Resources Archives - Engineers Rule

3D Robot Programming Reduces Costs and Streamlines Production

The Engineer — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 14:08:02 +0000

Robotic manufacturing processes, with their clear advantages of speed, cost reduction and accuracy, are being widely adopted for a broad range of production needs. But robot programmers frequently find it challenging to deliver material handling, arc welding, spot welding, painting, or drill and riveting programs that work with certainty on the first run. Because robot programming is not part of the design phase, they are forced to implement fixes and workarounds on the shop floor. Costs escalate as production cycles expand and changes are made without knowledge of the shop floor impacts.

In this whitepaper learn the benefits of moving to Offline Programming including :

Programmers do not need to wait until the tools are built to create and validate programs.
Production on the shop floor can move ahead uninterrupted while new programs are being authored and validated
Programs work safely and predictably.
Offline programmers are freed from the necessity of making shop floor fixes.

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3 Steps to Start Your Smart Manufacturing Journey

The Engineer — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 13:06:35 +0000

Small to midsized manufacturers are struggling with a litany of issues impacting all aspects of their businesses today. Supply chains disruptions, a growing skills gap, and increased global competition are making it hard for manufacturers to remain profitable and grow their businesses.

Achieving greater efficiencies with less resources and people, and conquering the problems that that can stall production requires that small to midsized businesses (SMBs) adopt Smart Manufacturing initiatives, and the good news is they can start today without a huge initial investment.

Download this whitepaper to learn:

What is smart manufacturing?
How starting small leads to successful implementations
Effective use of data in Smart Manufacturing

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How SMBS Can Gain the Smart Manufacturing Advantage

The Engineer — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 14:42:10 +0000

Practical solutions address day-to-day repetitive problems, without a huge upfront investment

Smart manufacturing does not require much by way of introduction. Referred to by a variety of terms - Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industry 4.0., smart factory, connected factory, factory of the future, digital transformation and smart manufacturing - it essentially involves extracting, monitoring and connecting data from industrial equipment and its related processes in real-time to optimize production and maintenance.

With machinery and processes connected to a smart manufacturing network, users are able to gain insights from the data being collected in real time to help drive better decision-making. This leads to increased agility, accuracy and efficiency, which helps reduce risks and lowers costs.

Download to learn:

What holds smaller manufacturers back from implementing smart manufacturing?
How to implement smart manufacturing one step at a time
Implementation of effective monitoring
How all the pieces tie together for a complete solution

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How Real-World Manufacturers are Successfully Using IIoT Today

The Engineer — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 22:15:27 +0000

There is a lot of talk about the promise of the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the related concept of Industry 4.0. It refers to the use of Internet-connected devices, sensors, and machines to gather data that can be used to identify production bottlenecks, reduce machine downtime, and improve efficiencies. The benefits to being able to make decisions based on real-time data from your shop floor include reduction of downtime, increase in quality of products and reduced costs.

While the hype sounds quite promising, many small to midsized businesses (SMBs) in manufacturing might be questioning whether the tools to implement such widespread enterprise initiatives are practical for them. Questions might include: Will it require steep IT investments to get started? Will there be major disruptions to our production? Where and how do we get started?

Even once buy-in is established, manufacturing operations managers and executives have very little real world guidance on how to put IoT or Industry 4.0 initiatives in place. This eBook will provide some best practices from companies already implementing IoT and the benefits they are reaping, but first let’s talk about how to get started.

Download this white paper now to learn the roadmap to IoT success including:

Lights-out Production Becomes a Reality
Up-to-the-Moment Production Visibility for Smarter, Efficient Use of Resources
Mistake Proofing with Synchronized Production and just-in-time Barcode Labels

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How to Reduce Non-Value-Added Work in Engineering

The Engineer — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:32:00 +0000

Engineering time is a valuable asset. How can you reduce non-value-added engineering work?

Engineers are under constant pressure to meet tight deadlines. They need time to balance quality, cost, and performance criteria as well as to innovate and solve problems. Unfortunately, they waste too much of their valuable time on non-value-added work.

Imagine the opportunities if engineers could reduce those tedious activities to focus more energy on engineering work that leads to better designs.

This research study examines how engineers spend their time. It identifies time-consuming activities that waste time and present opportunities for improvement.

