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1 – PLMagazine 2/2011

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PLM Group Cool Design Contest 2011 Th. Frobenius – Magic sounds from the church organ

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Low Vision International AB won prestigious red dot design award

Be more effective with PLM Group full service agreement

#02 2011

Welcome to the SolidWorks 2012 Launch Event!

PLMagazine 2/2011 – 2

Thanks to all participants in the PLM Group Cool Design Contest!Dear reader

Many thanks to all who contributed to the PLM Group Cool Design Contest! I would like to thank both the winners and those who participated. The goal with the competition was to highlight some of the many cool

development projects our customers are generating. As you will see on the following pages we have fully met this goal.

It has been really exciting for us to review all the submitted proposals, which shows how innovative and effective our clients work with the solutions we provide. We also hope that the many, exciting and varied examples of how SolidWorks is used can help to inspire our other customers. We are currently considering repeating the contest again next year.

The release of SolidWorks 2012 is right around the corner. If companies want to stay ahead of the competition when it comes to innovation, it is important for them to have an open approach to new tools that can help them to become even more productive in their development of new products. PLM Group is arranging launch seminars around SolidWorks 2012 where we demonstrate how the many and important innovations in the new software can support your daily design work with creating better products.

At the launch seminar last year in Sweden a few of our customers were presenting how they use SolidWorks in their product development work. It turned out to be a great success and this year we will do the same in Denmark, Finland and the Baltic Countries. I would also like to point out that the news seminars are also a perfect opportunity to network with other

SolidWorks users. The seminars are open to anyone interested in seeing how things work in the SolidWorks community.

We spent a large part of last year analyzing how we had previously provided services in the five countries where PLM Group is operating. We established a project team with the task to create a clear and common structure around our portfolio of services. The team has now completed its work, which has resulted in a number of new and better service offers to our users.

Within the magazine you can read about some of our new Service Agreement offerings. PLM Group offers solutions that ensure the entire SolidWorks installation is continuously maintained and upgraded. With these services we offer companies transparency and predictability in the operational cost, minimizing the need for unplanned consultancy. Moreover, the agreement means that the company can free up internal resources for more productive tasks.

Enjoy reading,

Jess G. Frandsen, CEO of PLM Group

Publisher: PLM Group www.plmgroup.eu | Editor-in-chief: Silva Lill, PLM Group | Journalists: Klavs Andersen and Kenneth Brinkeby | Design: Newton Marketing, Estonia | Print: Grafisk Forum, Denmark

TH. Frobenius og Sønner Orgelbyggeri A/S – Magic sounds from the church organ

Ullman Dynamics – Safe and comfortable lightweight seats for speedboats

Outotec Oy – Hydraulic assembly design becomes more effective with SolidWorks

Reddot Design Award LVI Low Vision International AB designed a new video magnifier for visually handicapped people

CASE: VAK Oy – Automation of CAD routines streamlines design of truck trailers

Full Service Agreement from PLM Group

SolidWorks 2012 Launch Event

Jomet Oy developed a new and unique packing machine in only three months

Top Marine OÜ is developing high quality marine products

AS Latvijas Finieris developed an advanced TV cabinet

C-Advice Oy used SolidWorks to model and render plastic pipe junction

Agramkov Fluid Systems A/S. SolidWorks enables large assembly design for advanced car liquids filling lines

University of Tartu. Football robot gains its´eyesight with SolidWorks

Austin O´Malley: “SolidWorks will provide the single source of truth”

Test the speed of your SolidWorks Workstation

Tips & Tricks

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26Publisher: PLM Group www.plmgroup.eu | Editor-in-chief: Silva Lill, PLM Group | Journalists: Klavs Andersen and Kenneth Brinkeby | Design: Newton Marketing, Estonia | Print: Grafisk Forum, Denmark

FINALISTS:

Kuopio Academy of Design. Students collaborate using SolidWorks Enterprise PDM on custom motorcycle

Karsten Pedersen used SolidWorks to reconstruct a top secret nuclear bunker

Techobalt Eesti OÜ Rapid development of a mobile sorting-machine


11. October, Tampere, Finland 12. October, Roskilde, Denmark13. October, Horsens, Denmark18. October Turku, Finland 18. October Malmö, Sweden

19. October Jönkoping, Sweden20. October Västerås, Sweden25. October Vasa, Finland4. November Tallinn, Estonia25. November Riga, Latvia

We are looking forward to welcome you on SolidWorks 2012 Launch Event!

Reserve Your seat today www.plmgroup.eu/sw2012

PLM GROUP COOL DESIGN CONTEST


Th. Frobenius has built organs in Denmark

for 100 years. The company was founded in 1909 by the German immigrant Theodor Frobenius and has since built more than 1,000 organs. The company has built a wide range of Denmark’s

most famous organs, and have had a large export business to chuches around the globe including organs in the UK, USA and Japan. The company today is owned by the Frobenius foundation which annually provides financial support to various church musical purposes.

When churchgoers at Nørrelandkirken in the Danish city of Holstebro arrive on Sunday, they are drawn in by the

powerful music from a new organ in the church that brings them them into the right mood for worship. The organ’s 56 distinctive brass pipes are designed in a completely unconventional way to give the organ a unique tone and rich sound that is rarely heard from organs of the same size.

The organ is designed by well known Danish architect Johannes Exner, in close

collaboration with the organ builders Th. Frobenius in Lyngby, that has been crafting organs for churches throughout the world for over 100 years. These include the organ of the British royal family’s own church Canongate, in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

Organ builder and technical designer Kim Nielsen has won this year’s PLM Group Cool Design Contest for his work in which he has used SolidWorks intensively to design the unique organ for Nørrelandskirken. Nielsen explains ”We use SolidWorks in the complete design of the organs. The whole organ including pipes and all of the mechanisms and

air systems are designed using SolidWorks.”The organ is the result of a series of new

design ideas, where the trumpets for the first time in the world has a length of 16 feet, though the voice is an eight-foot trumpet: “In this way we have achieved a larger and fuller sound than that of a traditional eight-foot trumpet”, explains Kim Nielsen.

