickly able to prototype their system and add features dependent on their customers’ needs – whether that was communicating over a proprietary protocol or creating custom web-based interfaces to Google maps. Saara Embedded Systems estimated that by using rapid prototyping techniques, tools and scalable software architectures using NI LabView graphical programming, they would be able to save six months of development time. Instead of designing custom hardware components, Saara Embedded Systems turned to commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware to quickly turn an idea into a functional prototype.

Avoid focusing on cost too early. COTS hardware, such as NI CompactRio, enables you to focus on system design and feasibility when creating a prototype, rather than spending that time optimizing for cost as you would with a custom design. For hardware designs, a potential time sink and pitfall is getting caught up in endless cost optimization analysis during the early stages of your prototype design, whether that is picking the most cost-efficient processor architecture or even determining which case manufacturer. Even though cost is always important, your goal with a prototype is to be within striking distance of a profitable design. Initially, focus on proving the value of your innovation and design with modularity in mind. Focus on securing your first set of customers and then work on cost optimization. Developing software for custom hardware devices can increase the time spent writing software by creating board support packages, integrating development environments and debugging efforts. Using COTS hardware solutions can reduce this time by providing an integrated middleware and development environment.

Avoid focusing on reducing cost too early. KC Biomedix Inc.
prototyped their design using COTS hardware to quickly develop
their NTrainer System.

KC BioMediX Inc for preemies: A start-up medical device company based in Shawnee, Kansas, is a great example of a company focused on the goal, not on cost, during the earlier stages of development. They developed a product called the NTrainer System that helps premature babies learn to oral feed and greatly increase their chances for survival. The device is essentially a computerized pacifier that makes the tip of a pacifier pulse with gentle bursts of air. Doctors or nurses can use the device to get a far more accurate assessment of a baby’s feeding ability, and then begin therapy to help the baby learn to suck. KC BioMedix quickly developed an embedded solution for medical trials, while focusing on reducing development time as opposed to system cost. As volume increases KC BioMedix will aim to reduce the system cost.

Ensure you can demonstrate your prototype: The prototype should be easy to demonstrate and visualize. With customers, venture capitalists and potential employees, you want to start strong and show the most amazing capabilities and unique innovations first. The key to any prototype is to make it functional and have the ability to show off the best qualities of your idea. Being able to impress your potential customers and investors with quality user interfaces, data visualizations or simulations cannot be underestimated, especially when tackling a challenging problem by providing a working version that can be touched, tested and critiqued. Using high-level software tools like NI LabView enables developers to rapidly prototype software that interfaces with a variety of hardware. If a company produces an amazing demo, the challenges of bringing a product to market suddenly become a whole lot easier.

Discuss this on the Engineering Exchange:

National Instruments
www.ni.com

Links to Case Studies:

-– Animage, LLC: “Developing a Revolutionary Veterinary Imaging System Using NI LabVIEW and RIO Technology”  Video: “Innovation”

-– Saara Embedded Systems Pvt Ltd: “NI Single-Board RIO Embedded Control System Reduces Energy Consumption by 15 Percent”

-– KC BioMediX Inc: “Using Graphical System Design to Rapidly Develop a Low-Cost Device for Helping Premature Infants Learn to Oral Feed”

::Design World::

For many, driving is one of life’s pleasures. Tooling the nation’s roadways takes us to work, vacation spots, business and personal appointments. We’d be lost without our vehicles. For the blind, however, driving is one of life’s missed conveniences.

Blind drivers have been trying out a prototype vehicle that is specially outfitted with devices to help
them navigate. Students at Virginia Tech used SolidWorks software to design various parts of the car.

That could change because students at Virginia Tech are working to help blind drivers “see” with their hands and ears. Kimberly Wenger, senior and student leader of the Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge (BDC) project, says, “Many blind people prefer the concept of driving as opposed to being driven. There is no reason why the blind can’t drive someday and they are proving it in our semi-autonomous vehicle. The next step is perfecting the technology so they can drive on the open road without endangering anyone.”

The BDC team used SolidWorks software to perfect the design of the roulette-style click wheel. They used the software to design various concepts for the click wheel’s internal mechanisms and to conduct several structured design reviews to visualize ideas, detect part interferences, and select the best design. They also used SolidWorks to design the dashboard panel, battery holder, and drive the laser cutting of the parts.

The Blind Driver Challenge vehicle has a device that gives drivers a real-time tactile topographical map of their surroundings so they can make their own decisions on turning, slowing down, or stopping.

Blind people have been driving Virginia Tech’s specially equipped dune buggy in parking lots throughout the summer of 2009. They had full control of the steering, accelerator, and brakes. They followed computer-generated steering commands delivered through headphones. The steering wheel emits an audible click for every five degrees it’s turned. A vibrating vest signals the driver to slow or stop. The on-board computer produces direction based on data about the car’s surroundings collected by a laser on the front of the car.

