DESPITE the US going through one of its worst economic downturns since the great depression, over 4300 people from around the world attended SolidWorks World 2009, held in February in Orlando, Florida.
Probably the largest CAD conference in the world, this year’s SolidWorks focused on innovation and the environment, with products released to cut down on raw material waste and remnants, maximising machine throughput, optimising cutting cycles and saving programming time.
Keynote speaker Richard Branson energised the crowd on the first day by encouraging everyone to “think outside the box”, and to remember that innovation starts with engineers.
Concerned about the lack of female design engineers at the event, Branson said it was an exciting time to be a designer, but warned that “companies that ignore the consumer will fail”.
While many IT companies have been laying off people, SolidWorks’ CEO Jeff Ray made it quite clear the company is not one of those, and is in “good shape”.
“While we are watching our pennies right now, we are expanding our investment in R&D.
“As we come out of this market we want to have even more technology that engineers are looking for. As technologies are developed we will take advantage of them,” Ray told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
In the near future, Ray believes users will be running systems from very thin web appliances with ‘predictive’ intelligence.
“Much like a video game, where the system is loading the next scenes ahead of time based on what you are doing, so when you get to a door you don’t have to wait for it to open.
“Even though it will be a pretty thin client, it will be a brilliant device in anticipating what you are doing and having that queued up. My expectation is that a massive amount of computer power will be up in the clouds as well as data management.
“That will really help performance and make it a lot easier to give engineers what they want,” Ray said.
Ray hailed the role of innovation during an economic downturn, noting that nylon, the car radio, and Spam were invented during the great depression. “Out of adversity comes great opportunity for innovation,” he said.
Product’s carbon footprint
For many manufacturers, the most interesting inclusion in SolidWorks 2010, set for release later this year, will be a software package code-named “Sage” which can measure a product’s carbon footprint.
Attendees in Orlando were treated to a sneak preview of the software which can detail, in real time, the environmental impact of parts, assemblies, and the design decisions that go with them.
“It makes sense for us to do it,” said Ray. “We capture the materials properties, we have used analysis, and we have refined the product from a design integrity standpoint, why not go the next step and test the carbon footprint of the design.”
However Ray admits this is a challenge and would like feedback on how practical it is. “Our goal is not to be blazing a trail and trying to convert everyone to green. We are not doing it to differentiate it from our competitors.
“We are doing it because we have a moral obligation to do it, and it’s a very natural next step,” Ray said.
He said the early version will be on the upfront carbon footprint of the product while the later versions will look at the products complete lifecycle.
Sage will be available in two product forms of SolidWorks 2010: an “Xpress” version included in every license of SolidWorks and a “Professional” version. Both will display a dashboard at the bottom of the SolidWorks user interface that provides information about a design’s prospective carbon footprint, air impact, water impact, and energy consumed in manufacturing.
The Professional version will roll up the impact of an entire designed product across its environmental life cycle and also include information on energy consumption throughout a product’s usage phase.
Sage is said to be the only CAD-integrated software to provide a comprehensive view of a design’s environmental impact. Analysis determines environmental factors such as where and how the raw material is mined; transportation impacts; energy production (eg coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, etc) and power consumption.
According to Rick Chin, SolidWork’s director of product and marketing innovation, this comprehensive view increases engineer’s confidence that their decisions don’t have hidden impacts and that they aren’t overlooking any positive impacts.
“Engineers live to solve problems, and they are uniquely powerful position to make a positive impact on the environment,” Chin told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
“The impact of the decisions engineers make can be magnified thousands of times or more, given the number of people that use their products and how long those products are used.
“We’re providing designers and engineers with valuable information for making good decisions that significantly reduce the environmental impact of the products they create.”
Chin admits there will be times where being environmentally friendly might cost more, but says, “generally speaking when you reduce some of these environmental factors, there’s a loose connection between those factors and the cost of the product.
“If I reduce these two factors, generally speaking, I’m reducing my manufacturing costs at the same time. But really that will come down to the engineer and his boss. In general manufacturers are becoming more environmentally aware,” Chin said.
An Australian perspective
Scott Frayne, CEO of Intercad*, says this tool (Sage) is a fantastic initiative and believes it will be of great interest to Australian manufacturers.
“We deal with a lot of environmentally savvy and green orientated manufacturers, and this product highlights the thought leadership of SolidWorks,” Frayne told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
“The world has to become more conscious of the damage we are inflicting on the environment, for all the obvious reasons.
“We are already seeing the building/construction industry move to six star rated buildings, and we will start to see that coming into products more and more.
“Our customers’ customers will soon start to demand products be environmentally friendly with minimal impact on the environment.
“We will start to see their product selection criteria orientated towards a more sustainable, less impact product or product process, or material selection. We will also see our customers start to win contracts because of this capability.”
While Frayne believes the perception at the moment is ‘if it’s environmentally friendly, then it must be expensive’.
“That will change. Now that this tool is embedded in SolidWorks there is no need for a special green design. Instead at the time of design, like using FEA, the designer can test it along the way to ensure it meets overall environmental design parameters, and actually design a product with those green aspirations buried in the design from start to finish.
“In that regard, you end up with a better product, environmentally friendly, at the same cost.”
Overall Frayne was very impressed with the forward thinking of the company, and the investment in product quality and reliability.