When you go for a ride or try a vehicle at a car dealer’s before buying a brand new one, one of the most important parameter is the comfort provided by the seats. There is no more direct contact between people and the machine excepted through the seats. It is also the second thing you can appreciate (or not) after the look of the car. This is why car and car-seats manufacturer must do their utmost to provide the future driver and passengers with the best user experience.

Faurecia needs it, LMS provides it!

Faurecia is Europe leading automotive seating system manufacturer and one of the top three worldwide. The company had two projects on which they had to find an optimal solution. One of them requiring kinematic and load calculations to be performed on a seat height adjuster mechanism controlled by the driver/passenger using a pump lever with a low operating torque for easy actuation and the other one on rear-vehicle storage capacity.

The solutions came thanks to LMS's software LMS Virtual.Lab Motion in which you can simulate the realistic motion and loads of mechanical systems. It permits design engineers to quickly analyze and optimize the real-world behavior of mechanical designs and to guarantee that they perform as expected, before committing to expensive physical prototype testing.

Design process improvement

On their first project Faurecia used the software to create a virtual model of the mechanism by importing data from CAD. LMS Virtual.Lab’s ability to represent non-permanent contact between parts - an important feature since contact plays a critical role in determining friction between so many moving parts. Modeling these contacts in LMS Virtual.Lab Motion lets seat engineers accurately predict normal and tangential forces on these components.

On the other project, Faurecia used LMS’ solutions to study the backrest fold-down capability to increase rear-vehicle storage capacity. Dynamic simulations were also used to study the real-life behavior of the car seat under actual passenger seating conditions. Currently under development, this "Easy Break" function relies on springs at the lever joints to help actuate the seat with minimal applied pressure.

1-2-3 model template for future designs

And that isn't all: thanks to LMS Virtual.Lab Motion, designers will gain a huge amount of time using this fold-down function. They will "just" have to enter key parameters into a simulation template instead of recreating models from scratch each time.

Now when you will seat on a car, you will probably ask yourself what's under it. Maybe you will talk about it to your car seller but I'm not sure they will help… So take advantage of this blogpost to ask your questions to LMS!

> Find out how LMS Virtual.Lab Motion can help you and discover the other solutions of LMS.
> Read the full LMS-Faurecia success story.

Alexandre

Hello from Russia! I have been attending yesterday's PLM Forum in Moscow with about 700 visitors and want to give you a brief and personal report with highlights from my point of view.

We have been exhibiting the PLM MarketPlace and offerings from our Alliance Partners in the exhibition and via a conference presentation. First of all I experienced lots of interest in technical solutions provided by our partners, such as in the field of CFD, composite, data exchange. In this respect, PLM MarketPlace was recognized as good entry point to find those specialized solutions which are required in Russian industry and government-funded projects.

 
Image courtesy of Dimitri Movchan, www.isicad.ru

From the discussions I conclude that PLM is generally seen as the structure which helps enable and organize those projects. People were curious and keen to learn what they can get to leverage their engineering competences to market success.

I was told that social communities are emerging in Russia but already well adopted by professionals. So our offerings to foster community collaboration with our ecosystem and around the PLM MarketPlace were seen as very suitable and powerful to answer customers present and tomorrow’s needs.

Co-exhibitors with me were the VARs Bee Pitron and Hetnet (both connected to the PLM MarketPlace) and also Techprom. Software partner CD-adapco was represented by the Sarov Engineering Center and Technology partner 3Dconnexion had an exhibition booth as well.

Well, time for me to board and fly back to Paris. Obviously, if you are willing to discuss business opportunities with our Russian partners or want to be connected with them, don’t hesitate to contact my folks of the PLM MarketPlace team.

до скорой встречи!*

Michael

*See you soon !

Dear technology enthusiasts,
This Monday and Tuesday (September 28th-29th) is being held in Chicago the 2nd Composites World Expo.
Dassault Systemes is of course well represented, with a booth and several speaking slots. 
One of them, on Tuesday September 29th, is shared with the DS partner Intercim around the theme of Manufacturing Excellence for Composites.
We thought it would be interesting to look at what Intercim offers for Composite Manufacturers through a customer case.

