CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
01 November 2004
Product News
New Kubotek KeyCreator Software Empowers Product Designers and Manufacturing Engineers
Kubotek ® USA today announced KeyCreatorT 4.0, a new version of its widely used design and manufacturing software. KeyCreator 4.0 continues the evolution of the popular CADKEY® software, which is used extensively in industrial design settings to provide unprecedented productivity in key design and manufacturing processes. KeyCreator 4.0 removes productivity constraints, and provides design and manufacturing engineers the freedom and flexibility to fully exploit their skills, experience and creativity in a timely fashion.
The major enhancements to KeyCreator 4.0 are focused on productivity, numerical control (NC) and interoperability. Designers need to be able to move quickly through the critical modeling and manufacturing stages, taking advantage of improvements to commonly used functions as well as brand new capabilities in both the computer-aided design (CAD) and NC solutions. Meanwhile, real world design environments are notoriously heterogeneous and translating and importing models from other CAD tools can make even simple jobs impossible. KeyCreator 4.0 helps users overcome these challenges through a significant increase in support for direct model translators as well as the ability to test and verify imported models.
"KeyCreator 4.0 demonstrates Kubotek's commitment to making the CADKEY customer base more productive," states John McCullough, product manager, Kubotek USA. "Our customers tell us they need a solution that makes their job easier. KeyCreator 4.0 delivers over 200 customer-driven enhancements, focused on productivity, ease-of-use, file management, and interoperability. KeyCreator 4.0 is attractive to a wide range of current customers and new prospects who are looking at better options for solving their design and manufacturing engineering problems."
Major productivity enhancements include:
• Many layout improvements including circular detail views and a drawing generation wizard
• Improved diagnostics for healing solids
• Perspective views
• Automated bill of material (BOM) generation
• Intelligent feature editing of standard holes
• Improved macro support
• Sheet metal bend and unbend
New NC enhancements include:
• Surface contour roughing with true pocket style material removal, topology analysis and machining by zone
• Positional 4-axis milling for both 3D surface and 2D functions
• Improved constant-Z finishing (plateau finishing)
• Sample tool library files
In addition, for a limited time, the complete package of The MetaCut Utilities (a $595 value) from Northwood Designs will ship with every seat of KeyCreator with NC options.
Today, KeyCreator has the most powerful and comprehensive translator support of other design and engineering tools available. Specific interoperability enhancements in version 4 include support for:-New versions of ACIS, CATIA, Parasolid, Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire, Solidworks, UG NX and AutoCAD.
"KeyCreator has been an integral part of Bernard Mould's ability to respond rapidly to customers needs for prototyping, new product development and determining manufacturability," said Tim Atkins, engineering manager, Bernard Mould. "The new version of KeyCreator, version 4.0, has new improved healing tools for repairing geometry flaws and additional new translators that will speed the development and prototyping process and further increase our competitive lead in this area." Bernard Mould, based in Windsor, Ontario, is a precision mold shop specializing in plastic injection molds, rapid prototyping and automotive parts.
Kubotek KeyCreator builds on the heritage of CADKEY. KeyCreator combines both the latest in geometry-based design and modeling technology, and a legacy of success in helping customers in the design of tooling, complex machinery, fixtures, molds and dies in a multitude of product development industries including automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment, sports equipment, medical devices and many more.
The KeyCreator creation engineering product line includes multidimensional design and drafting, NC programming and reverse-engineering capabilities. The rapidly expanding product line features the company's unique geometry-based foundation with localized feature editing and sophisticated deformation techniques. KeyCreator blends surface, solids and wireframe modeling, allowing for easy modification and editing functionality.
KeyCreator 4.0 Supports Future Vision of Integrated Design and Manufacturing Solution
This new version of the software is also a step toward the delivery of the Kubotek M3 vision. M3 (Measure, Model and Machine) is a comprehensive strategy that will enable manufacturers to compete efficiently in the global marketplace. With today's mass production increasingly shifting overseas, representatives from many small to medium sized manufacturing companies are telling Kubotek that they need a new business model to drive efficiency, increase creativity and reduce costs. Kubotek's M3 strategy is a direct response to its customers' needs and is focused on creating software solutions that will help manufacturers be more flexible, more responsive and more strategic. (See related announcement, "Kubotek: Small-to-medium Sized Manufacturing Companies can Compete in Global Marketplace with Innovative Approach to Design" for a more detailed discussion of this strategy.)
KeyCreator version 4 will be delivered to customers before the end of the year.
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