Briefings: May 2004

Alias CATIA V5 DirectConnect is a new import-export tool that allows the exchange of CATIAdata without having to translate to a neutral file format.
The native transfer process developed by Alias optimizes communicationbetween Alias StudioTools computer-aided industrial design (CAID)software and the CATIA V5 MCAD system from Dassault.

It is intended to give designers the ability to consider technical andmechanical constraints, and lets engineers use StudioTools surface datafor studies, model development, and engineering work.

CATIA V5 Direct Connect is available for all the products in theStudioTools family. It requires version 11.0.2 or later; Windows 2000,XP Professional or an SGI IRIX operating system; as well as CATIA V5(R10-12). Price: $7,000.

Dassault Systemes of America Corp.
     
Alias
 

Add CFD into CATIA V5

CD adapco Group has announced it is a Spatial CAA V5 Adopter and willcreate two new CFD (computational fluid dynamics) add-ins, STAR-CAT5and Comet-CAT5, for CATIA V5 from Dassault Systemes. Both integratedCFD add-ins will facilitate parametric design studies and what-ifs viaenhanced automation and bidirectional associativity between MCAD andCFD models.

Comet-CAT5 provides quick upfront studies within the CATIA V5 designprocess. It allows simple flows to be modeled using the built-in CometCFD solver, and it offers automatic polyhedral mesh generation.

STAR-CAT5 provides advanced CFD functionality. It enables engineers toextend their flow analysis to include highly complex physics directlywithin the CATIA V5 environment, adding chemical reaction, combustion,multiphase, and multiphysics capabilities to the STAR-CD CFD solution.

CD Adapco Group USA
     
Spatial Corp. 

Upfront CFD for Prototyping

Blue Ridge Numerics is also a CAA V5 Adopter and is on track to deliver the firstrelease of CFdesign for CATIA V5 this fall.

CFdesign provides upfront CFD from within MCAD environments likeInventor, Pro/E, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, and now CATIA V5. CFdesign hasbeen used in developing everything from golf balls to airplane parts,and in wind-tunnel and flow-bench testing. Built specifically forintegration within the up-front design process, CFdesign provides afull suite of fluid flow and heat transfer simulation tools.

CFdesign for CATIA V5 is being developed to provide a fully associativevirtual prototyping solution driven by the 3D native parts, components,and assemblies developed in CATIA or any solid modeling system built onthe CATIA V5 platform.

Blue Ridge Numerics, Inc.
 
 
PLM Aimed at OEM Supply Chain

Aimed at mid-size and smaller manufacturing companies—many of them partof the supply chain for larger OEM manufacturers—Innovator from ArasCorp. aims to provide product lifecycle management (PLM) to companiesthat previously could not afford it. In 1999, CIMdata placed thatmarket at more than 23,000 companies.

Aras claims that such companies can set up and run Innovator within 60days, for less than $200,000, and gain fast return on investment. Manystand-alone PLM application developers—that is, other than thesingle-source CAD/CAM/CAE/PLM companies—claim to provide rapid returnon investment (ROI). But Paul Gilmartin, Aras’s vice president ofmarketing, recently told me that in addition to the reasonable softwarecost, what makes Innovator different from typical PLM is that itrequires no special customization coding. Instead, Innovator takes amodular approach, with a number of templates that contain preprogrammedbaseline business processes and application information. “This makes iteasy for companies to develop their product definition fast,” says MarcLind, another Aras vice president.

“The first thing required for gaining ROI is a definition of the datamodel and user scenarios,” Gilmartin says. “Large companies withexisting infrastructures who work with large PLM vendors can get goodROI—but they may spend $3 million on licenses and another $25 millionto create applications. They may then realize a $300 million ROI—butmost companies can’t enter at that level. New users of Innovator cantake a building block approach, and start by dealing with their ownpain points first.”

The software has six different module templates for design, production,sourcing, project, tooling, and quality. Aras describes all thetemplates as being model-based—meaning that configuration, security,and workflow are common to all templates and the user can drag and dropdata from one to another for faster set-up. All operations take placewithin a graphical user interface that generates user screensautomatically. All Innovator data is created in
In fact, Innovator can work with other PLM systems—as it does atIngersoll-Rand, which uses PTC’s Windchill for general PLM needs andInnovator for managing process plans. “We didn’t start with PDM]product data management], which is where most PLM began,” saysGilmartin. “Innovator can manage designs, operations, and tooling—alloutside the PDM arena. If an application can be exported in
The keys to the system, he says, are practicality and affordability.“It’s a spreadsheet for PLM that can be gotten up and running fast formanufacturing companies. Floating licenses give access to allapplications.”

Aras’s Innovator is a real PLM suite, targeted at a hungry marketand—at least for the time being—has no real competition in its chosenplaying field.

Louise Elliott is a contributing editor for Desktop Engineering

Aras Corp.


