MCADCafe Editorial 
Jeff Rowe
Jeffrey Rowe has over 40 years of experience in all aspects of industrial design, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing. On the publishing side, he has written over 1,000 articles for CAD, CAM, CAE, and other technical publications, as well as consulting in many capacities in the design … More » Cadence: A Natural Progression From EDA to CFDJune 9th, 2022 by Jeff Rowe
We recently spoke with John Chawner, Senior Group Leader at Cadence about the company’s entry into computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technologies after many years of being known for its expertise in electronic design automation (EDA). Cadence has long been a leader in electronic systems design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. The company applies its underlying Intelligent System Design strategy for creating innovative software, hardware, and IP solutions. In turn, Cadence customers are some of the world’s most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products from chips to boards to complete systems for the most dynamic market applications including hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, mobile, aerospace, consumer, industrial, and healthcare.
Generally, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an aspect of multiphysics system analysis that simulates the behavior of fluids and their thermodynamic properties using numerical models. Cadence’s CFD suite includes application areas such as propulsion, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, and combustion. What makes CFD platforms especially pivotal is their ability to adapt to specific instances of additional physical phenomena. Cadence’s primary CFD products include: Fidelity CFD Solution – Provides a streamlined CFD workflow for design, multidisciplinary analysis, and optimization in a single environment. The Cadence Fidelity CFD software is a scalable Cadence CFD solution that provides technology beyond the Omnis end-to-end CFD workflow and Pointwise legacy meshing. For over a decade, the CFD industry has recognized that progress in three vital areas has plateaued: numerical algorithms, modeling of turbulent and separated flow, and the exploitation of HPC assets. Fidelity CFD makes strides in all three; the two most unique aspects are its high-order solver and the first steps toward integrating the Omnis and Pointwise meshing technologies into a single, unique platform while also advancing them separately. The Fidelity high-order solver can provide 10 times the accuracy of classic flow solvers, and 3 times mesh speedup using the Pointwise solution within Fidelity CFD. Fidelity Pointwise CFD Mesh Generation – Utilizes advanced mesh generation techniques as well as geometry model preparation capabilities for high fidelity characterization of fluids. It is well known that meshing is the most time-intensive part of the CFD workflow with one of the highest impacts, but is vital to ensuring high-accuracy and high-efficiency CFD simulations moving forward. Beyond meshing, however, Fidelity Pointwise can integrate into just about any CFD simulation workflow. Through its mesh export and import tools and pre-built relationships with other solvers and simulation tools, Fidelity Pointwise can enhance existing workflows. The entire team dedicated to Fidelity Pointwise is deeply connected to the greater meshing community and is involved in many aspects of the industry and influential guidelines like the CFD 2030 plan. Read the rest of Cadence: A Natural Progression From EDA to CFD Addifab: Pushing the Boundaries of Additive ManufacturingMay 3rd, 2022 by Jeff Rowe
We recently spoke with Lasse Guldborg Staal, CEO, Addifab about his take on his company as well as the state of the additive manufacturing (AM) industry – where it is and where it’s going. Based in Denmark, Addifab is a global company built on market knowledge and high ambitions. Based on its experience, the company has developed a unique soluble mold tool enabling a process known as Freeform Injection Molding (FIM). With its innovative Print→Inject→Dissolve process, the Freeform Injection Molding technique is free of any design or material choice limitations. By printing the tool, you can create unseen designs. You can mold unseen products and business potential by injecting virtually any available material before dissolving the molding tool.
MCADCafe Interviews Lasse Guldborg Staal, CEO, Addifab “Injection molders work with plastic materials and normally use metal tools to produce parts. Metal tools are expensive and time consuming to produce. So, what we do with the 3D printing is to create injection mold tooling that is faster and cheaper, and it’s actually also greener than the conventional metal tooling. If you want to have a low cost injection molded prototype, I think the Addifab technology freeform injection molding is probably your best and most cost effective alternative.” ___________________________________________________________________________________ “At Addifab, we are committed to helping innovators capture the full potential of their ideas, and to bring their products to market faster. With Freeform Injection Molding, we deliver on this commitment; start-ups bring their ideas to market using our technology, and global industry leaders adopt our technology to boost their product development.” Lasse Staal, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Addifab ___________________________________________________________________________________ “What we’ve tried to do with our technology freeform injection molding is to reduce the costs and reduce lead times. We also want to provide injection molders with a new level of design freedom. And for this reason we have created injection mold tooling that is soluble because if you can dissolve your injection mold tooling, you can create geometries that are impossible to mold with any other method.” Read the rest of Addifab: Pushing the Boundaries of Additive Manufacturing Spatial Corp.’s SDKs Help Build Innovative Engineering Software SolutionsApril 12th, 2022 by Jeff Rowe
We recently spoke with Frédéric Jacqmin, VP Worldwide Business Development, Spatial Corp. about specific recent developments within Spatial and the industry in general. From its inception in 1986, Spatial, a Dassault Systèmes company, has developed software components – modular software packages that perform a set of specific and related functions. Software components are also known as software development toolkits (SDKs). This class of software is designed to work as a functional component of a larger application, such as CAD, CAM, CAE, and far beyond. The goal of component software is to standardize the interfaces between software components so that they can work together efficiently.