Complex mechanismThe construction of an organ presents challenges very similar to the construction of a complicated machine. Hiding behind the fine joinery and wood carving are extremely complicated mechanics, which wood carvings the organist controls from his so-called playing board when he is playing the organ.

Inside the organ’s house is a complicated web of moving mechanics and tubes carrying air to the organ pipes, which the organist

turns into wonderful music. The mechanics direct the right amount of air to the right places, so the organ can play with the special sound of wood and metal pipes that characterize each individual organ.

The mechanism of an organ is a very large assembly that offers many opportunities for unwanted collisions between the parts and this is where SolidWorks has really made a difference. The design of the organs with 3D CAD has gone from the old fashioned drawing board via 2D CAD to full 3D design and Kim Nielsen describes this as a revolution in his design work.

An eye opener”We work in a 3D world. When we used hand drawings and 2D CAD, we had to have the third dimension inside our heads. The 2D CAD system was a step forward but ressembled

Complex 3D models helping to craft magic sounds from the church organ

SolidWorks assists in the design of a groundbreaking church organ to save time and money and allow for a new construction method for the organ pipes.


mostly to an automated drawing board. When I first saw SolidWorks it was really an eye opener. I could suddenly see how the parts of the organ behave in relation to each other,” says Kim Nielsen.

The major advantage of using SolidWorks has been the opportunity to assess if there is sufficient room for the organ pipes, and no less important, the ability to perform collision checking, which can prevent that the parts inside the organ such as the mechanics and air canals collide in an undesirable way.

”To avoid collisions between the many components, have previously been a huge challenge for us. We were always fighting to get it right. We simply could not to see properly if the parts collided, but with SolidWorks that is very simple. With the 3D CAD system we can eliminate many errors and the problems of possible collisions has disappeared.”

As an example Kim Nielsen points out that 3D is a great advantage in the design and lay out of the channels that lead the compressed air to the organ pipes: ”The result is often that the channels follows some very winding roads. Now we can easily see if they collide with each other along the way. ”

Reusage of partsAs another great benefit using SolidWorks, Kim Nielsen emphasizes the ability to reuse standard components.”Within an organ, there are so many parts that are reused over and over again, but in each unique organ they are used in different ways. This means that a lot of standardized components previously had to be redrawn for every new organ. With SolidWorks, we have built standardized 3D models of components and control parts lists in Excel,” he explains.

The use of 3D CAD has also resulted in that a number of processes that previously was based on pure craftmanship now is performed by CNC controlled machines.

Suspension was a perfect fitIn Nørrelandskirken, SolidWorks played a center stage role when the 56 brass pipes,

which together weigh over 200 kg needed to be hung by wires fastened to the ceiling. ”The ceiling is divided into fields of one times one meter. I made a coordinate system which was used to see where the wires should be fastened. This meant that everything was fitting perfectly the day we installed the pipes,” Kim Nielsen tells.

SolidWorks is also an important tool for Th. Frobenius company when an organ is adapted to the particular physical surroundings of a church.”We make a 3D model of the whole room, to see if there is anything we bump into, for instance if conflicts arise with the church’s doors. We can now fit the organ perfectly to the room. This saves a lot of expensive work in each new church, because we are much better prepared than before,” says Kim Nielsen.

Nielsen concludes that SolidWorks is an invaluable sales tool for Th. Frobenius: ”The competition in the organ market is fierce and organs are chosen primarily by their looks. Folders with renderings done with SolidWorks have proven to be a very convincing tool for us when we discuss a new organ with potential customers,” Kim Nielsen says.

www.frobenius.nu

”The competition in the organ market is fierce and organs are chosen primarily by their looks. Folders with renderings done with SolidWorks have proven to be a very convincing tool for us when we discuss a new organ with potential customers,” Kim Nielsen says.


Ullman Dynamics is the world’s leading devel-

oper and manufacturer of ergonomic suspen-sioned seats for speedboats. The company has over the past 15 years been world leaders in safety

and ergonomics in connection with seats and boat control systems. Coast guard, military and other crime-fighting organizations are the largest customers. Today, the company’s seats are found in speedboats from more than 35 countries.

It is a tough job when speedboat crews from the military, coastguard and emergency services are on their missions across the seven seas. When the boats appear to almost fly over

the wave tops, it is a truth with significant modifications. At high speed and high seas, the crews on the boats are totally exposed to the mighty forces that are the result of the boat’s collisions with the waves. This gives significant physical impacts on the members of the crew who are exposed to shocks and bumps up to 20 G-forces. However, the effects of the shocks can be reduced significantly. The Swedish company Ullman Dynamics specializes in developing damped ergonomic and shock-absorbing seats for the speed boats. Ullman dynamics creates seats for all kinds of high speed boats for instance for instance, in use with so called RIB boats that are hybrids between conventional fixed-hull and inflatable boats.

The seats are typically used in high speed boats used by the military, coastguard and emergency services for jobs like rescue operations and combating crime at sea, plus a number of other types of professional uses. When the crews of the speedboats are strapped into their seats, the physical impacts are significantly limited. That means for instance, reduced loads on their spines that reduce the possibility of severe physical injuries. At the same time, the seats give the boat’s driver the optimal control of both speed boat and passengers.

Besides the ergonomic seats, Ullman Dynamics also develops aerodynamic and ergonomic steering consoles and control systems for speed boats as well as different kinds of accessories for the boats.

The tough dogs of the sea need comfort and safety

SolidWorks has been the backbone in the development of safe and comfortable lightweight seats for speedboats used in surveillance and rescue operations.


