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 » Sigmetrix: Producing Better Products with Mechanical Variation ManagementOctober 12th, 2020 by Jeff Rowe
Since in-person trade shows and interviews are not possible right now and into the foreseeable future, via Zoom we recently interviewed Ed Walsh, VP of Global Sales at Sigmetrix. During the interview, he spoke about how the company is focused on helping customers design and build better products through mechanical variation management. “We’re unique because Sigmetrix is a software company, a service company, and a training company that together provide a solutions approach for our customers,” Walsh said.
When asked for a little background on himself and Sigmetrix, Walsh said, “I’ve been with Sigmetrix for 14 years, and have been in this industry for over 20. Over that time, I’ve witnessed a need that customers are starting to convey – 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”. “Because too much confidence is often placed in 3D models alone, we also see that customers want a tool that can be used in the multiple stages of the product development process. For example, traditionally, tolerance stack-up was done at the end of the design process just before it went into production. It was more of a validation tool, whether they were using spreadsheets or other tools”. “If I look at the best of our customers versus the rest of our customers, just like most other simulation tools, they’ve shifted it earlier into the product development process, into the concept, and even R&D stages, to get an order of magnitude, a ‘what if’ type of analysis, on what’s better and what’s not. Our CETOL tool would be an example where people have shifted that usage. Customers also want to have decision-making from these analysis tools that can be addressed by multiple tiers of accountability in an organization”.
MCADCafe Interviews Ed Walsh, VP Global Sales, SigmetrixMaking the Case for GD&T and Tolerance AnalysisWhile Sigmetrix considers itself a niche company for GD&T and tolerance analysis and mechanical variation management, it is a very important niche that goes well beyond product validation and can be applied in all phases of development, design, and inspection that can help customers make better decisions to ensure meeting their product requirements. Read the rest of Sigmetrix: Producing Better Products with Mechanical Variation Management Ultimaker Faces AM Challenges Head-On and Thrives During Trying TimesAugust 14th, 2020 by Jeff Rowe
Accepting the reality that in-person trade shows and interviews are out of the question right now and into the foreseeable future, via Zoom we recently interviewed Greg Elfering, President of Ultimaker Americas. During the course of the interview, he spoke how the company is adapting to changing market conditions for 3D printing/additive manufacturing (AM) as it continues to innovate with its hardware and software products and services.
When asked for a little background, Elfering said, “Ultimaker is a company that was founded on 3D printing [also known as additive manufacturing] hardware and software technologies. We’re based in Utrecht, Netherlands, and headquartered here in the United States just outside of Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts. We’ve been in the American market for approximately five years.” “Prior to joining Ultimaker, I was with 3D Systems for 15 years. I joined a year and a half ago and I had a chance to learn the business for a year, understand our products and resellers. I was given a chance in January to take over the responsibility as President for the Americas. So, I’m six months into this position with Ultimaker.”
MCADCafe Interviews Greg Elfering, President of Ultimaker Americas Since 2011, Ultimaker has built an open and easy-to-use solution of 3D printers, software, and materials for professional designers and engineers. Read the rest of Ultimaker Faces AM Challenges Head-On and Thrives During Trying Times Addressing Change and Molding the Future With K-Compare RevisionJuly 21st, 2020 by Jeff Rowe
Circle 5 Tool & Mold can now quickly create comprehensive custom reports of differences between any two versions of CAD models with Kubotek K-Compare Revision Has a complex product ever been designed without any changes made during the development process? The answer is a resounding “NO!” From the beginning, engineering change orders (ECOs) and resulting design revisions have been prone to errors (and fraught with problems) because of the methods used to address and resolve them. That is, until now with Kubotek K-Compare Revision. Circle 5 Tool & Mold, one of the early adopters of K-Compare Revision, is a world class supplier of injection molds, primarily serving the automotive and medical industries, building high-volume steel and aluminum molds that range from 50-2500 Tons. From its inception in 1987, the company has been committed to being on the cutting edge of technology and a leader in injection molding solutions for the 21st century.