Automotive Supplier Deploys Product Sight PLM in 3 Days

Product Sight announced recently that Millennium Industries, amanufacturer of automotive fuel systems and engine components,implemented and deployed the company’s FindView 4.0 PLM program acrossfour different locations in three days. After a one-hour orientation ofthe technology via web training, Millennium Industries started findingand sharing its latest product data from multiple engineering andmanufacturing systems and locations.

The company, which manufactures more than two million fuel rails and1.5 million power steering reservoirs every year, wanted to streamlineits product data lifecycle process. After making inquiries about manysystems, it settled on FindView because of its accuracy, ability toview documents across multiple CAD and software systems, secure access,speed of deployment, and ease of use.

The FindView search engine looks into the content embedded in a broadrange of technical documents, drawings, and CAD/CAM data on a corporateintranet. Instead of Web pages, FindView automatically indexes andtracks the latest product data from multiple engineering andmanufacturing systems and locations. This data, once located, can beaccessed, shared and tracked from within FindView, and, when integratedwith SyncroSpec, another PLM technology from Product Sight, it can befully managed.

Product Sight Corp.
 

CalculationCenter Expands Access with New Options

Network CalculationCenter from Wolfram Research streamlines group siteaccess so users can optimize a given number of licenses for a largergroup. Intended for academic and business settings where dedicatedsingle-machine licenses are not necessary, the MathLM licensing managerlets system administrators deploy multiple processes from a centrallocation with just one installation.

Based on Mathematica technology, but specifically designed forless-demanding practical applications, CalculationCenter features dataanalysis, enhanced error-correction capabilities, and broadenedcommunications support. With a simple and friendly interface,CalculationCenter eliminates the need for lengthy manuals and letsusers get right to the tasks at hand. Both Network CalculationCenterand a concurrently released CalculationCenter for Students areavailable for Windows and Macintosh.

Wolfram Research, Inc.
 

Z Corp Cuts 310 System Prices

Z Corp has dropped the price of its entry-level monochrome 3D printer,the ZPrinter 310 System, from $31,800 to $27,800. When initiallyintroduced in early 2003, the company saw an increase in demand andtotal company sales increased by 130 percent in 2003 over 2002. Thecompany says it has cut the price so smaller organizations can affordthe system and so larger companies can adopt the technology with lowerrisk.

Z Corporation
 
 
Top 10 Features in Wildfire 2.0

PTC released Pro/Engineer Wildfire 2.0, the latest version of itsproduct development suite that lets MCAD designers share informationand improve the effectiveness of collaborating on design. While a hostof enhancements exist to help the process, here is the PTC’s Top-10list of new features in Pro/Engineer Wildfire 2.0.


Support for 3D Drawings Initiatives

The introduction of annotation features, which allow traditional 2Ddrawing information to be captured and managed in the 3D models,enables clearer communication of critical design information.

Work Better with Other CAD Data

Unigraphics Release 18, Unigraphics NX, and CATIA V5 are now supportedvia the Associative Topology Bus, which extends the associativity ofPro/E to these non-native tools. It also supports import of data fromSDRC I-DEAS.

Greater Prevalence of Familiar User Interface Tools

Multiple undo/redo is now supported for all operations on features,components, and drawings. A simple Undo reverses mistakes. It also nowsupports copy and paste of both features and geometry to other areas ofthe model.

Continued UI Modernization

The menu manager for most common detailing has been eliminated. Alldrawing view creation and editing is handled through a consolidated andintuitive, graphical interface.

Create High-Quality Designs Easier

A new troubleshooter tool provides better clarity on the cause offeature failures. An overhauled graphical interface for configuringModelCHECK speeds up product design and ensures model quality andconsistency.

More Advanced Design Tools

More powerful capabilities allow users to pattern features around anyaxis or in any direction, and without selecting any dimensions of theoriginal. Round features are more robust, and you can automaticallyround all of the convex or concave edges of a model.

Easy and Flexible Administration

Users can “borrow” Pro/E licenses from the license server, and then usethose licenses while disconnected from the server to work at clientsites or at home. Installation and setup are much easier.

Better Feedback Throughout Process

A reworked curve and surface analysis interface simplifies the process,providing every method via a single mouse click. New offset analysisprovides dynamic visualization of offset effects on curves andsurfaces, and reflection analysis checks surface and connection quality.

Improved NC Process Productivity

The new manufacturing process manager GUI puts NC process and allmanufacturing information at your fingertips. From this interface,numerous operations can be performed. NC steps (toolpaths) can becreated from scratch or from an
Connectedness

Design collaboration is easier; peer-to-peer conferencing is improved,including direct access to data within ProjectLink and PDMLink. Newconferencing allows participation of those without Pro/Engineerlicenses.

PTC - Parametric Technologies Corp.