Construction and communicationsSolidWorks is playing a centre stage role in the development of all the products from Ullman Dynamics. For the last 12 years, the company has used the 3D CAD system to create optimal designs and constructions, and has used SolidWorks as a highly effective means of technical communication with its clients among shipyards worldwide.

Of the company’s nine employees, two are working with SolidWorks. Jonathan Löfgren, who is engineer and designer at Ullman Dynamics, explains his use of SolidWorks. “SolidWorks has not only improved our products, but has also been a fundamental factor for constantly improving product quality. In addition, the annual updates and improvements in the software have contributed to the shortening of lead times, and increased the durability of our products.”

There are no moving parts in the design, which helps to reduce seat weight and increase the strength while making them simple to both install and maintain. ”Over the years we have done extensive development

and we have now developed five or six different seat models. SolidWorks has been a significant factor for our product development. This applies not only to the validation of designs, but also to create the full basis for the production,” explains Jonathan Löfgren.

The company uses data from SolidWorks as input to the fiber glass and carbon fiber molding, sheet metal construction, welding instructions and casting of foam items. The assembly work is done by the company in Gothenburg.

Effective communication”In a conservative industry where many companies still design in 2D, SolidWorks has been a great help in our communication with the customers. We use 3D visualizations, animations and other illustrations made with SolidWorks PhotoView 360 and eDrawings to communicate technical information. That has helped us to shorten our lead times,” says Jonathan Löfgren.

He also points out that SolidWorks helps Ullman Dynamics’ customers to carry out their projects more efficiently because they can be based on virtual layout scenarios from Ullman Dynamics in the form of 3D visualizations and animations: ”In our case, SolidWorks is as much a means of marketing and sales as a tool for construction and design. It really saves us a lot of time,” stresses Jonathan Löfgren.

Major advantages with SimulationUllman Dynamics also widely uses SolidWorks Simulation to ensure that seats and other equipment achieve the highest strength combined with the lowest weight. ”Weight is an especially important factor and we are always looking to reduce weight as much as possible without sacrificing strength. With SolidWorks Simulation, we have prevented over-dimensioning of the structures and this way kept the lowest possible weight. This means that today we have the lightest products to market and keep ahead of the

competition, ”explains Löfgren.Among the components

where the company has successfully used

simulation is the

development of a footrest, a machined aluminum fixture. Here we have managed to keep weight to a minimum while maintaining a very high strength of the piece. Also the simulation of movements with SolidWorks plays a big role, says Jonathan Löfgren. ”I simulate the seats’ pattern of movement. Often the seats are mounted in very narrow cockpits and it is vital that parts don’t collide with each other or with other things in the cockpit.

Today, Ullman Dynamics is using SolidWorks SimulationXpress, but are considering switching to SolidWorks Premium, says Jonathan Löfgren. ”We’ve been very pleased with Xpress, but in several cases we have had to solve very sophisticated simulation tasks remotely. We would like to pull these tasks back to ourselves and solve them with Premium.”

PDM in the worksThe introduction of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM ranks high among the next projects with Ullman Dynamics’ development, says Löfgren. ”A PDM system can help us to get a better structure to our server and make it much easier to keep track of various revisions to the designs of components and assembly designs.”

“SolidWorks has not only improved our products, but has also been a fundamental factor for constantly improving product quality. In addition, the annual updates and improvements in the software have contributed to the shortening of lead times and increased the durability of our products.” explains Jonathan Löfgren.

www.ullmandynamics.com


Outotec was established in 2006 from Outokumpu Technology, which has a history going back to the

1950’s. The company sells technology, equipment and solutions to minerals, mining, enrichment, energy, water treatment and chemical industries. The Non-

ferrous division works with the processing of copper, nickel, zinc, lead, gold, silver and platinum from ore to metal. Combining hard work and acquisitions, Outotec has become one of the largest companies in its specific industrial area. It has offices in 24 countries around the globe and around 3,200 employees.

Outotec has designed a new complex hydraulic assembly for use with the company’s equipment for processing copper, nickel, zinc, lead, gold,

silver and platinum from ore to metal. The assembly is used for thickeners that consist of huge steel tanks with a diameter up to 50 meters. The tanks are filled with water and ore and are equipped with hydraulic systems, which are used for rotating a rake in the tanks and lifting also the rake up and down. The clever design won the third prize in PLM Group’s Cool Design Contest.

According to Chief Designer Jarmo Jokinen of Outotec Non Ferrous Solutions, the hydraulic assembly was the result of a long

process. Previously, the hydraulic design was done in 2D. That gave both the designer and the worker who built the assemblies at the workshop, so many degrees of freedom, that the result was hardly satisfying. Sometimes the workshop we use is far away and their skills in hydraulics are not on a very high level. If you sent them just 2D-drawings, it was almost guaranteed to go wrong. But if you instead send an authentic 3D-model just as a picture, the situation suddenly becomes much easier for the workshop.

Routing with SolidWorksJarmo Jokinen explains that the same design work is now done with SolidWorks

Hydraulic assembly design becomes more effective with SolidWorksSolidWorks has proven to be a very effective tool for the Finnish company Outotec in the design of complex hydraulic assemblies.


Routing 3D. That means that the design can be delivered to work shop with accurate drawings, but also as a 3D-eDrawings model, PhotoView 360-picture or 3D-PDF, so the production people at workshop can check the correct positions of parts and routing of hoses and pipes.

He adds that SolidWorks Routing also gives reliable drawings and dimensions of all terminals, pipes, hoses, making it a very useful tool. ”On the other hand, to make all those hydraulic library parts, hoses, hydraulic fittings, pipes, and other routing parts take a lot of time. Every part and its configurations have to be tested to ensure that they really

work, and designers can rely on them. So the work was not very easy, and we have encountered some difficulties. We need more internal education to use the system, but the result of our work was quite good,” Jokinen explains.