Lise Kennette, Engineering Manager, Circle 5 Tool & Mold, was instrumental in evaluating K-Compare Revision at the company. Kennette said managing ECOs properly the first time is critical. Miscommunicated design changes often result in losses such as missed deadlines, re-work, and scrap, which can be devastating to any company. This need for minimizing or eliminating ECO problems was the primary motivator for Circle 5 implementing K-Compare Revision. Read the rest of Addressing Change and Molding the Future With K-Compare Revision Despite the Pandemic, Things Are Adding Up for Autodesk in ManufacturingJune 12th, 2020 by Jeff Rowe
Although traditional in-person software vendor conferences, such as Autodesk University, and industry events, such as RAPID and IMTS have been cancelled this year, some vendors are forging full speed ahead with product development and introductions. Autodesk is proving to be one of these companies. We had intended on conducting in-person video interviews at RAPID 2020, but COVID-19 got in the way. However, we have been able to conduct them virtually via Zoom. The following is based on a virtual interview we conducted with Sualp Ozel, Autodesk Senior Product Manager. We started the conversation by asking how he and Autodesk were faring in the midst of the pandemic. He said, “We are busier than ever. Now that most of us are working from home, it feels like we’re working 24/7”. MCADCafe Interviews Sualp Ozel, Autodesk Senior Product Manager Read the rest of Despite the Pandemic, Things Are Adding Up for Autodesk in Manufacturing Interview with Paul Schommer, Tooling Engineer from SOLIDReporter at 3D Experience World 2020March 23rd, 2020 by Sanjay Gangal
We recently had the opportunity to interview Paul Schommer, Tooling Engineer for SOLIDReporter at 3D Experience World 2020. SOLIDReporter products are developed and offered by LOGOPRESS SAS, a company that has been developing and offering solutions dedicated to the tool & die industry for 30 years and with 20 years experience in the Solidworks ecosystem. The goal of SOLIDReporter is to meet a recurring demand from CAD/CAM users who want to free themselves as much as possible from administrative constraints and make recording and managing their time, comments and follow-up notes more reliable. Toward this goal, SOLIDReporter is an add-in for Solidworks for the recording, management and analysis of time, events, and comments. Jeff Rowe: Since SOLIDReporter is so new, can you provide our viewers a little background on it? Paul Schommer: The idea is that we are tracking time in SOLIDWORKS based on the files that you have opened using the file name or the folder structure to automatically assign the time that you have spent in those files to the project that those files go with. So rather than trying to stop and start stuff manually, this is all just handling it automatically. Interview with Graham Hargreaves, Marketing Manager from Mastercam/CNC Software at 3D Experience World 2020March 16th, 2020 by Sanjay Gangal
We recently had the opportunity to interview Graham Hargreaves, Marketing Manager of MasterCAM at 3D Experience World 2020. Mastercam is a suite of Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and CAD/CAM software applications. Founded in 1983, CNC Software, Inc. is one of the oldest developers of PC-based CAD/CAM software. Mastercam, CNC Software’s main product, started as a 2D CAM system with CAD tools that let machinists design virtual parts on a computer screen and also guided computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine tools in the manufacture of parts. Mastercam’s comprehensive set of predefined toolpaths—including contour, drill, pocketing, face, peel mill, engraving, surface high speed, advanced multiaxis, and many more—enable machinists to cut parts efficiently and accurately. Mastercam users can create and cut parts using one of many supplied machine and control definitions, or they can use Mastercam’s advanced tools to create their own customized definitions. Jeff Rowe: Can you provide some information or background on Mastercam for our viewers? Graham Hargreaves: Basically, Mastercam is a CAD-CAM package and we also integrate directly within SOLIDWorks. So, basically we are producing G-code that powers CNC machines. Searching for Clues About the 3D ExperienceMarch 9th, 2020 by Jeff Rowe
I recently attended 3DEXPERIENCE World (3DXW for short) 2020 (formerly Solidworks World) in Nashville, TN. I think it was either my 19th or 20th trip to this CAD rodeo. It was an especially noteworthy event this year due to its rebranding and I was really curious to see how it would be presented by Dassault Systemes, on the one hand, and received by attendees/customers on the other. The overall format of the conference and general sessions has evolved over the past few years, but that’s to be expected as everything in the design software world has evolved. More than anything, I came to Nashville looking for what the 3DEXPERIENCE with regard to Solidworks was all about at a rebranded event that had been an exclusively Solidworks event for a long time, and one that never disappointed. When asked about this year’s attendance at 3DXW, Solidworks declined to provide a number, but based on previous years, there were noticeably fewer attendees this year. Overall the attendees were at not quite as rabid (in a good way) as in years past, and relatively subdued, but nonetheless, cautiously optimistic about the future.
It seems as though by an increasing number of companies (including Dassault) have forsaken technologies, products and apps in favor of platforms that tend to further muddle the picture of exactly how they’re structured, what they do, what they cost, and unique benefits that couldn’t be provided by previous bits and pieces. Read the rest of Searching for Clues About the 3D Experience MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2020February 7th, 2020 by Sanjay Gangal
Industry Predictions for 2020 by XponentialWorks’s Avi Reichental and 3DQue Systems’s Steph Sharp
MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2020 – AlphaSTARFebruary 6th, 2020 by Dr. Rashid Miraj
Internet of Things (IOT) Read the rest of MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2020 – AlphaSTAR MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2020 – Core TechnologiesFebruary 4th, 2020 by David A. Selliman
I recently attended CES in Las Vegas, known for the largest electronic show in the world with a full city of attendees with every device you can ever think of. I thought I was going to see something so new and innovative, I would wonder, why I did not think of that? Surely, it was more of the same. I have to say the few products or inventions that stuck to my head with amazement was Bell and Uber partnership developing a taxi helicopter with embracing 2030 in 2020. Hyundai with its competitive helicopter taxi and android services solution to carry 50 plus pounds with a 50 pound android, servicing complex cities globally. The big hurdle to bring the flying products to market was one simple word – FAA. Another product that caught my eye was the babysitting robot with all the knowledge in its memory banks is what makes IBM Watson look dump, and lastly the innovation of Samsung to create a booth that defines its eco system of technology that surpassed anything on the planet based on its core business. Read the rest of MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2020 – Core Technologies |
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
2020 will be a difficult year. Major currents in technology, such as Artificial Intelligence, Biomechanics and Additive Manufacturing, will be tempered by the state of markets and the economy. It appears as if the big slowdown is finally upon us. Will the US dollar relinquish its status as the world reserve currency? Will a liquidity shortage extend beyond banks into commercial enterprises? Will credit for large commercial enterprises dry-up and restrict investment? Will a recession turn into a run on banks and global depression? Hard times appear to be ahead. Yet innovation and its younger sister creativity continue to drive society forward. So, here are some trends that should shake up 2020 and beyond.