The next major feature on the BDC vehicle will be a breakthrough device that gives drivers a real-time tactile topographical map of their surroundings so they can make their own decisions on turning, slowing down, or stopping. Through this device called the AirPix, drivers will detect terrain through their fingertips. AirPix works something like an air hockey table, with pressure forced upwards through pin holes. Stronger pressures indicate obstacles. The team is using SolidWorks to design that device.

The BDC team consists of 12 mechanical engineering students working under Dr. Dennis Hong in his Robotics and Mechanism Lab (RoMeLa). The project is the school’s response to a challenge issues by the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute which is dedicated to helping the blind achieve independence.

SolidWorks
www.solidworks.com

Virginia Tech
www.vt.edu

::Design World::

“Of the 16 OEMs producing more than one million vehicles annually, 15 use Siemens PLM Software’s technology in the development and manufacturing of their vehicles,” said Chuck Grindstaff, Executive Vice President, Products and Chief Technology Officer, Siemens PLM Software. “Overall, of the top 30 OEMs, 26 use Siemens PLM Software’s technology in the development and manufacturing of their vehicles – more than any of Siemens PLM Software’s competitors.”

Siemens PLM Software
www.siemens.com

::Design World::

Nimrod Racing uses Inventor software to create custom radio controlled (RC) cars—many of them 1:10 scale models of classic vintage cars—for customers worldwide. With fully functional motors, wheels, and suspensions, Nimrod Racing cars can reach speeds of up to 110 km/hr, much to the delight of hobbyists who race them in RC racing championships. Parent company, R-Design Studio, created its Nimrod Racing division to focus on the design and production of custom-made RC cars. Today, the division produces 15 body shells and nearly 800 custom parts and components ranging from wheels to hubcaps.

Cars can reach speeds of up to 110 km/hr, with fully functional motors, wheels and suspensions. The company produces 15 body shells and nearly 800 custom parts ranging from wheels to hubcaps.

Nimrod Racing also uses Alias Design software to design the car exterior body shells and Inventor to engineer components from the mechanical gears and suspension arms to the engine block and chassis. Nimrod engineers use FEA software to test shock absorber arms for strength and stiffness. They must be able to absorb all the shocks from the ground. But if they are too heavy, the car will bump, making it unstable.

Hungary-based Nimrod Racing uses Inventor software to create custom radio controlled cars, such as this Manta model, for hobbyists worldwide. Many of Nimrod’s cars are  scale models of classic vintage cars.

Using the software tools, Nimrod Racing reduced its physical prototyping requirements. Now approximately 90% of the firm’s parts can be created without physical prototyping.

Autodesk, Inc.
www.autodesk.com

::Design World::

Under the terms of the agreement, Stratasys will develop and manufacture for HP an exclusive line of 3D printers based on Stratasys’ patented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. HP will begin a phased rollout of the 3D printers in the mechanical design (MCAD) market in selected countries later this year, with the right to extend distribution globally.

“We believe the time is right for 3D printing to become mainstream,” said Stratasys Chairman and CEO Scott Crump. “We also believe that HP’s unmatched sales and distribution capabilities and Stratasys FDM technology is the right combination to achieve broader 3D printer usage worldwide. HP has made a similar move in this market before, capturing a dominant position in large-format 2D printers. Together we hope to repeat this success with 3D printers.”

“There are millions of 3D designers using 2D printers who are ready to bring their designs to life in 3D,” said Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager of HP’s Large Format Printing Business. “Stratasys FDM technology is the ideal platform for HP to enter the 3D MCAD printing market and begin to capitalize on this untapped opportunity.”

HP’s Graphic Solutions Business – part of the company’s $24 billion Imaging and Printing Group – will execute the distribution agreement. HP is a leading provider of Designjet and Scitex large-format printing solutions, Indigo digital solutions for commercial and industrial printing, inkjet high-speed production solutions and specialty printing systems.

Stratasys, Inc.
www.Stratasys.com

MPF

Source: :: Make Parts Fast ::

APP provides fast, high-quality rapid prototypes and end-use parts, instant online quotes and other innovative manufacturing solutions. Capitalizing on the growing demand for precision, high-performance, quality parts, this industry-leading service bureau teamed up with 3Dproparts(TM) to provide its customers with access to the latest materials and systems technology and the benefits of a vastly expanded range of plastic and metal parts.

3D Systems launched 3Dproparts(TM), the world’s largest Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing parts service, at the beginning of October. The company’s 3Dproparts(TM) service is continuing to expand by bringing together the widest range of production and additive grade materials and the latest additive and traditional manufacturing systems to offer its customers the broadest available complement of precision plastic and metal parts and finished assemblies.

3D Systems Corporation
www.3Dsystems.com

MPF

Source: :: Make Parts Fast ::