Extensive ExperienceJarmo Jokinen is a very skilled SolidWorks user who has even written internationally acclaimed books about the CAD System. He has used different kinds of CAD software since 1986 and has worked in many different positions such as designer, researcher,

research engineer, CAD teacher, project manager and training manager. Today he is in addition to other duties a super-user of SolidWorks and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM with Outotec Non Ferrous Solutions. Over the years he has used a lot of different 2D and 3D CAD systems and sometimes still is. ”But above all I like SolidWorks the most. For me using SolidWorks as design software is like riding a bicycle. Once you have learned it you can not forget it. It is simple and logical and you can focus on the design rather than the CAD system, which is often an obstacle when I have to use other CAD systems,” he stresses.

Multi CAD Outotec uses multiple CAD Systems, Jokinen explains: ”Globally we use multiple CAD systems. In principle, we use SolidWorks for designing different devices and structures. Personally I use SolidWorks Sheet Metal, Surfaces, Weldments, Simulation, Routing and PhotoWorks although PhotoView 360 is much faster to use and gives you sufficiently accurate pictures.” Jokinen adds that Outotec is contemplating to use 3D VIA Composer in the future for different purposes like assembly instructions, manuals etc.

www.outotec.com

”But above all I like SolidWorks the most. For me using SolidWorks as design software is like riding a bicycle. Once you have learned it you can not forget it. It is simple and logical and you can focus on the design rather than the CAD system, which is often an obstacle when I have to use other CAD systems,” Jarmo Jokinen explains.


Prestigious design prize won with help from SolidWorksThe Swedish company LVI has won the internationally prestigious red dot design Award with a new video magnifier for visually handicapped people developed entirely with SolidWorks.

The Swedish company Low Vision International (LVI) has won the international red dot design award for their MagniLink Vision which is a new advanced video

magnifier for visually handicapped people.The product includes features such as

HD video, touch screen and text-to-speech conversion. The design and development of the product is a result of a close cooperation with the Swedish industrial design company Myra Industriell Design and has been done using SolidWorks very intensively, which according to Chief Technical Officer Henrik Blomdahl, has saved LVI valuable time in the development process.

Two years ago LVI replaced its existing 3D CAD system with SolidWorks. Henrik

Blomdahl explains: ”We chose to change CAD systems because SolidWorks has more built-in features of the kind we like to work with. It is also a very user-friendly system.”

The company received the red dot award at a red dot symposium in the German city of Essen in the beginning of July this year. It is the first time the company has won the coveted design award.

Lots of simulations”All parts of the product have been

developed using SolidWorks. We use the CAD-system to design for instance plastic, sheet metal parts, lighting systems and optics but also to do a lot of simulations and collision testing. We have saved six to eight weeks in

the development process because we have reduced the need for physical prototypes from typically two to three down to one using SolidWorks and SolidWorks Simulation,” says Henrik Blomdahl.

The company has used simulation for both static and dynamic parts and to ensure correct positioning of cables in relation to

the mechanics. Henrik Blomdahl tells that LVI uses both FEA-calculations for static parts, motion simulation for moving parts and simulation of the distribution of weight in the whole construction. ”The correct distribution of weight in the construction is crucial for us, because the apparatus has to be as stable as possible in daily use,” Blomdahl explains.

”All parts of the product have been developed using SolidWorks. We use the CAD-system to design for instance plastic, sheet metal parts, lightning systems and optics but also to do a lot of simulations and collision testing. We have saved six to eight weeks in the development process because we have reduced the need for physical prototypes from typically two to three down to one using SolidWorks and SolidWorks Simulation,” says Henrik Blomdahl.

LVI founded in 1978 is headquartered in the Swed-ish city of Växjö. The company with subsidiaries in

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Belgium and Switzerland today is among the world’s leading producers of products to help visually impaired people. LVI is employing

around 40 people in development, production and marketing and has a yearly turnover of around eight million Euros. The company is investing heavily in prod-uct development and design and has a development department with seven employees plus two externally employed developers.


Be more effective with Full Service AgreementPLM Group introduces a Full Service Agreement that ensures customers can outsource the operation and maintenance of their SolidWorks solutions.

PLM Group now offers their customers a Full Service Agreement meaning the ongoing operation and maintenance of their SolidWorks installation with

products such as SolidWorks and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM is being handled by PLM Group. This ensures that the company can focus more on their core-business making great products and less on IT related issues.

PLM Group takes care that the SolidWorks-solutions are continuously maintained and upgraded which means that you no longer have to devote significant internal resources to do this job. Among other things, the service agreement covers continuous SolidWorks product updates and SolidWorks server- and client installation and maintenance.

The agreement ensures that you will always have the optimal configuration. It also means that your company can save training costs for internal system administrators, reduce consultancy costs and last but not least give fast access to new functions and features in the products from SolidWorks.

Support - the right help at the right time Having access to expert advice and assistance from a fully certified support engineer during

a project can mean the difference between success and failure. A support subscription can also be considered an investment in training to increase productivity and provide continuous development of the skills of the employees.

PLM Group offers different possibilities for support. You can choose between online support, telephone support, full upgrades, new versions, special releases, add-on features, webinars, exclusive video recordings, seminars and customer events.

We offer three levels of support agreements. All the offers are specially designed for our Subscription Customers to help them improve their performance and productivity and thereby keeping them competitive.

Virtual boxesLVI also simulates the packaging of the

company’s products to make sure that it can be handled in an optimal way in the logistic chain. The simulation of virtual boxes helps to choose the best materials, shape and size of the packaging.

Using PhotoView 360 LVI has made early photorealistic renderings of the MagniLink Vision for the brochures of the new product during the design phase. This method means that documentation and sales material has been produced in parallel with the actual development work.

www.lvi.se Poul Skraeddergaard, PLM Group Technical Manager

Proud reddot design award winners at the ceremony in Essen, from left to right: CTO Henrik Blomdahl, CEO Erik Bondemark and Design Engineer Henric Stodell.