In the wake of the all-new Boeing 787, the first airliner predominantly built from carbon composites, the entire industry is seeing a major shift of the demand.

To put things in perspective, let’s look at the market dynamics. The Industry is gradually transitioning from experimental and low volume productions to massive amounts .
The amount of carbon fibers consumed by the Industry is expected to double over the next 6 years. Are the manufacturers ready for that “bungee” jump?

Reducing costs of composite manufacturing processes while coping with production ramp-ups now becomes strategic. Let’s look at the case of EADS Composites Atlantic, and how difficult it can be to ramp up a composite production.

Wonder what it feels like not being able to deliver when the customer asks for more?

“In the fall of 2006, five years into a major contract for the biweekly delivery of ten types of products (leading edges, rudders...) to be used on aircraft manufacturing, we had slipped dangerously behind schedule in manufacturing and deliveries, up to 6 months late on one product in particular,” recalls Séverine Guitton, Head of Quality & Methods for Composites Atlantic Limited (CAL).
On the most heavily affected leading edge products, the scrap rate had reached 13% and rework hit 28%! However, there was absolutely no logic that could explain this highly irregular defect. All of the manufacturing parameters, constantly checked and rechecked, fit perfectly with the plans.

Once the INTERCIM solution for Composite Manufacturing (Pertinence Suite) was in place, workers began collecting 96 parameters at various stages of the  production process, for each new part that was manufactured. The “Rule Discovery” module from INTERCIM, a patented technology, quickly identified two totally unrelated and until then unsuspected characteristics as directly influencing the recurrent defects. “Rules Discovery enabled us to clearly establish specific rules regarding key parameters, far from any known scientific explanation and most strikingly in total contradiction to all of our intuitions,” underlines Séverine Guitton. Then the workers receive conditional notifications in real time during the execution with the INTERCIM Operations Advisor module, live on the shop floor. “By applying these rules to our normal operating procedures, we immediately reduced the scrap rate from 13% to zero and rework came down from 28% to less than 1%,” she continues.

Want to find out more on INTERCIM’s capabilities for Composite Manufacturers? Please visit www.intercim.com.

Does the Composites Atlantic example inspire you?
And what if that could apply to other industries as well?

Romain Lavault for Intercim and Jacques

How to implement successfully a green manufacturing

Nowadays, it seems like “Going Green” and efficient manufacturing have become synonymous with one another.   It makes perfect sense for this to be true though, since one of the primary goals for any manufacturer and also any environmentalist is minimizing waste and saving energy.  Some will say that going “green” is just what companies should do because it is better for the world we live in or because we only have one planet.  Without argument, both statements are entirely true; however, successfully implementing green manufacturing practices requires a business case.  Kate Bourdet of the 3D Perspectives Blog notes, “The European Union estimates that more than 80 percent of a product’s environmental impact is determined in the product conception phase.”   So then the question is, wouldn’t it make sense – as a business case – to build an optimized operation that not only achieves all manufacturing goals but also employs green practices in doing so?

A common vision ...

Magestic Systems, Inc (MSI) and Dassault Systèmes (DS) have made this a possibility.  Both companies operate with the understanding that for “green” manufacturing to succeed, industrial development needs to continue to progress and simultaneously needs to avoid foreclosing the needs of future generations.  This relies on planning and the ability of designers, engineers, and manufacturers alike to take into account all costs of a product, both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic to a product are costs that go into buying material, operating a machine; extrinsic to this product, however, are costs such as where a shop purchases its energy – from coal-fired or renewable sources.  Choices made in the planning of a product lifecycle can greatly minimize its impact on the environment. 