SDKs are used by almost every CAD/CAM vendor in one form or another. Popular host applications include 3D geometric modeling, data translation, visualization, metrology, toolpath generation, and simulation. In 1986, Spatial had a primary product: ACIS, the first commercially available 3D geometric modeling kernel. Over time, Spatial added other products to its portfolio that enabled independent software vendors (ISVs), primarily in the engineering software industries, for building host applications. These components include extensions and updates to the ACIS modeler, other design and visualization products, as well as acquisitions in translator technology. Read the rest of Spatial Corp.’s SDKs Help Build Innovative Engineering Software Solutions MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – TheoremFebruary 2nd, 2022 by Industry Experts
Will XR and 3D PDF help define your 2022 digital transformation strategy? Let’s look back to move forwards.. Every year you can always count on a wave of new products or concepts that hope to become the next big thing, especially in regards to technology. Some make it, some don’t. The thing is, whilst these new products are new and exciting, they often don’t have a visible ROI to back them up early on, so when it comes to using these products in industry, it can take time for them to gain the confidence of an organisation, especially where they may be perceived as being disruptive, instead of complementary. Digital transformation Over the past few years, companies have been concerned with developing their digital transformation strategy- an organisation’s plan of action on how to strategically reposition itself in the digital economy. This looks set to continue as we are constantly moving towards a more and more digitised world. But from an engineering perspective, is there anything that can be realised as a digital ‘game changer’ for an organisation in the next 12 months? Read the rest of MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – Theorem MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – 3DChimeraJanuary 28th, 2022 by Industry Experts
In 2021 many companies were plagued with global supply chain issues and shipping delays, which will continue to play out over the next several years. With an eye to the future, the most innovative businesses have turned to additive manufacturing to supplement their production via outsourced service bureaus or with the acquisition of new 3d printing equipment for in-house production. In 2022, we expect to see more companies adopting additive manufacturing as a practical alternative to traditional manufacturing methods like injection molding or CNC. With strong parts, fine details, quick turnaround times, onshore production, and the elimination of tooling expenses additive manufacturing gives companies an opportunity to produce better products more quickly and efficiently than ever before, without the inherent risks of global supply chain and shipping delays. Read the rest of MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – 3DChimera MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – BMFJanuary 24th, 2022 by Industry Experts
Industry Prediction from BMF, John Kawola, CEO: Many have marveled at how additive manufacturing has found its way into real end-use part applications. This has happened as technologies have improved, costs have come down and awareness has expanded. However, big picture this migration is only in the first inning, or maybe in the first at bat of the first inning. Compared to overall global manufacturing, a multi-trillion dollar market, additive manufacturing is a still a very tiny percentage. Why is that? Arguably, much of manufacturing has well established processes, many of which are already cost effective, proven and getting better and better each year. Additive manufacturing is the most valuable as a disruptive alternative in applications, markets and parts that are difficult or expensive to make now. In 2022, we will begin to see more of these cases emerge. Read the rest of MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – BMF MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – OqtonJanuary 14th, 2022 by Industry Experts
As users adopt additive manufacturing and are continuously engaging with serial production of parts, we are seeing increased demand and need for autonomous manufacturing solutions – or what we refer to as a Manufacturing Operating System (MOS). A MOS allows users to define the required workflow, and trace it for repeatability, quality assurance, and required certification purposes. Additionally, the technology helps provide accurate estimation for optimizing their task scheduling, monitoring their fleet and material usage, and to prepare their parts smartly to fit the entire expected manufacturing process.  Ben Schrauwen, CEO and co-founder, Oqton Read the rest of MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – Oqton Sigmetrix: An Update on Mechanical Variation ManagementSeptember 23rd, 2021 by Jeff Rowe
We recently interviewed Ed Walsh, VP of Global Sales at Sigmetrix for an update on the company, its technologies, and the state of the industry. Like our previous discussion, during the interview, he spoke how the company continues to be focused on helping customer design and build better products through mechanical variation management. “Sigmetrix is unique because it’s not just a software company, but also a service and training company that together provide a comprehensive solutions approach for our customers,” Walsh said.