Founded in 1972 VAK Oy is today one of the leading

manufacturers on the Finish commercial vehicle market. VAK develops produces and sells delivery cargo spaces,

trailers, and semi-trailers for general carriage of goods. The company’s pride is its temperature managed cargo spaces. VAK also prides itself on their after sales services as an important part of their service portfolio.

The VAK name can be seen on the mud flaps of many trucks, which travel the back roads and highways in Europe. The company behind the name is

Finnish based VAK Oy who specializes in developing heavy transportation equipment such as truck trailers, truck bodywork,

swap body units, containers with legs and specialized products.

With a solution from PLM Group, VAK

has achieved

substantial benefits like major time savings in production, minimization of construction errors, modularization of products and facilitating last minute changes based on customers’ demands. The solution combines the SolidWorks CAD and PDM (Product Data Management) systems with a PLM Group Design Automation solution that integrates SolidWorks directly with VAK’s ERP system. VAK’s solution includes five SolidWorks Standard licenses and one SolidWorks Premium license with five Design configuration licenses. Everything is tied together with the PDM system. To the untrained eye, VAK’s products look pretty much alike, but in reality they are almost always customized to meet the different needs of the customers. A number of specialized products are even fully customized, so both design and the need for

components contained in the products are always changing.

Complex modularized solutions “Although our products may seem simple, they often contain complex solutions. This applies for instance to our solutions that enables transportation of goods in two layers. These include use of hydraulics and pneumatics in the construction,” says Design Manager Juho Sipilä, VAK Oy. “It is often a great challenge to make customized changes to so-called “simple structures” and the changes can easily cause design errors. SolidWorks has helped us to reduce these errors to a minimum. Furthermore, 3D design made it possible to integrate and modularize our products.”Juho Sipilä also points out that while it is

Automation of CAD routines streamlines design of truck trailersVAK Oy has achieved massive time savings and improved quality, by automating routine design tasks using SolidWorks combined with PLM Group’s Design Automation tools.

www.vakoy.fi


not practically possible to build physical prototypes of every specialized product, 3D modeling with SolidWorks has enabled VAK to assess the functionality of new products already in the design phase.

Cycle time reduced significantly”The biggest benefits from using 3D Design with SolidWorks, has been achieved in the production where the cycle time has been reduced significantly because all the parts are ready made and fit perfectly together. We no longer have to wait for missing parts or make engineering changes during the production phase,” says Juho Sipilä.

VAK’s products are primarily laser cut and bent metal parts, which would be hard or even impossible to design with a 2D CAD system. With 3D CAD the correct parts can be created when they are needed. VAK’s assemblies can include up to almost 1,000 individual parts, and matching them to ensure that they fit together would be almost impossible without using 3D CAD.

Eliminating rejected partsDesign errors have been substantially reduced compared to using 2D CAD and at the same time the production drawings from SolidWorks are both more detailed and comprehensive. 3D models also have made it easier to examine functionality and product preparation for new products in cooperation with the production team. ”SolidWorks allows us to create new items when we need them, while ensuring

that they are correctly designed from the start. 3D design almost entirely eliminates the possibility of human error, and this is reflected directly in the number of rejected parts, which today is virtually non-existent. Moreover, laser cutting enabled us to reduce the need for welding significantly because bent parts have replaced welded structures,” stresses Juho Sipilä.

Automated design of cargo bodiesCompared to the former 2D-design process, VAK has also achieved remarkable time savings by using the PLM Group Design Automation solution that is fully integrated with SolidWorks, to automate the project design of cargo bodies. “This approach suits us very well because almost every product is a unique, customer-specific solution. While the products often are looking similar, the construction and various accessories are

changing for almost every new solution,” says Juho Sipilä.

The solution makes it possible for

VAK to

let the computers do routine project design tasks. This saves time and helps to eliminate potential sources of error in manufacturing. Based on the designers input, the system prepares both the final 3D model and creates the manufacturing drawings.

Business advantages”One of the major advantages compared to the former way of doing things is that we now have detailed drawings and models of each customer specific project. This makes our after sales and spare part business a lot easier,” stresses Juho Sipilä.

The design automation solution also helps to transfer the design intent from a designer to the company which minimizes the risk of losing design intent in case of employee change. The configurator makes it easy to move a given task to another designer who does not need to have years of experience, reducing the need for time consuming training. Furthermore, the system functions as a kind of backup in case one of the designers would get ill, Juho Sipilä explains. In addition, it is possible to quickly make late changes to a design. This means that VAK’s customers can ask for design changes almost until production is set to begin.

Increased time for innovationAutomation of the routine design tasks has freed designers from having to spend their time on tedious design tasks. Instead, they can concentrate on what Juho Sipilä describes as ‘real product development.’ “For competitive reasons, this is crucial for the company’s future,” he says. The next step on the development list at VAK is to start using the Design Automation solution in the sales process to support calculations for customer bids.

Consistency with ERPVAK also ties its 3D models together with information stored in the company’s ERP system. Among other things, this goes for a database containing parts. The PLM Group developed solution has also made it simple to run large print jobs and automatic conversion of CAD drawings to the DWG format used by the laser cutting machines. It is also possible for the designers to transfer a completed design of a product structure back into the ERP system, which ensures that the product structure is always consistent with the design,” says Juho Sipilä.

”The biggest benefits from using 3D Design with SolidWorks, has been achieved in the production where the cycle time has been reduced significantly because all the parts are ready made and fit perfectly together. We do not longer have to wait for missing parts or make engineering changes during the production phase,” says Juho Sipilä.



The Events will be held from 10:00 to 14:30 at these locations:

Reserve the date and register online today www.plmgroup.eu/sw2012

11. October Tampere, Finland 12. October Roskilde, Denmark 13. October Horsens, Denmark 18. October Turku, Finland 18. October Malmö, Sweden 19. October Jönkoping, Sweden 20. October Västerås, Sweden 25. October Vasa, Finland 4. November Tallinn, Estonia 25. November Riga, Latvia

We have the pleasure to invite you to the SolidWorks 2012 Launch Event. We offer You an exciting networking event, where you will be presented to:

WHAT´S NEW! SolidWorks 2012 product portfolio.

