Position Papers

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ZWCAD Design today officially released its latest product, ZWCAD Mechanical 2015.  As a specific and comprehensive CAD program, this new version features enhancements like Graphic Style Configuration, 229+ new ISO and DIN standard parts, new ribbon icons and many more to improve productivity and practicality.  Graphic Style Configuration Defining shape is very important when it comes to mechanical design. Designers usually change related xml file and its code structure. The re-designed Style Configuration in ZWCAD Mechanical provides a graphic interface that enables users to customize drafting standard without knowing how to define related xml files and code structure. Designers can easily and efficiently customize the standard style for layers, title block, symbol and many more. This significantly improves design efficiency and makes changes and modifications more visible. 229+ New ISO and DIN Standard Parts Dealing with tons of mechanical parts is one of the specialties of mechanical design, however, countries vary in standard. If

December sees the release of the latest version of the ModuleWorks components, 2014.12, the third major update of 2014.  As always, they have added a broad range of new features across the product range and this latest update includes new and enhanced features for 3-Axis, 5-Axis, Port Machining and Simulation. ModuleWorks is at the forefront of 5-Axis machining and Simulation technology, providing the toolpath and simulation technology that powers many of the leading CAM systems available around the world today. Highlights of the new release are shown below: 5-Axis Machining 5-Axis SWARF sees a number of improvements to improve efficiency and flexibility. The aim of “Tool guide curve for SWARF machining” is that the tool can be guided either on the upper or the lower curve. The selection is depending on the SWARF surface shape, walls with varying heights or abrupt jumps can be handled better. The tool should be guided to that

Merry Mechanization (Merry Mech.) has recently improved their Interactive Nesting in the company’s 2D & 3D SMP/IS software which helps operators save time while increasing their control over the nesting process. Combined with the company's CAD/CAM sheet metal fabrication software, Interactive Nesting lets operators arrange individual parts in a nest and then treat the nest as a single unit for further processing. According to a spokesperson for SMP/IS, "By using Interactive Nesting to automatically perform nesting functions, you will save valuable time and materials without sacrificing control." The Interactive Nesting routine within SMP/IS now offers optimum flexibility for operators to create nests with specific parts while allowing automatic processing for previously created nests. To create a nest, an operator has complete freedom to choose the most appropriate parts. He can place any number of parts on a blank and choose identical parts, specific part groupings or all the parts of a particular assembly.

The ExOne Company announced that it has appointed Hans J. Sack to serve on the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors increased the number of directors on its board to eight and appointed Hans J. Sack to fill the newly-created vacancy. Mr. Sack is "independent" under the NASDAQ rules. Mr. Sack has been a Managing Director of HEADWATERS | SC, a private consulting firm, since 2013. In that position, Mr. Sack works on client engagements on matters relating to business growth strategy development and implementation, operational improvement initiatives, and acquisition and consolidation strategies and related due diligence. Prior to joining Headwaters, from 2010 to 2012, Mr. Sack served as President and CEO of Berg Steel Pipe Corp., the US subsidiary of Europipe GmbH, a global leader in large diameter pipe for oil and gas pipelines. Mr. Sack served as President & CEO of Latrobe Specialty Steel Company, a producer of aerospace

U.S. CAD announces today the addition of Aaron Wagner to the company’s Professional Services team. Mr. Wagner brings more than 15 years of building industry experience to his role as a Senior Technical Specialist for U.S. CAD. In his prior roles as BIM Manager and Design Director for SHADE Group and Architects Hawaii Ltd, Mr. Wagner developed work processes for all project production, was responsible for the Revit project setups and debugging, and conducted in-house training programs. Mr. Wagner will be located in U.S. CAD’s Hawaii location and will provide counsel and strategy to regionally-based clients in the building, engineering, and construction industries. “We are thrilled to welcome Aaron to U.S. CAD as he represents a key addition to our Hawaii-based team. His experience is the perfect match to help us meet the evolving needs of our clients,” states Lonnie Cumpton, Senior Director of Professional Services at U.S. CAD. “We are confident that

Delcam’s PowerMILL CAM software was used by Manufax Engineering to create a highly efficient NC program to machine the tail-fin shear plate for the Bloodhound SuperSonic Car (SSC).  A complex, freeform aluminium component, the shear plate will form the interface between the tail-fin structure and the body of the vehicle for its attempt at the world land-speed record. Based in Stockport, UK, Manufax is a major supplier to the aerospace, automotive, nuclear and agricultural industries, as well as supporting general precision-engineering businesses.  With several decades of experience, the company provides specialist tooling design and manufacture across all disciplines, including jigs and fixtures for airframe assembly, mould tools, automotive tooling and components for nuclear power generation.  Manufacturing is Manufax’s core business and the company has an excellent reputation for supplying its customers with a quality precision-engineering service. A dedicated and multi-disciplined workforce has been trained to adapt to the unique and challenging projects

For the production of its extremely complex assemblies, the manufacturer has opted for integrated TopSolid solutions, Missler Software's CAD/CAM solution and NCSIMUL Machine from SPRING Technologies for machining simulation. Very much a town in its own right, the DCNS nuclear submarine production facility in Cherbourg, France, must permanently reach the highest standards of industrial excellence. A topical challenge, as the nuclear-powered ballistic submarines make way for a new generation of attack vessels. The first of four models of these smaller and faster Barracuda attack submarines ordered by the French navy is currently under construction in the dockyard in Cherbourg. The Barracuda features numerous leading-edge innovations, such as enhanced underwater detection, an optronic mast that replaces the conventional optical periscopes, software to guide electronic navigation, a weapon-carrying capacity that has been doubled compared with the Rubris-type vessels and a CMS (Combat Management System) that includes the full range of surface and underwater

MathWorks announced an expanded relationship with Siemens Automation Systems to make it easier for customers to take advantage of Model-Based Design for developing and implementing complex control algorithms. Control engineers can now generate code from Simulink and deploy it to Siemens SIMATIC S7 modular PLC controllers and SIMATIC WinAC RTX software controllers. As a result, advanced control strategies can be designed and tested using simulation to prove out concepts before further validation is performed on PLC hardware.  To support this integration, Siemens Automation Systems has also joined the MathWorks Connections Program. Model-Based Design enables the verification of critical and complex control functions using simulation. Conceptual errors are detected early and can be corrected before the control algorithms are implemented on machine hardware. By doing this, development time is reduced and production start-ups become more efficient – reducing costs throughout the project.  MathWorks Simulink PLC Coder generates IEC61131-3 compliant SCL (Structured Control Language) code

C3D Labs is pleased to announce that Saint Petersburg-based NIP-Informatica has licensed the C3D geometric kernel. The kernel is being used to power Techtran, their software for designing CNC machine control programs. With C3D components built directly into the CAM system, users will now be able to import 3D models in various formats, view them, prepare blanks for turning CNCs from 3D models of future parts, and retrieve geometric data from 3D models. Among developers of CAM systems, NIP-Informatics is now the third licensee of C3D. They join LO CNITI of Russia and Solar Tech of South Korea. “Some time ago we began to notice that Techtran customers wanted to directly access 3D models created by other designers,” said Yuri Romanchenko, lead engineer at NIP-Informatica. “We thoroughly analyzed and considered many different modeling software packages on the market that were capable of importing data in popular 3D formats, and finally decided on the