Fill out the form below to download the whitepaper.

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Futureproof Your Product Design: 7 Technologies Your Design Solution Should Support

The Engineer — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 13:29:10 +0000

Is your CAD tool ready for the 2020s?

As you look to stay relevant in the 2020s, which technologies will impact your product’s competitiveness the most? What are your competitors doing? What should you look for in design tools to make it easier to incorporate new technology into your products? What other capabilities should your company have to ensure it stays competitive through the 2020s?

These are questions you must consider and prepare for now in order to stay competitive.

This research study by Tech-Clarity shows that companies will frequently rely on new technology to increase innovation over the next decade and examines industry plans for the 2020s to stay competitive. To support new technology, an overwhelming 98% of companies agree that software tools will help, but which ones will have the most impact? This study identifies the top technologies that top performing companies believe will make them the most competitive and examines how these technologies will impact development. It also looks at how to get the most out of existing engineering teams and how to manage the resulting complexity.

Fill out the form below to download.

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Enhancing Data Management Workflows Through CAD-Integrated Simulation

The Engineer — Thu, 20 May 2021 15:15:59 +0000

Design and manufacturing companies rely heavily on simulation results as the basis for business decisions. Managing an expanding simulation environment of tools, data, and processes is becoming more and more important. Simulation results need to be integrated with the enterprise’s overall product development environment; however, companies of all sizes are still struggling to manage their simulation data, which is increasing in size and complexity by orders of magnitude as more simulations are performed over time.

Download this white paper which proposes a novel approach to managing simulation data workflows. Processes can be enhanced through the use of integrated CAD tools so that the data management, CAD, and simulation tools can talk to each other. This system provides a
powerful platform for companies to leverage and effectively implement key data management practices.

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Learn How GE Healthcare Optimizes Products with CFD

The Engineer — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 14:59:04 +0000

Learn how engineers at GE Healthcare Anesthesia and Respiratory Care (ARC) Group are successfully using SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation throughout their device design process.

Watch a demonstration of how GE engineers were able to optimize the liquid and gas exchange paths when transferring an anesthesia agent from a sealed bottle to its vaporizer using the free surface capabilities in SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation. They will also discuss how virtual prototyping with CFD fits into their design process and how it eliminates the need for multiple physical prototypes, speeding development and cutting out costs.

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Design Through Analysis: Simulation-Driven Product Development Pays Business Dividends in Transition to Smart Manufacturing

The Engineer — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 14:01:59 +0000

Manufacturing companies in today’s competitive global business climate face a seemingly insurmountable dichotomy: the need to develop, produce, and launch more innovative products of increasing complexity in less time and at lower cost while maintaining consistently high levels of quality.

This challenge is driving these businesses towards an automated product development and smart manufacturing process, because traditional product development and manufacturing approaches are inadequate for handling these increasingly complex products without making trade-offs that negatively impact quality.

Best-in-class manufacturers are embracing higher levels of innovation, automation, data exchange and throughput in transitioning to smart manufacturing by leveraging integrated virtual prototyping and simulation technologies. Instead of engaging in repeated rounds of physical testing, manufacturers are leveraging simulation-driven product development because it provides a host of business benefits as part of the transition to smart manufacturing.

Download this whitepaper today to learn how to secure these advantages and meet emerging business challenges using integrated, easy-to-use and automated design simulation and analysis tools—tailored to meet the needs of specific functions—such as those developed by Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS.

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Design Through Analysis: Today's Designers Greatly Benefit From Simulation-Driven Product Development

The Engineer — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 17:22:35 +0000

In today’s increasingly competitive global market, product designers face mounting pressures to not only create more innovative products but to also deliver designs of higher precision and fidelity—in terms of manufacturability and performance—more quickly and cost-effectively than ever before. Demands for increased innovation, automation, and throughput across manufacturing organizations are already affecting the work of designers who now face greater expectations for more complete designs earlier, with fewer, if any, design changes or manufacturability surprises encountered late in the product development process. What product designers need to respond to this growing demand are integrated, easy-to-use, and automated design simulation and analysis tools, such as those included with SOLIDWORKS® Simulation software.

In this paper you will learn how designers are expected to deliver more robust designs early in the process and how integrated simulation capabilities can help them drive the design creation process to achieve that goal.