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY. Tips and tricks.

NEW SOLUTIONS for product lifecycle management

GUEST SPEAKER. Sharing product development experience.

CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC. Breakout sessions during lunch.



Unique packing machine designed from scratch in only three monthsFinnish Jomet LLC has managed to develop a new and unique packing machine from scratch in only three months using SolidWorks.

”If I should be investing in a new 3D-CAD tool today for doing the kind of design we are doing I have no doubt, I would still choose SolidWorks,” explains development

manager Henri Hiisilä from the Finnish machine developer and builder Jomet LLC. The company develops and produces complex flexible packing machines using SolidWorks for all parts and assemblies which goes into the innovative designs. The company is a leading packaging automation provider in Northern Europe. It has 34 years experience with already 600 machines installed world wide.

The particular construction submitted to the Cool Design Contest was a machine developed for another machine builder who did not have the sufficient prototype development capacity for the project. ”This specific developer of machines bought our very advanced design capabilities from us. We only had two-three months to finish the design project and it was the first time I had ever tried to design a machine like this. It was a very innovative and challenging product to develop,” Henri Hiisilä explains.

The machine is a fully automated packing machine which packs a large variety of different products in innovative carton

packages. This is the first time ever in the industry, that random products can be packed automatically, ready for dispatch, but this is a capability that e-commerce distributors have been dreaming for a long time.

The machine automatically adjusts the size of the boxes according to the size of the products. Henri Hiisilä emphasises that one of the really big advantages of using SolidWorks for this kind of design is that it is easy to make even big changes in the construction during the design phase. ”With SolidWorks we have managed to save a lot of time in the design phase, get a better quality of the product and not least, save costs”, Henri Hiisilä stresses.

During the Jomet LLC project made renderings of the machine to present it to the customer early in the development phase, allowing to implement their feedback at the early stage of development.

www.jomet.fi


SolidWorks enables several new high quality marine products by Top MarineEstonian company Top Marine is developing and producing marine products like pontoons, bridges and boat booms among others. With SolidWorks Simulation it was easy to calculate weight, capacity, stability and floating.

This year Top Marine developed a new floating arch bridge, which is intended to connect two banks of a canal covering a gap of 20 meters. The function of the arch

of the bridge is to allow rowing boats on the canal to pass underneath it without any obstacles. On top of the bridge are bench seats with arm-rests so the crossers of the bridge can have a little rest and enjoy the show of nature.

Andri Prodel, Managing director of the company explains: “The frames and boards of the floating carriers are made of wood and are fixed to the plastic floats. The arch bridge connecting the floating bridges has a metal construction and is covered with a wooden board. With SolidWorks Simulation it was easy to calculate weight, capacity, stability and properties. Our engineers also optimized the metal profiles and used less material, which made the bridge less expensive.“

www.topmarine.ee

SolidWorks helps to reduce costs and raise quality in the develop-ment of a TV cabinet

Fast and user friendly

Very effective design work using SolidWorks saved valuable time in the development of an advanced TV cabinet.

R&D Engineer Mika Uosukainen from the Finnish engineering company C-Advice LLC, used SolidWorks and PhotoView 360 to model and render this plastic

pipe junction. The rendering was done for an installation guide for a product from the Finnish company Uponor. He says:

”With SolidWorks my work is done so much faster. Sketching is quick and easy, relations management is very practical and all-in-all SolidWorks is really easy to use.”

Mika Uosukainen uses all aspects of SolidWorks in his daily work doing things like large assemblies, simulation, sheet metal design, surface modelling, drawings and photorealistic renderings.

In this particular case the challenge was to make a realistic picture of a product with white and matte black plastics as well as a machined metal surface, he explains.

The Latvian furniture company AS Latvijas Finieris has used SolidWorks to develop an advanced TV cabinet with a built-in remote controlled TV lifting

mechanism. Juris Skels is the project manager

in the department for production support and efficiency at the company. He explains:

”We have been able to make the design very fast because SolidWorks is very easy to use and the reduced design time really saved costs for us. On top of that the quality of

the product has become higher than usual. The software made it possible to develop and carry out a complex surface configuration and transfer it to the 6-axis CNC milling machines used for the production.”

www.c-advice.fi

www.finieris.lv


SolidWorks enables large assembly design for advanced car liquids filling lines AGRAMKOW Fluid Systems A/S has developed an advanced and highly automated liquid filling line for the car industry. The whole system is developed as a very large assembly in SolidWorks.

The Danish company AGRAMKOW Fluid Systems has developed an on-line system for filling media (fluids) such as brake fluid, engine oil, coolant or glycol on new cars

before they leave the factory. The system consists of an On-line unit that follows the track of the production line and a media supply cabinet. The On-line unit is equipped with guns to fill the various media that are adjusted especially to each car model.

Bent Jørn Lorenzen is a technical designer within the department for manufacturing engineering and support at AGRAMKOW Fluid Systems. Lorenzen explains:“With SolidWorks, it has been very fast to make changes to On-line during the development. We also use SolidWorks Motion for validating motion studies and that has resulted in a better quality of our products. Based on these

studies we are furthermore using the movie/video functions within eDrawings to illustrate to our customers how the On-line system is working. This has shown to be very valuable for us as our competitors are not yet able to do the same.”

Bent Jørn Lorenzen also points out that large assembly construction has minimized design errors and that SolidWorks combined with SolidWorks Enterprise PDM has improved the quality of the BOM’s residing in the company’s Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP-system.

www.agramkow.com


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Football robot gains its’ eyesight with SolidWorks

A complex mirror designed with SolidWorks plays a crucial role in a ‘football robot,’ that will participate in robot competition in the Baltic Countries on 26-27 November.