... that result in solutions ready for the market

DS has built suites of software applications from CATIA, to SIMULIA, to ENOVIA that all advocate advanced planning and enable manufacturers to produce quality products without much trial and error, if any. PLM applications, like the DS suites, encompass the macro side of manufacturing, the plan.  Partners like MSI focus on the micro side, creating technologies that fit into plans set forth through PLM to create an optimized system.  TruNEST™ CAA V5 Composites Based offers advanced true shape nesting with best in class algorithmic logic to minimize toxic waste created during the cutting of composite materials.  TruNEST™ also allows manufacturers to optimize their use of energy by reducing cycle times, programming optimal tool paths, and maximizing throughput – all of which saves manufacturers money. MSI has advanced that technology with TruLASER™ View CAA V5 Composites Based by enabling operators to lay up plies with minimal wasted effort.  CATIA V5 design data provides measurements and designates where and how plies should be laid up as well as how the plies should be kitted to even further streamline the process.

Are you ready for the transformation?

TruNEST™ CAA V5 Composites Based and TruLASER™ View CAA V5 Composites Based comprise one piece of the DS PLM solution that not only makes sense as a business case, but also on an environmental level.  Together, the technologies highlight the teachings and blog posts of Dr. David Dornfeld of University of California-Berkeley and the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability.  He says, “reduced cost of ownership (CoO) is still the mantra in most industries…Time is money...energy is money...consumables are money.  If you can make the same product using fewer resources/energy [then] that seems like a good strategy.”   (see entire post) Dornfeld directly correlates efficient manufacturing and reduced cost of ownership with “green” manufacturing practices.  These principles of minimizing waste and optimizing energy provide the foundation for DS and MSI technologies.  Through PLM, Dassault and Magestic Systems continue raise the bar for the entire manufacturing landscape.  By investing in development for tomorrow, the two companies together look to discover new best practices for today.

What about you? Is your Company going in that direction? Do you agree that these are profund reasons or do you consider them as pure hype? Please leave a comment!

Dylan MacLean for Magestic Systems and Jacques

Hi everyone,
As Anthony is gone on Holidays, discovering new landscape and having some deserved rest, I will take over his blog contribution and try to tell you nice stories with our partners.  And we have some interesting things to tell you.

Speed and strength, what's under the hood?!
Daydreaming can allow us to ponder the many wonders of the world. Spending passing moments contemplating how a passenger ferry can travel at such high speeds for such sustained periods of time for example or perhaps how a yacht can be so fast, yet so agile?
Without great engine systems, neither of these things would be possible and without MTU, one of the world's leading manufacturers of off-road diesel engines many rail, road, agricultural or military vehicles and machines would not exist in the capacity that they do today.

Image courtesy of MTU Detroit Diesel

Something is new with MTU!
With the current global economic crisis biting hard, companies are being forced to save money, slash budgets and reduce man-hours, but workloads remain unchanged.  MTU realized that they would have to speculate to accumulate and to save time and money invested in an installation of TPM, Theorem Process Manager, helping them solve the CAD interoperability challenges they faced.
The installation of TPM has enabled MTU to save time through automating MTU’s complex and labour intensive CAD data exchange processes where CATIA and or Pro/E data had to be prepared and dispatched for a variety of customers – each with differing requirements.

TPM enabled MTU to significantly reduce turnaround times and save them around 60% in man-hours on CAD interoperability tasks.
Discover how TPM can work for you. Read the full MTU story. 

Alexandre and Kevin Levy for the Theorem team.

How DS Alliance partners adopted our Community blog

Just 5 months ago, we made this community blog become available to all customers and partners. Many things happened since then, and we have seen an enthousiastic partner community welcoming this announcement during our last Partner Summit.

This is quite an innovative approach, since this blog content is created collaboratively by our partner community (software, service, hardware partners). It gives each partner the opportunity to talk to a large community of users in one place. Under the PLM MarketPLace umbrella, our customer community is now able to find and share information about all complementary solutions adding value to DS offers.
Even more interesting for all: the attitude of our partner community. We have there plenty of technical, consulting and sales people, people loving to HEAR and LEARN from customers.

How you will benefit from this momentum

We have people willing to listen, share and talk. What are we going to talk about in the PLM field? Just what our customer and partner tell us!

So, what would be the most interesting and valuable blogpost to read in your mind? Please tell us what you think by answering this poll, or leave us a comment below.  

the PLM MarketPlace blog is yours!!
Keep connected,

Jacques