FTI Releases FormingSuite 2019

Forming Technologies Inc.  (FTI) announces the worldwide release of FormingSuite 2019. Designed for sheet metal cost estimators, design engineers, tooling designers, and advanced planning engineers in the automotive, aerospace, consumer product and electronics industries, FormingSuite 2019 delivers new customer-driven features for costing/estimating parts, developing method plans, and formability simulation. 

FormingSuite’s ability to provide extensive information on many topics including formability, material cost, tooling cost, springback,etc. has led to the introduction of a new, comprehensive reporting system that automatically generates a single report summarizing an entire project in either Excel or PowerPoint format. 

Demand for using FTI expertise in quoting and estimating tooling for sheet metal components has led to enhancements and functionalities to COSTOPTIMIZER Professional (COP). ProcessPlanner now supports regional settings to customize both die sizing and costing. Advancements such as improved die load for flanging operations, die estimation parameters for tandem process and user defined shut height settings for each die in tandem lineup are amongst a multitude of new features. FormingSuite 2019 also improves stamping feature recognition, process generation, process validation, simplifies process editing and produces better reports, the company notes.

FormingSuite 2019 introduces users to a new, easier and more flexible method for creating and editing variable addendum on blank shapes by interactively morphing (dragging) curves. Focus has been on improving support for DFM and KPR studies with customizable results ranges for numerical results (major, minor, thickness strains, safety margin) to address organizational standards for formability as well as improved reporting which include springback results. Cost Optimization layout editing adds support for cropping two different parts during optimization. A new Progressive Nesting Web Simulation solver has also been introduced. 

FASTIncremental users can now import scanned data to replace tooling meshes and now have more precise controls for timing of tools and cams. Materials can be defined with full anisotropic (plastic strain ratio) accounting for the rolling direction of the sheet material with r0 (parallel), r45 (diagonal) and r90 (transverse) as determined through material testing. Large organizations can now use FASTIncremental with a networked LS-DYNA solver. 

“FormingSuite 2019 marks a major step forward for FTI in terms of power, flexibility and accuracy,” says Derek Peeling, VP Engineering at Forming Technologies. “We have listened to our customers and introduced many new features and enhancements to address the needs of the global metalforming industry.” 

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Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

Forming Technologies Inc. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company.