A little football player robot developed by Team Nasty at the University of Tartu in Estonia will participate in the Robotex robot competition in the Baltic

countries in November. The team consisting of Sander Tammesoo, Vahur Roosimaa, Mihkel Heidelberg and Johannes Heinsoo are part of the robotics club at the university.

Sander Tammesoo has participated in the PLM Group Cool Design Contest with the football player robot. Tammesoo explains, ”we have used SolidWorks for design, measurement, mass calculations and air flow calculations. The biggest advantage has been that I have been able to contemplate every little detail about the robot, see what it would look like and not least simulate how it will work without actually manufacturing any parts.” Tammesoo adds: ”that means I do not have to make lots of prototypes of the parts that has reduced both the time and money spent on design and manufacturing. This is especially important to our team because we have a tight budget.”

The most difficult part to manufacture is a hyperbola shaped mirror. The robot uses the

mirror to ‘see’ 360 degrees around its self. It is crucial that the shape of the mirror is perfect otherwise the robot would ‘see’ too much of the sky or too little of the ground around itself. It took the team almost a month to calculate the exact equation for the mirror shape. ”We definitely did not want to prototype the mirror because making it out of aluminum takes us about three hours of milling and 24 hours of constant polishing. The polishing is a very dirty and unpleasant job. With SolidWorks we were able to calculate the equation of the mirror shape and render how the robot would most likely see the world and make adjustments,” Sander Tammesoo says.

Team Nasty has done their project with help from generous sponsors who have donated computer hardware and at the moment they are looking for more sponsors, Sander Tammesoo explains.

www.ut.ee

More information about robot competition www.robotex.ee


Students collaborate using SolidWorks Enterprise PDM on custom motorcycle

Students from Finland and The Netherlands have used SolidWorks Enterprise PDM to facilitate the cooperation around the development of a custom designed motorcycle called ”Savonia Chopper”.

SolidWorks Enterprise PDM has been instrumental for the cooperation between Finnish and Dutch students in their development of a motorcycle.

The principal industrial designers behind the Savonia Chopper were Janne Leppänen, who has been studying industrial and graphic design at the Kuopio Academy of Design at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences, along with fellow student Roope Kolu.

The technical design of the motorcycle frame was done by two Dutch exchange students who studied at the School of

Engineering and Technology at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences.

”We used the PDM system to exchange files ,which proved to be very effective. It was really easy to get a clear

understanding of the different parts going into the chopper and how they work together,” says Janne Leppänen.

The students also used SolidWorks to make FEM

calculations to analyze the chopper’s frame, SolidWorks Motion

for motion simulation and PhotoView 360 to make photorealistic renderings

of the chopper. Furthermore the CAD files were used for

preparing a physical prototype of the chopper using

stereolithography parts combined with parts

produced on CNC-controlled milling

machines.

Janne Leppänen has a passion for transportation design. This is his graduation work which is the design of his vision of a future house boat driven by solar energy: ”Economical Boats have not developed a lot compared to cars and eletrical boats are not very common. I wanted to do a different design and chose for a catamaran type of boat, which is very stable and provides sufficient space for the mounting of the solar panels,” he tells.

http://www.designkuopio.fi


Secret nuclear shelter revealed with SolidWorksThe Danish CAD-designer Karsten Pedersen has used SolidWorks to reconstruct a top secret nuclear bunker designed to protect the Danish government and monarchy, in case of a national emergency situation or war.

A huge nuclear bunker with 160 rooms, called Regan WEST, is situated half a mile under a hill, 60 meters underground in a large forest in the northern

part of Denmark. The bunker which provides housing for up to 350 people was built in the 1960’s after the Cuban missile crisis.

In 2009 Karsten Pedersen, was allowed access to inspect the facility. His purpose was to write the book ”Denmark’s deepest secret. Regan WEST - the government and the royal house’s nuclear bunker”After negotiations about conditions, censorship etc. his wish was fulfilled. Based on his own photography and measurements he used SolidWorks to make drawings and calculations of the nuclear bunker for the book.

”It was obvious to use SolidWorks and PhotoView 360 for the reconstruction of Regan WEST, as the combination of technical 3D information and graphics is easy to combine in SolidWorks,” explains Karsten Pedersen, who is employed with the industrial design company, Kjærulff Design.

www.reganvest.dk


Rapid development of a mobile sorting-machine.The Estonian company Technobalt Eesti developed a complex mobile sorting machine for bulk materials in only three months using top down design with SolidWorks.

In only three months the Estonian Company Technobalt Eesti, who are specialists in conveyor systems, has developed a mobile machine for sorting materials such as soil, sand,

gravel and construction materials.The machine is called MiniScreen and is

using a drum based system to do the actual sorting of the different bulk materials. As the MiniScreen (had to) participate in an industry fair in Sweden, Technobalt Eesti had only three months to develop a fully working product.

Mechanical engineer and designer Madis Moppel of Technobalt, who has developed MiniScreen together with his colleague Märt Tooming explains:”I used SolidWorks to make one complete layout-sketch of the whole machine. That made it very fast and easy to make design changes during the development phase. I like to use layout-sketch using top down design because this provides a great total to control the full 3D-model of the assembly and changes to components are immediately reflected automatically in all the relevant parts of the model.”

www.technobalt.ee


SolidWorks will provide the single source of truthThe target for Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks is to deliver solutions that serves as ”the single source of truth” when it comes to product information, says VP of Research and Development, Austin O’Malley.

”For me DS SolidWorks is all about helping people to innovate. The best way we can do that is by providing them with solutions and tools that facilitates and supports

both broader and closer cooperation in the product development process,” explains Austin O’Malley who is the head of research and development at DS SolidWorks in this exclusive interview with PLMagazine.

