CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
28 February 2008
Implementation Investments
Autodesk Announces OPEX Corporation as Inventor of the Month for February 2008
Autodesk, Inc. announced that OPEX Corporation (OPEX), a recognized global technology leader in high-speed mailroom automation equipment, has been named as the Autodesk Inventor of the Month for February 2008. The Inventor of the Month program (http://www.autodesk.com/inventorofthemonth) recognizes innovative design and engineering advancements made by the extensive community using Autodesk Inventor software.
OPEX relied on the Autodesk Inventor product family to help design its innovative Mail Matrix, a mail sorting solution that redefines the capabilities, functionality and performance of the mailroom. Mail Matrix can sort up to 25,000 pieces of mail in a single, 8-hour shift, into as many as 1,020 different delivery bins by using iBOTs, intelligent robotic wireless vehicles that determine the appropriate bin and then transport and deliver each piece of mail.
"Mail Matrix is truly revolutionary in form and function, and Inventor played a key role in helping us achieve that level of innovation," said Brian Dean, a senior-level mechanical designer at OPEX. "By creating an accurate 3D model of Mail Matrix in Inventor, we were able to explore hundreds of different design and engineering iterations before we expended time and resources on creating a physical prototype."
For over 10 years, OPEX has partnered with Synergis Engineering Design Solutions, their local Autodesk Premier Solutions Provider for Manufacturing Solutions. The Synergis Engineering Design Solutions account management and technical teams continue to work with OPEX to provide training and customer support in order to ensure their maximum productivity.
The Inventor product family provides a comprehensive and integrated set of design tools that speed the creation of 3D digital prototypes, even for large assembly designs like Mail Matrix, which contains more than 15,000 components. Specific Inventor features, such as the Derived Assembly tool and customizable parameters, allowed OPEX to ensure that every part and component in the assembly fit correctly. By digitally validating their design data with Inventor, OPEX was able to produce its first functional physical prototype of Mail Matrix in just a month and a half, without having to do extensive rounds of physical prototyping.
"By the time we produced a physical prototype of Mail Matrix, almost all of the faults had already been worked out digitally in Inventor -- so much so, that the prototype could almost pass for a production model," said Dean. "We attribute this achievement to the superior design capabilities of Inventor, which allowed us to design extremely precise parts and assemblies."
"Digital Prototyping allows manufacturers of all sizes and with varying needs to experience their products before they are built," said Robert "Buzz" Kross, senior vice president of Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions. "Companies like OPEX are using that capability to their advantage to create industry-first innovations while reducing time to market. It is a pleasure to name OPEX as our Inventor of the Month for February."
Each month, Autodesk selects an Inventor of the Month from the more than 700,000 users of Autodesk Inventor software. For more information on the Inventor of the Month program, please contact Autodesk at IOM@autodesk.com.
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