CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
26 March 2012
Product News
Plataine Provides Integrated Solution that Optimizes Material Utilization for Composite Structures
Plataine, a leading provider of production optimization solutions, announced that it has connected its Total Product Optimization (TPO) software with Fibersim™ software, the composites engineering software from Siemens PLM Software, to further enhance its end-to-end, engineering design and production optimization solution. Plataine is a partner of Siemens PLM Software. Fibersim has been developed by Vistagy, which was acquired by Siemens in December 2011, and is now the Specialized Engineering Software business segment within Siemens PLM Software.
The integrated solution will enable a two-way transfer of composite design and production information between engineering and manufacturing. Product design information created in Fibersim will be automatically and accurately included in TPO’s cut planning, nesting and inventory selection processes. This includes information such as ply geometry and layup order, fiber direction restrictions, material requirements and cutting restrictions. Similarly, the engineering team can now benefit from TPO’s accurate material utilization and costing information, and be able to run production simulations to support the design and bidding processes.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with Siemens PLM Software as a partner in the cutting edge world of composites structure design and manufacturing,” said Avner Ben-Bassat, Plataine’s president and CEO. “By seamlessly integrating our solutions we are offering the industries we serve—such as aerospace, automotive, marine, and wind energy— a powerful tool that streamlines the process of design to manufacturing, and allows our customers to act faster and more efficiently in this highly dynamic market.”
“The newly integrated solution enables our customers to significantly streamline their design-to-manufacturing processes for composites,” said Leigh Hudson, director of product and market strategy for Fibersim at Siemens PLM Software. “It will enable users to deliver optimized and production-ready flat patterns to TPO directly from the composite design and provide engineers a clear understanding of the cost effects of design choices.”
Fibersim is used by numerous top manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and wind energy industries. The Fibersim suite of software supports all of the unique and complex design and manufacturing methodologies necessary to engineer innovative, durable, and lightweight composite products and parts. It's also the only comprehensive software suite that addresses the entire composites engineering process—from conception, laminate definition, and ply creation through simulation, documentation, and manufacturing. Fibersim is integrated into the leading commercial 3D CAD systems, including NX™ software. CATIA® V4, CATIA® V5, and Creo™ Parametric, to help capture a complete digital composite product definition. And Fibersim goes beyond CAD to create a customized environment that enables you to 'work how you think' when designing innovative products that create a competitive advantage.
Plataine’s Total Production Optimization (TPO) solution offers composite parts manufacturers a fully integrated solution for dynamic optimization and tracking of the composites structure manufacturing processes, from the Freezer to the Autoclave. Seamlessly integrated to the manufacturer's ERP, CAD and Production Floor systems, TPO creates ready-to-cut production plans by optimally selecting the composite rolls to use, and generating the optimal nests for each roll. TPO achieves this while matching the order due date, order quantity, actual material expiration date and size (width & length), and while considering the full order plan for additional optimization opportunities. TPO drives significant cost savings and increased productivity by offering higher material utilization, better inventory management, and faster - more flexible - time to market. TPO further reduces costs by automating routine manual tasks and eliminating any errors associated with them. TPO supports multiple import and export CAD formats, including: DXF, HPGL, NC Cut, Gerber, CATIA, Fibersim, Lectra (PLX, MDL), and many more.
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