Austin O’Malley points out that the goal for SolidWorks is to provide the tools that can consist what he calls ”the single source of truth.” ”Many companies are looking for tools that can provide them with the single source of truth when it comes to information about their products and product development. The goal for us is to make tools that help companies get a better understanding of their products and at the same time making product information accessible at any given time or place to all the relevant people in and around the company,” Austin O’ Malley says.

Predictive engineeringIn SolidWorks 2012 one of the major new developments is a costing application that makes the designer able to assess the costs of a new product during the development process. This is an example of an application that together with other tools such as SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks Sustainability will facilitate what is known as Predictive Engineering, Austin O’Malley explains.”CAD systems have traditionally been relatively slow and a number of tasks like simulation has been done as post processing. We will use the development in hardware like the new powerful processors to make these kinds of tools able to run calculations in the background during the development process providing the user with decision support and guidance through the design process.”

He stresses that at the end of the day it all boils down to creating a platform for innovation which is powerful, affordable,

easy to install and use, managing data and providing support for making the right decisions during the design process.

Social PLM networkingAccording to Austin O’Malley social networking is bound to play a more important role in future product development but it will not be the social media like we know them now that will be the platform he assesses. ”The solutions that are around today like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn are more for personal and private use. I think that more social networking solutions will be developed that will function as cooperation spaces for innovation processes,” he says, and mentions Dassault Systèmes’ 3D Swym as an example of a platform for online cooperation and social networking around product development. https://swym.3ds.com

Austin O’Malley tells that DS SolidWorks is currently working on creating a community

like environment that will make third party applications easier to access for the users and at the same bring users and third party developers closer together.

Hybrid modelingDirect editing, which is also known as direct modeling, has been a much discussed concept in the 3D CAD arena over the last couple of years but Austin O’Malley is quite critical about the concept of direct editing. ”It is a tool - not a modeling paradigm. Systems based solely on direct modeling do not really do the job because they are not able to capture the design intent. Our approach is to use direct editing tools to create more flexible so called ‘hybrid’ modeling tools, which allow the user to easily make changes without losing the design intent.”

Austin O’Malley, VP of research and Development, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation


Test the speed of your SolidWorks WorkstationEven skilled SolidWorks users may have bottlenecks in their workstations that slow down work. The new SolidWorks can detect potential bottlenecks and improve productivity.

Previously you could only test your SolidWorks workstation by comparing it manually with other users’ computers. With SolidWorks 2011, you can

test whether your workstation is running optimally, or whether it reduces the speed of your development process. The CAD system contains an automatic performance test that can compare your use of your workstation with other users. Furthermore you can use the test to measure if the workstation is running as fast as it is supposed to, or if the system contains bottlenecks that slow down your work.

Stress-testing the PCThe test puts your computer under heavy pressure by presenting it with tasks that correspond to normal use of SolidWorks. Among the things being measured is the performance of your CPU, input / output from the hard drive and the graphics card.

Another part of the test measures rendering with PhotoView 360. The test is repeated five times to ensure that results are both reliable and comparable.

Exploiting and SharingThe results of the test can be used to optimize workstations. Just remember: the highest possible performance and maximum battery life are opposites on a laptop. The test results can also be used in troubleshooting if you are having any doubts about your computers actual performance. You are able to share your tests with other SolidWorks users via our Web pages www.plmgroup.eu/shareyourscore. Here you can also and see how other users’ computers are performing in the test.

To complete the testThe test is initiated from the Windows start menu / SolidWorks 2011 / SolidWorks

Here is the results of a test of the new portable HP8740w CAD workstation (CPU: Intel i7 CPU M640, 2.80 GHz, 4 cores, RAM: 8GB Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M, operating system Windows 7 Professional x64).

Performance Test. The general task for all data sets are as follows:Open the file (Input / Output)Enforce regeneration (CPU)Rotate and zoom (Graphics)Open the drawing (Input / / Output Multi-Threading)[Graphics]Add Sheet (CPU and graphics)Add view (CPU and graphics)Render (only subjects) (CPU Multi-Threading)

Results of the performance test are available immediately on the screen while they are automatically saved in My Documents \ SW Log Files directory. The file names start with SWPTResults1.txt and new tests will automatically have new filenames (SWPTResults2.txt, SWPTResults3.txt, ...).

Mika Herttuainen, Technical Consultant, CadON Oy

Tips & Tricks

01 How to use shortcuts?You probably already know that you can set your own keyboard shortcuts in SolidWorks, but do you also know that you can get an overview of the keystroke shortcuts you have in SolidWorks? You can get the overview the same place as you assign your own key shortcuts, from the menu Tools>Customized>Keyboard.

Here you simply check the checkbox ”Only show commands with shortcuts Assigned”, then you get a list of keystroke shortcuts that are standard in SolidWorks and those you have manually assigned. You can even click the ”Print List” get a printout of them as you can put on your bulletin board or put under your desk pads.

Some exmples:

Normal To ’N’

Force regen ’Ctrl+Q’

Properties ’P’

Make Drawing from part ‘D’


How do I get the unit changed to kilograms, so that the unit will change both to existing and future models?SolidWorks unit of measurement settings are document-specific. When you open SolidWorks part or assembly, and change the measurement unit, it will be changed only in that specific document. When you want to change the units in all future models, the change must be made directly to the document template.

How do you do a measurement change to template:1. Select File and then ’Open’2. Select file type ”Templates” and open a template (part template or assembly template)3. Change units of measure, and their settings, and accept the changes.4. From the File menu, click ’Save’ or click Save shortcut

Now all the future documents will as default use the assigned unit of measure.

02 Need 3D human models?Eric Lagman has spent a lot of time on creating models of humans being as similar to a real person as possible. On his new website, www.CADHuman.com, you have the possibility to download both a male and female model in sitting, standing or fully customizable figure. You can also download specific body parts as head, hands, arms and many more.

03

www.CADHuman.com



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