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Design Through Analysis: Simulation-Driven Design Speeds System Level Design and Transition to Manufacturing

The Engineer — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 18:19:34 +0000

Today’s engineers and chief designers, who lead system-level or large assembly design teams, work under increasing pressure to develop more innovative, better-performing, and easier-to-manufacture products more quickly and cost effectively. As manufacturers pursue strategies that emphasize increased innovation, automation and throughput across their product development and manufacturing organizations to meet increasing global competition, engineers and chief designers are being tasked with achieving a challenging new set of objectives.

Fortunately, engineers and chief designers can overcome these challenges by adding robust CAD-integrated simulation and design analysis capabilities to their toolbox.

This paper explores the range of new challenges that engineers and chief designers face and how SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional analysis software can help them meet their individual and organizational goals.

Complete the form below to gain access to this paper.

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Giaffone Racing: Expanding Into New Racing Markets with Topology Optimization Tools

The Engineer — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 14:16:09 +0000

Giaffone Racing standardized on the SOLIDWORKS 3D development system in 2006, implementing SOLIDWORKS Professional design, SOLIDWORKS Premium design and analysis, and SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional product data management software.

Because Giaffone Racing has realized substantial productivity gains since standardizing on integrated SOLIDWORKS solutions including a 70 percent reduction in development time, and was interested in supporting additive manufacturing techniques, Giaffone's engineers recently decided to add SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional analysis software so they can utilize the software’s new topology optimization tools, after learning from reseller SKA that those capabilities had been added to the latest software release.

In this whitepaper you will learn how Giaffone Racing:

Cut two months from suspension upright development cycle
Reduced suspension upright weight by 60 percent
Entered rally-race market with lighter, stronger, better-looking parts
Supported both conventional and additive manufacturing

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Gain Competitive Advantage with Product Data Management

The Engineer — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 13:10:16 +0000

Faced with increasing levels of global competition, today’s manufacturers are continuously looking for ways to gain and maintain a competitive edge. Increased efficiency and productivity in product development and manufacturing—resulting in greater innovation, shorter times to market, and reduced development and production costs—are the primary areas of focus for improving a manufacturing organization’s competitive position.

Underlying these objectives, however, are the speed and manner applied by a manufacturer when utilizing, leveraging, and managing its product design data, including automation of product development and manufacturing workflows, tightening of revision and quality controls, and reuse of product design data for other related business functions.

In this whitepaper you will learn that by effectively managing and extending the value of product design data throughout the enterprise, your organization will gain the following PDM benefits:

• Automates Workflows
• Tightens Revision Control
• Saves Time
• Reduces Costs
• Accelerates Time to Market
• Facilitates Collaboration
• Fosters Innovation
• Leverages Design Data to Support Downstream Business Functions
• Supports Manufacturing Resource Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
• Makes the Enterprise More Agile, Flexible, and Efficient

Download the whitepaper to learn more.

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Simulating for Better Health

The Engineer — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:13:42 +0000

Product manufacturers in the health care and life sciences market have always faced bigger challenges than manufacturers in other industries. Regulatory, quality, safety, testing, and innovation requirements often extend development cycles and can impede efficient, cost-effective development of medical, diagnostic, and laboratory products.

Add to these challenges growing patient demand for improved health care experiences and outcomes and for faster responses to emerging health threats like the coronavirus, and you can see why the need to shorten development cycles and product time to market, while improving quality and increasing innovation, becomes even more pressing.

This paper shows health care manufacturers how validating medical product designs improves quality and shortens time to market including:

Advantages of simulation-driven development when compared to prototype-driven development.
Is structural simulation enough, or do we need more?
How to develop innovative, high-quality medical products with SOLIDWORKS simulation solutions.

Download the eBook to discover the benefits of adopting simulation in your medical device design process.

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Developing Better Products in the Cloud

The Engineer — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 13:06:01 +0000

Great ideas can come from many places. Product developers must find ways to bring their best people together so they can effectively collaborate as an ongoing part of development process, but must do this without incurring the cost of bringing everyone to a single location, installing more software, or purchasing additional hardware.

To make collaboration more effective in generating innovation, product developers must be able to connect and collaborate without negatively impacting development cycles. They simply need to work smarter, not harder, and collaborate more, not less.

