Companies increasingly bring collaborative design to the plant floor to meet customer standards and just-in-time demands. Here are four examples of how this is taking place in different industry segments.
Technical Illustration
AM General designs, engineers, and produces a wide range of military and special-purpose vehicles. Perhaps its most high-profile work is in the area of the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HUMVEE) and the HUMMER. The major share of production is for the United States Armed Forces. Apart from AM General''s own company philosophy which is strongly focused on quality commitment and customer satisfaction, the company also has to fulfill the specific requirements of the U.S. Government, including technical documentation such as operator''s and maintenance manuals, National Maintenance Work Requirements (NMWRs), Modification Work Orders (MWOs), and Repair Parts Special Tools Lists (RPSTL).
The company uses ITEDO Software''s IsoDraw and IsoDraw CADprocess for technical illustration tasks. For example, the MIL-STD-40051B military specification prescribes the format and content of Dept of Defense technical publications. According to this standard, exploded view drawings are the preferred method for graphics. "Since illustrating tire treads and complicated gear wheels is a steadily recurring task in our business, these tools have proved indispensable," observes Larry Rink, manager/Integrated Logistics Support at AM General. "Drawing these items manually would take hours, while IsoDraw reduces the effort to a few mouse-clicks."
CADprocess allows illustrators to use 3D IGES data that is developed by their CAD design group. They then convert the data into technical illustrations without access to the company''s Unigraphics design station. In the 3D window of this program, the illustrator can rotate or explode the CAD drawing as needed. Hidden lines are then eliminated automatically and the thick-and-thin line technique is applied correctly with a keystroke. One CAD drawing can serve many illustration requirements simultaneously. (For more, click here.)
Standardizing On a Single Software Solution
TNT was founded as an EDM shop, although much of its work now involves conventional and hard milling as well as EDM. High-speed 3- thru 5-axis milling machines are used extensively throughout the shop, as well as both wire and orbital sinker EDMs. Robots are used to automate much of the work. Automated work cells are set up so that in each cell, one robot and its integrated carousel are positioned between a pair of machines.
The company sought a common solution for its CAD/CAM needs. "We wanted to standardize on a single software solution throughout the entire design and manufacturing process, rather than using a different package for each step," TNT system administrator Chris Skinner explains. "This meant we needed to focus on three main things. First, our solution needed a flexible translator that could effectively deal with numerous data formats. Secondly, it had to have a robust modeling package with an intuitive interface. Third, and probably most important in this industry, we needed an NC package that was a true ''machinist software'' in handling everything from the very simple routines to some of the most complex surfacing with minimal ramp-up time for new users."
TNT turned to Cimatron E. "In a matter of a few weeks, even some of the less experienced users have been able to tackle things on their own," Skinner says. "The software is intuitive enough that some of our EDM operators with no prior design experience are even designing their own electrodes." (For more, click here.)
Process for Developing Press Tools
Tool and die designers at Audi AG have created a 3D software-based process to develop press tools, along with simultaneous engineering procedures that incorporate their production technology expertise into the conceptual phase of chassis development. Audi has implemented the ICEM Surf surface modeling, analysis, and visualization software suite as a tool for the virtual formation of drawn parts and as a medium for exchanging design information.
The definition of the tool surfaces in method planning posed specific demands on the surface modeling functionality of the software. The existing surface geometry of the components must be as easy to modify or as flexible as possible in order to compensate for effects such as sheet resiliency, or spring-back, during the forming process. And the system must support the expansion of part surfaces with new geometry. By using functions in ICEM Surf for global surface manipulations, method planners now develop tool and die surfaces directly on the component surface model to compensate for sheet metal spring-back effects. Surface forces are simply drawn to a specific point in the plane.
Meanwhile the deep-drawing process is simulated in Autoform. Parameters including material strength, friction coefficients, press pressure, and blank size are taken into consideration. The ICEM Surf data is read into the finite element system and then meshed and analyzed. On average, each tool or die needs five to six iteration loops from the surface generation to go from simulation to modification. Originally, this could take up to four days depending on the intensity of the simulation. Before, parts cracked regularly during forming, and tools and dies had to be changed. Now that everything that happens on the milling machine is simulated in advance, this problem has been largely overcome. The completion rate in method planning and tool and die design at Audi has increased by some 15% since ICEM Surf was implemented. (For more, click here.)
CAD Data Management
UK-based Integral Powertrain Ltd''s projects generally encompass design changes and re-engineering of engines and related systems for OEMs. The company uses a variety of specialized templates to apply its engineering and manufacturing knowledge and rules, collaborating with the customer''s manufacturing group and key suppliers to create models in the customer''s native CAD environment.
Integral Powertain has reduced development time for powertrain design by up to 40% (findings based on independent study performed by CIMdata) with the IBM and Dassault Systemes PLM solution, of which SMARTEAM is a key component. SMARTEAM controls data flow and automates CAD data management providing 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," according to Luke Barker, the company''s technical director.
When combined with the SMARTEAM revision control mechanism, the integration enables a concurrent engineering approach to working with Pro/Engineer. The ease of accessing Pro/Engineer data via the integration, or directly from within SMARTEAM, simplifies the reuse of existing designs, with components added directly to the Pro/Engineer session. (For more, click here.)