A series of Canadian application stories from leading CAD/CAM, PLM and ERP providers.

At Autodesk University 2009, Autodesk is highlighting a series of innovative real-world applications of digital prototyping software to inspire its manufacturing customers with better ways to design and manufacture the world’s best products for competitive advantage. Autodesk is also hosting an extensive virtual event on AU Virtual, enabling customers around the world with limited time and travel budgets to participate.  

Autodesk and Stratasys unveiled the world’s first 3-D print of a life-size commuter jet turbo prop engine at AU 2009. The engine, which includes some functional, moving parts such as the propellers, is designed exclusively in Autodesk Inventor software by Nino Caldarola, an aerospace designer and engineer based in Manitoba, Canada, who currently is an application engineer with Autodesk reseller IMAGINiT. The 10-foot-by-10-foot engine, composed of nearly 200 ABS plastic parts, was on display in the AU Design Matters pavilion and will permanently reside in the Autodesk Gallery. In a manufacturing industry context, a 3-D print of this sophistication could help aerospace engineers validate the digital prototype, conduct analysis and determine how components will fit together.

On Wednesday, users learned about the latest Autodesk digital prototyping technology from Robert “Buzz” Kross, Autodesk senior vice-president of the manufacturing industry group, in the annual industry keynote. This year’s featured guest speaker was Peter H. Diamandis, founder, CEO and chairman of X PRIZE Foundation, a pioneer and leader in the commercial space arena that awarded the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight.

Throughout the week in the AU Manufacturing Lounge, customers sat with product evangelists and shared their best tips and tricks for digital prototyping with Autodesk design and engineering software. Autodesk also encouraged customers to record their favourite best practices on video for uploading onto the Autodesk Manufacturing YouTube Channel. The top 10 videos receiving the most views by the end of AU will be awarded prizes.

Autodesk has also created the annual Manufacturing Community Achievement award to recognize individuals for their contributions to the Autodesk Manufacturing user community. Contributions can include innovative designs or use of software, leadership in discussion groups or user groups, and long-term participation at AU as an attendee or instructor. The 2009 award recognized Charlie Bliss for his lifetime of achievement. Bliss has been using Inventor since the software’s first alpha release, and his involvement and passion for Inventor software has been going strong ever since. Bliss’ contributions to the Inventor community have been significant, both in terms of quantity and breadth. For example, his website cbliss.com became a hub of the early Inventor community where users could find and donate Inventor part models, shaders and textures. A CAD services manager with Applied Materials for nearly 19 years, Charlie Bliss is currently consulting with green start-up companies on their design and CAD technology needs.

Autodesk Inc. has announced that design and engineering professionals can become Autodesk Certified in AutoCAD 2010, Autodesk Inventor 2010, Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 software. Becoming Autodesk Certified allows professionals, and companies boasting Autodesk Certified employees, to validate their industry skills and knowledge, demonstrate expertise and gain credibility. Customer demand has contributed to the huge growth of Autodesk Certification over the past year, increasing the number of Autodesk Certified professionals to more than 100,000.
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"With engineering and design fields becoming increasingly competitive, certification gives employees an edge at a time when having one is critical to career success," said Barbara Bowen, certification program development manager, Autodesk. "Autodesk Certification allows experienced designers and engineers to validate acquired skills by receiving recognition for their knowledge of specific Autodesk software applications."
www.autodesk.com/be-remarkable
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If you’ve ever eaten corn flakes or planted a seed, chances are A.T. Ferrell Co. Inc. has touched your life.

A leader serving agricultural, food and industrial markets, A.T. Ferrell has been designing and building equipment used to process, condition and convey grains, feeds, seeds and other bulk and powder materials for 140 years. The products its three divisions make are used and trusted by feed mills, farm operators and food, cereal and oilseed processors worldwide. Many customers have relied on their equipment and expertise for decades to maximize their profits. As a result, A.T. Ferrell needs to be agile and responsive, continually innovating their designs to deliver superior results and performance for their customers.

The company has moved beyond 3D to digital prototyping, enabling it to design, visualize and simulate the real-world performance of its products before cutting a single piece of steel. Autodesk Inventor software has helped A.T. Ferrell to:

• Better support its customers
• Help lower costs and increase innovation
• Avoid costly mistakes, speeding product development time
• Use a single digital prototype for design, sales, marketing and manufacturing
• Reduce reliance on expensive physical prototyping

The challenge
To meet each customer’s requirements, A.T. Ferrell configures its equipment to order, to meet customer needs, now and in the future.

“Even though we have common chassis concepts, there are 15 to 30 variables that come into play when we build a customer’s machine,” explains Allen Gager, design engineer and CAD manager at A.T. Ferrell. “Adding to the complexity, we try to account for likely future processing techniques so that our customers can use our machines 20, 30, even 40 years from now,” he adds. “One reason that A.T. Ferrell has been so successful for so long is that our customers trust us to maximize their investments.”

In addition to addressing customer needs cost-effectively, A.T. Ferrell’s food-grade products are subject to FDA and other government regulations. The company must also design its product with the safety of maintenance workers in mind to address Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines.

The solution
A.T. Ferrell adopted Autodesk Inventor Professional software and Autodesk Vault Workgroup data management software, both part of the Autodesk solution for digital prototyping. They help A.T. Ferrell streamline its product development, sales, and marketing processes, from initial product configuration through manufacturing and beyond.

The company uses Inventor Professional software to design the mechanical and hydraulic systems on its machines and Vault to reuse designs, track revisions and release finished designs to manufacturing.

