Cimatron Limited today announced the launch of the ECO Manager, a major feature in CimatronE 11, the latest version of its integrated CAD/CAM software solution. CimatronE provides specialized CAD capabilities for the design of molds, dies and fixtures, as well as NC programming for the machining of molds, dies and discrete parts.
"Engineering change orders (ECOs) are part and parcel of almost any tool shop job schedule," said Mr. Ira Bareket, Cimatron's VP Sales and Marketing. "For example, a recent Cimatron survey of North American tool shops found that 94% of shops handle at least one job with ECOs out of every 10 jobs worked on.
"ECOs can become a cost burden or can turn into a profitable business if handled and managed properly. However, shops often find the process of handling ECOs to be challenging, particularly when there are many changes and the part is complex. The mold designer is faced with the difficult task of identifying the geometry the customer has changed, understanding 'what's going on' and assessing the impact on previous work the designer has already undertaken.
"Implementing the changes quickly and efficiently is the next task for the designer. This is particularly challenging given that the designer is trying to avoid redoing previous work that is unaffected by the ECO.
"Finally, the mold designer is faced with the challenging task of controlling, managing and documenting the ECO process for internal costing purposes, as well as for communicating the work to the customer who ordered the change.
"Cimatron's new ECO Manager provides mold designers with powerful tools and processes to handle ECOs in the quickest and most effective manner possible.
"The ECO Manager assists shops in controlling the fundamental ECO processes, including identification and analysis, implementation, tracking and documentation. It can be used by shops at any stage of a job and can handle multiple ECOs, no-matter how complex."
Key capabilities of the ECO Manager include:
- Identification and analysis - The CimatronE ECO Manager clearly pinpoints the geometry that the customer has changed, as well as showing the ways in which the ECO has impacted the mold components.
- Implementation - The application gives users automated tools to replace the existing geometry with the new geometry (ECO) in the relevant areas.
- Verification - Within the dedicated ECO environment, ongoing verification checks can be performed to ensure that the user has implemented all the necessary changes correctly.
- Tracking and Documentation - A series of comparisons between each pair of consecutive ECO parts creates a live archive of the change history. Changes are also documented, with the user able to attach documents, and add descriptions, work status and pictures for the purposes of internal reports, costings, and communication with customers.
- For a complete list of CimatronE 11's capabilities, visit launch.cimatron.com.
