CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
12 July 2004
Company News
COSMOS Spans Electronics Design Analysis From Remote Controls To Satellite Components
Laptop computers, DVD players, and satellite components are just a few of the electronics products designed in less time and with fewer errors thanks to COSMOS analysis software from SolidWorks ( http://www.solidworks.com/ ) Corporation. The global electronics industry has embraced COSMOS widely, with more than 800 companies in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand using COSMOS products to catch errors early in the design process.
Analyzing throughout the product development process, rather than just at the end, moves electronics products to market faster and with fewer problems such as overheating or parts that don't mesh properly. COSMOS users can expect to cut 20 percent from the cost of product field failures per year; improve overall time to market 30 percent; and increase profit margins 8 percent. A 2003 study by MIT's Sloan School of Management found that 67 percent of COSMOS users credit it with improving product quality; 59 percent with avoiding field failures, and 15 percent with avoiding product recalls. Most COSMOS customers build 50 percent fewer physical prototypes and roll out product in half the time they did before COSMOS.
COSMOS users range from small and medium-sized firms to more than 30 Fortune 500 corporations, and include companies such as Toshiba, Cannon, InFocus, and EchoStar, and government agencies such as the Jet Propulsion Lab. They use COSMOS to analyze designs for products ranging from camera mounts to remote controls, cellular phones, and DVD players. COSMOS helps engineers determine whether assemblies will generate too much heat; whether enclosures can handle required voltages; and whether parts will mesh smoothly during operation.
Steve Hess, CAD engineering manager at $1.4 billion test equipment manufacturer Teradyne, has used COSMOS products, including COSMOSWorksT and COSMOSFloWorksT, since 1997. COSMOS applications help Teradyne's engineering staff predict deformation of robotic arms equipped with electronic testing devices and heat flows in circuit board cooling equipment. Hess credits COSMOS with helping eliminate physical prototyping and making the design process faster and more efficient.
"COSMOS affects all areas of our design process, from research and development to daily engineering work," Hess said. "In terms of our business goals, COSMOS has helped increase our quality, reduce our costs, and shorten our delivery cycles. COSMOS also lets us make our products lighter and more focused on customer needs while still meeting design requirements, because we can optimize designs throughout the cycle."
The COSMOS product line includes COSMOSWorks, an analysis application that tests parts and assemblies in a virtual environment; COSMOSMotionT, a virtual prototyping application that simulates a design's mechanical operation; and COSMOSFloWorks, a fluid dynamics application that simulates the flow of fluids, gasses, and heat through and around designs for products ranging from exhaust valves to aircraft wings. COSMOSXpress, a quick design validation tool, is integrated with SolidWorks( 3D mechanical design software.
Teradyne works with SolidWorks reseller US CAD for COSMOS implementation and training.
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