According to Gager, with this digital prototyping solution, A.T. Ferrell can create superior, optimized designs faster than ever. He says, “Taking advantage of digital prototyping, we can look at a number of different ideas for a solution before we cut steel. We can simulate and analyze our designs to minimize mistakes — and in the end provide a better product.” For example, A.T. Ferrell uses the built-in finite element analysis (FEA) capabilities to optimize material choices and sizes. “We can apply forces and stresses to find out how much material we really need,” he continues. “If we use material intelligently, we can cut costs and reduce our energy footprint. It takes less energy to cut a half-inch of steel than three-quarters an inch of steel.”

The company can also better meet regulatory requirements with the help of Inventor. Gager explains: “During the design phase, we can address applicable regulations. For example, it’s easier to meet OSHA regulations because we can get accurate weight on panels that need to be removed during maintenance — and thus determine whether a worker can safely move and manipulate them.”

Easier to ask “what if?”
Recently, A.T. Ferrell experienced design optimization at its best when a customer asked the company to improve ease-of-use for a roller mill adjustment system. Gager immediately began to explore different options in Inventor. “I pulled up the model and just started asking ‘what if’ questions,” he says. “I went through about 15 scenarios to find a solution. I worked with our machine builder to make some minor revisions and then ran stress analysis and checked for interferences before we finalized the model. Finally, we generated shop drawings and went into production. It took just over two days from start to finish.”

When asked how the company would have met this type of customer request before adopting Inventor software, he says, “We probably would have made four physical prototypes and there would have been 12 people involved. Inventor removes the risk of asking ‘what if’. I explore a wide range of design options without wasting time or money.”

Digital models drive sales
The optimized digital prototypes A.T. Ferrell creates in Inventor software drive not only product development but also help the sales team. “Digital prototypes make it easier to collaborate with our global customer base,” Gager says. “Customers can collaborate with us on their designs by viewing DWF™ files. They can explore designs from every angle to make sure that we’ve met their needs and there are no surprises when the machine arrives for installation. Our customers can even import Inventor data into Autodesk Navisworks software to help speed their facilities layouts.”

In addition, A.T. Ferrell uses renderings from digital prototypes in its manuals and generates code for computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines directly from Inventor models. “When you’re trying to communicate using 2D engineering drawings, there can be communication barriers,” he notes. “But with 3D digital prototypes, those go away. From sales to marketing to manufacturing, everyone gets what they need right off the digital model. That’s certainly not possible with 2D geometry.”

The result
A.T. Ferrell is delivering the exceptional quality customers expect — and saving time and money in the process. “Without Inventor and Digital Prototyping, we would have to make several physical prototypes for each new design,” Gager says. “We still build them on occasion, but it’s rare now.”

In addition, the company has created a custom Inventor application to automate aspects of sheet metal design. “Something that took a few minutes to do before now takes a single click,” he says. “For machines with 300 sheet metal parts, that adds up.”

Gager estimates that Autodesk software reduces the workload of A.T. Ferrell’s designers by half. But more than that, Autodesk software frees them up to be creative. He says, “Instead of locating, opening, and printing hundreds of drawings in a project, we use Autodesk Vault Workgroup to complete the process with just a few clicks. As a result, we can spend time working on the fun stuff, which is designing machines that meet customer needs.”
www.autodesk.com/inventor

THE COMPANY: Founded in 1926 and based in Coquitlam, B.C., Dynamic Structures designs and manufactures complex structures. Whether it’s creating a massive telescope enclosure or an amusement ride, the company is known for its innovative designs and exacting engineering.

THE CHALLENGE: The products Dynamic Structures builds have very precise requirements. For example, amusement rides must not only wow riders, they must also meet stringent safety regulations and be completely reliable. Ride rails need to line up and switches bear the weight and motion. On these and other projects, there’s little room for error. Most of the time, building physical prototypes of these complex projects is nearly impossible. Yet the company needs to have confidence that when fabrication begins, it has accounted for all aspects of operation and installation.

THE SOLUTION: In 1994, the company began designing its most complex structures using AutoCAD, incorporating 3D functionality as it became available. Then, in 2002, it decided to move beyond 3D to digital prototyping with Autodesk Inventor. With Inventor, they’re able to model highly complex geometry for intricate structures faster and easier than ever before. What’s more, it can use digital prototyping to visualize and validate designs from all angles.

"On massive, complex structures … we can’t fabricate, assemble, then realize something won’t work," drawing office manager Craig Breckenridge says. "On a traditional drawing, it can take hours to determine whether someone can access an area of an enclosure. With the digital prototype, we can visualize exactly how the worker can do it. We know how much space equipment takes up, what’s around it, and how we’ll support it – just by looking at the digital prototype."

Before digital prototyping, teamwork was hampered by miscommunication. Now, both designers and engineers access data for projects using Autodesk Vault Manufacturing, data management software that helps with revision control and the engineering change order process.

THE RESULTS: Besides helping to streamline the design process, digital prototyping enables Dynamic Structures and its clients to experience photorealistic renderings and animations of designs. "Before we build anything, we can see and almost feel it," Breckenridge says. "It makes a huge difference in the accuracy of our design process – we are confident that what we see is what we’ll get." The company animates digital prototypes to help the fabrication shop quickly understand how to sequence the assembly process. It also includes 3D visualizations in its bids for new projects, importing Inventor models into Autodesk 3ds Max to create project animations. Additionally, the company estimates digital prototyping reduces the time it takes to create and revise part and assembly drawings by more than 20 percent.

• Browse back to the 2009 Software Case Study Guide Index for many more software applications.