When asked for a little background on himself and Sigmetrix, Walsh said, “Over the past 20+ years in the industry I’ve witnessed a need that customers have conveyed – they want to get the most out of their technology investments with the most efficient use of their resources. This includes things like having solutions that scale to multiple skill levels in an organization. We address this need by having our cornerstone tolerance analysis tool (CETOL 6 Sigma) that is used for advanced applications because it’s very powerful, but also a 1D tool (EZtol), that’s relatively simple to use. We are seeing an increased demand for tools that teach people geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) as they use them by incorporating training solutions in all of our tools. We feel that that education helps establish a use case, or ability to be used, by that whole spectrum of users”. Reflecting on his first job, Walsh said, “I worked for a company that was an OEM to heavy equipment manufacturers, such as John Deere, Caterpillar, Case, and New Holland. Mostly John Deere, but we also built operator enclosures for the other companies. The company I worked for itself had, up until me starting there, really did more contract manufacturing and not much design work. At that time, the engineers were doing design work on giant sheets of vellum and using pencils and manual drafting tools. I was part of the first dedicated team of designers using a very early version of Pro/ENGINEER. We were given a general idea for CAD with functional requirements, but no design parameters”.
MCADCafe Interviews Ed Walsh, VP Global Sales, Sigmetrix “The great part for me was that I had the ability to go out to the pattern maker that was right next to our CAD workstations and say, ‘Hey, I want to make something like this’, and they could mock it up, and I could see how the parts were fitting together and where are they going to fit, and did it make sense from functional and manufacturing standpoints. If we needed something bigger, we could go down to the production line, but it gave me a really good idea of what actually was happening once the design concept left my CAD station. Overall, it was a really good experience for me”. Read the rest of Sigmetrix: An Update on Mechanical Variation Management Boston Micro Fabrication: Mega Results From Producing Micro PartsApril 8th, 2021 by Jeff Rowe
With new and innovative techniques for 3D printing/additive manufacturing continuing to emerge, we recently interviewed John Kawola, CEO of Boston Micro Fabrication, a unique company that specializes in (as its name implies), micro components and machines that produce them. Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) was co-founded in 2016 by Dr. Nick Fang, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Dr. Xiaoning He, a serial entrepreneur. BMF manufactures high-precision micro 3D printers. The company’s microArch system uses a 3D printing approach called PμSL (Projection Micro Stereolithography) that leverages light, customizable optics, a high-quality movement platform, and controlled processing technology to produce accurate and precise high-resolution (2μm printing resolution and +/- 10µm tolerance) 3D prints for product development, research and industrial short run production using polymers and composite materials. Today, BMF is the only industrial 3D printing company that can match the quality of high-resolution injection molding and CNC processing. John Kawola, BMF’s CEO, should be familiar to readers of MCADCafe, as we have written about him and some of the companies he’s been associated with over the years. “I’ve actually been in additive manufacturing longer than most people, about 20 years. I was at another MIT startup called Z Corp, which was about 20 years ago. That did very well, and sold the company to 3D Systems. I spent about three years helping Ultimaker build their business in North America, but I was interested in getting back into an early-stage company and saw opportunities with BMF”.
“I wanted to get back into the early stages of an additive manufacturing company, but at the same time, I know that it’s a crowded space. There are lots of companies, and many of them are doing the same thing, whether it’s a desktop 3D printer companies or companies producing very large-scale parts. There’s also several metal companies now, too. What I was really looking for was something that was high value, and a portion of the market that had not been well served in the past. That’s really the whole theme behind our company, and so I was excited to join BMF about a year and a half ago”. Read the rest of Boston Micro Fabrication: Mega Results From Producing Micro Parts Essentium: Bridging the 3D Printing and Manufacturing GapFebruary 19th, 2021 by Jeff Rowe
Since in-person meetings are still not possible, we recently interviewed Blake Teipel, CEO and co-founder of Essentium, an innovative additive manufacturing organization that sets itself apart from the competition in several ways. At its core, Essentium is comprised of builders, designers, and engineers who have experienced the divide between 3D printing and manufacturing and asked the question, “How can we bridge the gap in manufacturing?
Essentially, Essentium was born out of a desire to open new possibilities for builders and designers. It began in 2013 when four friends gathered around a kitchen table and thought about the possibility of what could be. The initial group wanted to create a new paradigm for using additive manufacturing in the industrial world. Simply put, they wanted to change how things are made. Essentium exists to help propel its partners forward by addressing additive manufacturing, at scale, by delivering a supply chain solution that entails machines, materials, and processes. With its High Speed Extrusion (HSE) Platform, FlashFuse plasma technology, and its industrial-grade materials, customers are ensured they will receive a no-compromise solution for their needs.
MCADCafe Interviews Blake Teipel, CEO and Co-Founder, EssentiumWhen asked about some company and technology background, Teipel said, “Essentium is an additive manufacturing solutions company. What that means is that we make very fast 3D printers and we make materials for printing parts, particularly of an industrial variety. We are serving clients in the manufacturing space. You can find Essentium solutions anywhere from planes to trains, to cars, to computers, to shoes, so we’re sort of the stuff behind the stuff in terms of where we fit”. Read the rest of Essentium: Bridging the 3D Printing and Manufacturing Gap |
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