Siemens NX 9 Boosts Product Development Productivity

The latest version of Siemens’ NX software (NX 9) includes new capabilities and technologies that the company claims will deliver enhanced product development flexibility and up to five times higher productivity across multiple industries.

New tools such as synchronous technology for 2D facilitate 2D data editing. The introduction of fourth generation design (4GD) technology enhances design productivity for massive assemblies. NX Realize Shape software delivers a new freeform design toolset with improved product development integration. NX 9 also includes tighter PLM integration through Siemens’ Active Workspace environment, as well as multiple enhancements throughout the integrated CAD/CAM/CAE solution.

“NX 9 represents a very significant step forward for Siemens, our customers, and for product development in general,” said Jim Rusk, senior vice president, product engineering software, Siemens PLM Software. “With significant new breakthroughs such as synchronous technology for 2D, 4GD and NX Realize Shape, we are offering our customers unprecedented design flexibility while significantly increasing their product development productivity. And by leveraging our successful Active Workspace solution, we are enhancing the high definition user experience that helps our customers make smarter decisions that result in better products.”

According to Siemens, the synchronous technology for 2D in the solution adds intelligence to 2D data without the need for translation, enabling users to intuitively edit multi-CAD 2D files up to five times faster. This can be useful for industries such as automotive, aerospace, machinery and others with large amounts of legacy 2D product data.

“Siemens’ synchronous technology for 2D is a next generation 2D tool that addresses many of the downfalls of drafting and sketching,” said Chad Jackson, principal analyst for Lifecycle Insights, a PLM research and advisory firm. “It ‘understands’ the geometric relationships inherent in 2D drawings and applies user-controlled assumptions at the point of change to enable intelligent modifications. It also applies these assumptions locally instead of globally to ensure fast performance.”

The new NX Realize Shape offering in NX 9 provides a freeform design environment for producing products with highly stylized shapes or complex surfaces. The introduction of 4GD, a new design and data management paradigm that enables efficient methods for collaboration and design-in-context, accelerates the development of complex large-scale products containing millions of components, the company says. The embedding of Active Workspace 2.0, the new interface to Siemens’ Teamcenter software, enables NX 9 users to quickly find relevant information from multiple external data sources.

A new NX CAE parallel thermal solver provides improved performance on large-scale models delivering faster results. Enhancements in NX Nastran software enable noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) simulation times to be cut in half.

For die/mold machining, the new cut region management capability provides graphical user interaction for more efficient programming, up to 40 percent faster for some complex parts, and precise control over machining strategies. The new multiple-part programming capability lets programmers reuse machining sequences across any number of similar parts in a setup. The new MRL Connect for NX, connects NX CAM directly to the Manufacturing Resource Library (MRL) in Teamcenter to give programmers access to a shared library of standard tools, fixtures, and templates. The CMM Inspection Programming capabilities have been expanded beyond solids to support sheet metal parts, delivering manufacturers in the aerospace and defense, high tech electronics, and automotive industries an automated inspection programming solution.

For more information, visit Siemens PLM Software.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.