A comprehensive strategy for small-to-medium-sized companies that recognizes the limits of today's commonly used CAD/CAM tools and takes into account how design and manufacturing engineers really think, design, and manufacture is embodied in Kubotek USA's vision for the future of manufacturing. The Kubotek M³(SM) vision (Measure, Model and Machine), an innovative strategy that will enable smaller design shops and manufacturers to compete more effectively in the global marketplace, is based on the real-world experiences of a select group of Japanese designers and manufacturers.

With today's mass production of goods increasingly shifting overseas, especially to low-cost factories in China, many small-to-medium-sized manufacturing companies are looking for new business models to help them compete. They need to drive efficiency, increase creativity, and reduce costs. The Kubotek M³ vision, supported by its Creation Engineering product family, will help these companies evolve into design and manufacturing businesses that are simultaneously integrated, more flexible, and more competitive.

In an M³ manufacturing environment, designers can capture real-world data, often by scanning a physical item, then change the item (customize, iterate, warp, or distort it) and quickly produce the item, prototyping either to determine manufacturability or to quickly produce a finished product. This equates to a much faster and higher quality cycle from conception to time-to-market. It breaks down the barriers between functions, enabling teams to reiterate and refine in hours instead of days or weeks.

The M³ vision was derived from Kubotek Corp's own experience in designing high-end audio equipment, where real-time, real-world data is incorporated into an ever-changing "view" of a physical space (a room and its occupants) in order for the system to continuously adjust the output. Additionally, this overall approach to design and manufacturing is highly optimized for the future of mass customized manufacturing (examples include medical devices such as hearing aids, or premium products built for individual consumers, such as custom motorcycles, a thriving business.)

"We saw in CADKEY® a unique opportunity to move design and manufacturing to the next level," said Dr. Kubo, founder and CEO of Kubotek Corp. "Conventional, parametric-based CAD is focused on repetitive design systems and mass production, and is too confining for today's manufacturing environments. Product designers want to be able to take an object and change it -- perhaps to retrofit it, customize it, or simply, improve it. To do this, they need to be able to mix real-world data in with their designs. CADKEY, and its 'offspring,' KeyCreator™, are the only products that can achieve this goal.

"We see the future of the industry as designers and engineers working with design solutions, freed by technology but not limited by it. Based on KeyCreator, new tools will allow designers to attack the problem from any angle, to input real-world data and mix it with their original designs, and modify the results quickly and easily. Eventually, we will be able to provide them with a wholly integrated design and manufacturing solution, with KeyCreator as the linchpin."

The M³ vision is based on these premises:

• Computer-aided Design (CAD) is immature. (While there has been extensive discussion about "mature CAD," this refers to the maturing marketplace, not the software itself.) Despite more than 20 years of technological history, CAD solutions are, as a group, hard to use, based on proprietary architectures, and poorly integrated with complementary solutions. Today's design and engineering tools impose limits on creativity and force designers to follow a rigidly defined process -- one that is counterintuitive to the creative process.


• While there is a growing demand for customized products and companies that are able to achieve customization at the assembly stage (like Dell), there are few examples of companies doing this at the design and engineering phase.

"While the M³ vision may seem counterintuitive to the casual observer, it is based on the real-world experiences of several of Kubotek Corp's global customers," said Robert Bean, chief operating officer, Kubotek USA. "Overseas we're starting to see the birth of 'Super Shops' where they are able to quickly design and manufacture highly stylized, organically shaped products, which in some cases, are completely customized. Our customers have proven that it is possible to do this quickly and cost effectively."

Meanwhile, Kubotek is also releasing KeyCreator 4.0, a new version of its widely used design and manufacturing software. KeyCreator builds on the heritage of CADKEY, the first true 3D MCAD software for the desktop, combining both the latest in geometry-based design and modeling technology with a legacy of success in helping customers in the design of tooling, complex machinery, fixtures, molds, dies, and a multitude of product development industries including automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment, sports equipment, and medical device.