Digital Prototyping For Industrial Machinery Manufacturers

COVER STORY
Digital prototyping for industrial machinery manufacturers

In this article, software company Autodesk describes the benets of digital over physical prototyping and details the benets and three industry application of its Autodesk Inventor software.
igital prototyping brings together design data from all phases of the product development process to create a single digital model. This model simulates the complete product and gives engineers the ability to better visualise, optimise and manage their design before producing a physical prototype. Digital prototyping gives industrial machinery manufacturers the ability to virtually explore a complete product before it is built. By using a digital prototype, manufacturers can visualise and simulate real-world performance of the design with less reliance on costly physical prototypes, reducing design and production costs. Digital prototyping moves companies beyond 3D modelling. It enables manufacturing workgroups to create a single digital model that can be used in every stage of production, bridging the gaps that usually exist between conceptual design, engineering, mechanical design, electrical controls design, manufacturing, and sales & marketing teams.
Images courtesy of ideas* and Pacer Engineers.
Industry challenges
Industrial machinery manufacturers operate in a complex and demanding environment and face unprecedented challenges today. They are simultaneously confronted with increasing global competition for new project opportunities and customer requirements becoming more multifaceted and challenging. To meet these requirements, industrial machinery manufacturers often engage in engineer-to-order, configure-to-order or assemble-to-order processes and operations. Industrial machinery manufacturers struggle with increasingly complex product platforms, from which product variants and configurations are driven and the potential costs and qualitycontrol issues associated with them. At the same time, the need to incorporate innovative design is essential, while managing quality and costs closely is critical to the bottom line. Successful manufacturers must effectively collaborate with both local and global product development teams and supply chain partners in order to develop and deliver more complex products in less time.
Just as important is the ability for multiple disciplines to communicate and collaborate throughout the development process, without recreating data to meet their needs.
Implementing the right solution

The Autodesk Inventor product line provides a comprehensive and flexible set of software for 3D mechanical design, simulation, tooling creation and design communication that helps manufacturers cost-effectively take advantage of the digital prototyping workflow to design and build better products in less time. The Inventor model is an accurate 3D digital prototype that enables designers to validate the form, fit and function of a design, minimising the need to test the design with physical prototypes. By enabling designers to use a digital prototype to design, visualise and simulate products digitally, Inventor software helps designers communicate more effectively, reduce errors and deliver more innovative product designs faster.
Award winning designs with Autodesk Inventor

ideas*is a Melbourne-based engineering services firm which used Autodesk Inventor to provide detailed design and engineering for a massive $20m, state-of-the-art construction recycling facility. The size of four football fields, the plant was designed to efficiently recycle one million tonnes of discarded construction and demolition materials per year. In order to offer a more interactive and consultative experience that enables everyone to explore what-ifs throughout the design process, we needed to move beyond 3D to digital prototyping, said Michael Percy, managing director at *ideas. The company used Autodesk Inventor software to digitally prototype the recycling plant. This provided the flexibility to integrate all structural and mechanical components, effectively communicate the design and help enable rapid modification during the many design iterations.
Strategies for success

Succeeding in this market requires an intense focus on meeting customer needs. Establishing a product development methodology that effectively utilises a product platform to create a multitude of configurations to adapt to the customers needs is paramount. Whether a new product platform or a derivative of an existing one, development teams need the ability to explore a design early in the process and communicate that design with stakeholders and customers. The ability to design, visualise and simulate a product from the earliest concept phase is a prerequisite to avoiding design errors that may not appear until the physical prototyping stage.
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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2010
COVER STORY
collaboration between our client and our design expertise. As a result our clients feel more involved in the design process and it gives them greater clarity on the outcome of their projects.
Winning business with digital prototyping

As a global leader in motion and control technology, Parker Hannifin (Parker) currently reaches annual sales exceeding $12bn. To increase revenues and margins, Parker transitioned from simply supplying parts to offering customers complete motion and control systems. Digital prototyping has helped Parker shift its focus by supporting a streamlined, highly efficient product development process. The company combines surface models from Autodesk Alias software, electrical schematics created in AutoCAD Electrical and mechanical design data from Inventor to create a single digital model. Parker shares digital models, which are accurate digital prototypes, with reviewers and customers using the visualisation tools in Autodesk Showcase and the collaboration tools in Autodesk Streamline. Using Autodesk solutions, over a hundred design departments around the world are able to work within a single digital model environment, speeding design times and reducing errors. By relying more on digital prototypes to validate designs, Parker has cut back on the expensive physical prototypes it must produce. We cant underscore enough the value of making even one fewer physical prototype, said David Bosworth, manager of Enterprise Engineering Systems at Parker Hannifin. With digital prototyping, the time-to-market and cost savings are very real. Thats why we require digital prototypes for all our parts. Creating accurate, realistic and compelling renderings of digital prototypes is also yielding dividends for Parker. Weve successfully eliminated photography in the catalogues for our instrumentation division, said Bosworth. And were doing it without tying up our precious design and engineering resources.
Also, Autodesk Inventor software provided a platform that enabled ideas* to more seamlessly integrate design aspects that leveraged its investment and commitment to AutoCAD software. By expanding on its AutoCAD skills, while adopting the new strategy, the company could reduce the cost of transition and decrease disruption to its production schedules. The collaborative approach helped increase overall productivity by 20 per cent and helped enable the entire project to be installed within 10 months of the first designs.
Taking the leap from 2D to 3D

Based in Western Australia, Pacer Engineers (Pacer) delivers bulk material handling and mineral processing infrastructure projects to a range of high-profile mining and resources clients. Before bringing on board an in-house design team, Pacer worked primarily with external drafting contractors utilising two-dimensional design software. 2D modelling required components such as structure, dimension and design to be outlined on separate individual drawings and relied on the expertise of draftsmen to notice clashes and errors, explained Cameron Jacotine, lead designer, Pacer Engineers. The 2D process meant fixing problems, such as incorrectly placed holes and clashing pipes, was very time-consuming and customers werent able to see the whole product while it was being developed. Pacer implemented a digital prototyping solution comprising of Autodesk Inventor Suite, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT to remain competitive, streamline the overall design process and improve collaboration with stakeholders. The major benefit of us being able to digitally prototype is the interaction with our customers. We now produce a preliminary digital prototype for first review to communicate our proposal. Once this is accepted by the client, we then start on the detailed requirements of the project and present them with a 90 per cent complete digital prototype for a hazard and operability study, said Jon Wright, engineering manager at Pacer Engineers. Before we implemented digital prototyping this process took us significantly longer. Our solution facilitates a greater level of
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction and media and entertainment industries including the last 15 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects use Autodesk software to design, visualise and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets.
Contact: www.autodesk.com.au
Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2010
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Digital Prototyping For Industrial Machinery Manufacturers

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COVER STORY

Digital prototyping for industrial machinery manufacturers

Images courtesy of ideas* and Pacer Engineers.

Implementing the right solution

Award winning designs with Autodesk Inventor

Strategies for success

Winning business with digital prototyping

Taking the leap from 2D to 3D

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2010

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