This eBook shows how two companies used tools on the 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS portfolio to:

Boost productivity and foster innovation with cloud-based tools
Take advantage of built-in data management capabilities with zero IT overhead
Connect and gather feedback in a way that doesn’t delay development cycles
Safely collaborate on designs in real time with colleagues, partners, and suppliers
Leverage SOLIDWORKS design tools to connect design teams any time, from anywhere and on any device

Download the eBook to discover the benefits of adopting a cloud-based approach to product design.

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Understanding Nonlinear Analysis

The Engineer — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 13:21:17 +0000

Historically, engineers were reluctant to use nonlinear analysis, because of its complex problem formulation and long solution time. However, as nonlinear FEA software integrates with CAD software it has become much easier to use. In addition, improved solution algorithms and increased computing power have shortened solution times.

In this paper, you will learn about the differences between linear and nonlinear analysis and how to determine the optimal times to use one type of analysis versus the other. After reviewing the examples taken from everyday design practice, you will see how nonlinear analysis can help you avoid overdesign and build better products.

READ THE WHITEPAPER to realize the benefits and gain a greater understanding that nonlinear FEA brings to the design process.

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White Paper: Tackling Complex Engineering Challenges

The Engineer — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 15:19:01 +0000

Contrary to popular belief, simulation is one of the simplest and easiest ways to perfect your designs and ensure a product that exceeds customer expectations. And simulation plays perfectly well into the old adage “work smarter, not harder.”

Think about your products in the real world for a moment. If they don’t work in the real world, then the product is a failure. That’s why there’s physical prototyping, in which we can test products to failure, go back and fix them in design, then start with a new prototype. That process is expensive and slow. And, in today’s real-world market place, expensive and slow represent failure.

So, how are today’s most successful manufacturers working around this conundrum? They’ve turned to virtual prototyping as a way to ensure design success and reduce product development costs.

In this white paper you will learn about:

Why virtual prototyping is critical for innovation.
How to integrate virtual prototyping into your product design workflow.
What simulation has become a necessity in today’s fast paced product development market.

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White Paper: An Introduction to the Benefits of Virtual Prototyping

The Engineer — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 15:15:35 +0000

If your design doesn’t work in the real world, it’s a failure. This is a basic principle that every good designer understands. It’s also the primary reason that physical prototyping has played an important role in the product development process for manufacturers.

Prototyping allows manufacturers greater insight into real-word performance and ensure that major design flaws are identified and mitigated before the final product ships. Unfortunately, the physical “design/build/test” process adds significant cost and time to the product development cycle.

However, today, new simulation tools are freeing designers from their dependence on costly physical prototypes. Simulation is cutting product development cycles and allowing manufacturers to bring better products to market faster than ever before.

In this white paper you will learn about:

Why virtual prototyping is critical for innovation.
How to integrate virtual prototyping into your product design workflow.
What simulation has become a necessity in today’s fast paced product development market.

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White Paper: Secure Success through Virtual Simulation

The Engineer — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 21:38:39 +0000

Virtual prototyping can be a powerful, but simple way to perfect your designs and ensure a product that exceeds customer expectations. And more companies are getting on board the virtual simulation train, every day.

But what is virtual simulation? How do you integrate it into your product design scheme and what opportunities can it afford the innovators at your firm?

In this white paper you will learn about:

Why virtual prototyping is critical for innovation.
How to integrate virtual prototyping into your product design workflow.
What simulation has become a necessity in today’s fast paced product development market.

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White Paper: Adding Advanced Virtual Testing Capabilities to Your Design Workflow

The Engineer — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 21:28:06 +0000

Contrary to popular belief, simulation is one of the simplest and easiest ways to perfect your designs and ensure a product that exceeds customer expectations. Simulation allows you to “work smarter, not harder.”

Think about your products in the real world for a moment—if they don’t work in the real world, then the product is a failure. That’s why there’s physical prototyping. But physical prototyping is expensive and slow. And, in today’s business world, expensive and slow is represent failure, too.

So, how do you ensure that your designs will work? You’ve got to turn to virtual prototyping if you’re going to iterate quickly and ensure design success.

In this white paper you will learn about:

Why virtual prototyping is critical for innovation.
How to integrate virtual prototyping into your product design workflow.
What simulation has become a necessity in today’s fast-paced product development market.

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