Alignex “Collaborative Theater” Events Hailed a Success by Audiences
by Mike Bailey, Alignex Mechanical Marketing Manager
 This spring, Alignex unveiled a brand new seminar series called the Collaborative Engineering Interactive Theater. These four hour events focused on the process that an Engineering Change Order (ECO) takes throughout a manufacturing organization from concept to the installation of the new part. Throughout the process, some best practices were offered for taking a holistic approach to managing an ECO process as well as what technologies are currently available to make the process more efficient in every facet. The overriding element to the Theater Event was the use of Product Data Management (PDM) software to manage the process. “Alignex has been a leader in PDM implementations for years but we always struggled with demonstrating the principles of Data Management because they are far less visual than our other products like SolidWorks 3D CAD and SolidWorks Simulation,” said Mack Rasmussen, Mechanical Application Support Manager for Alignex and Director for these Theater events. Well, it appears that this presentation resonates with those who are interested in PDM as exemplified by John Clemens from Tuohy Furniture, “Written and oral descriptions of PDM applications did not work for me. The approach of this seminar helped in understanding the benefits of PDM, bringing the whole concept to life.”
The seven events Alignex hosted throughout the Upper Midwest from April through June were presented to over 130 companies; with about two-thirds of them attending the 2 events at our headquarters in Edina. These presentations were met with overwhelmingly positive reviews with over 80% of survey responders giving the overall presentation a score of 8 or better on a scale of 1 to 10. Kevin Geissler from SGI commented that the show was presented with “a unique format that gave the customer a ‘real’ perspective of the products and how they work in the ‘real’ world.”
With this kind of response, Alignex is happy to continue offering these events through the summer months. We will be at our Quad Cities Training Center on July 22nd and offering the event in the north metro area of the Twin Cities on August 19th before returning to our Headquarters once more on September 17th. We would like to thank those that attended these events for recognizing the progressive approach to educating that Alignex takes to improve the overall product development process. For those that weren't able to make it, we are happy to provide additional opportunities to see our unique presentation. Click on the dates listed to the left to register or click here to view a full invite to the events for more information.
Save Time Everyday Using Features Built into SolidWorks with DriveWorksXpress
by Cole McLeod, Alignex Application Engineer
(condensed from his blog article, found here)
"If I didn't waste all my time quoting I could actually design something."
"I wish I could find a better way to make each of these components longer, maybe a stretch all command."
"If we could cut down on engineering lead time we could easily double maybe even triple production"
Do any of these sound familiar? If they do there is a tool just for you, in every seat of SolidWorks. It is called DriveWorksXpress and could very well be the Holy Grail of the Engineer-to-Order world.
What is Engineer-to-Order? Let us start with some simple questions.
- Are your products the same-as, but different?
- Do you have repetitive design tasks, such as making a particular product a little larger or smaller or adding standard options to an already designed product?
- Are your products defined by a set of rules? (e.g. We always have a 1/4 inch gap, unless the frame is over 4ft. wide, then we use 5/16 inch.)
If you answered yes to these questions or if this fits even a portion of your design, you have an Engineer-to-Order product.
DriveWorksXpress is an easy to use interface for automating your repetitive design tasks for that Engineer-to-Order environment. Amazing time savings and reduction in errors can be achieved with a simple implementation. DriveWorksXpress is also expandable into the upgraded versions of DriveWorks that allows for automating even further to integrate systems within the company, like ERP or CRM systems. Best of all, DriveWorksXpress is already built into every seat of SolidWorks since 2007. These abilities won't cost anything to implement, but your time.
Once you've implemented some simple time-saving features in DriveWorksXpress, you can begin to evaluate if a move to the full version of the product is warranted. There are documented case studies on the DriveWorks web site that calculate the implementation of DriveWorks has:
- Taken simple 45 minute design cycles down to less than a minute.
- Eliminated 90% of repetitive task time freeing up engineers to design new and better products.
- Taking 80 hour design cycles down to an hour!
Some of these statistics are staggering and can be difficult to accept but the proof has been confirmed by the customers, themselves. Again, best of all, you have the tool at your fingertips to take the first step towards achieving results just like them.
Take a minute today in your SolidWorks window to click on Tools>
DriveWorksXpress
and then spend 20 Minutes on the DriveWorksXpress.com website and you could be saving hours next week. Our best advice is to start with one part within an assembly and create a DriveWorksXpress project out of it. Don't think you have to start with a full assembly. Once you're saving time on one part, reinvest the time savings into a second part, and so on. The process builds on itself and you're not having to reinvent the mousetrap from the ground up.
A very small investment for a big return. Yes, even in a down economy you can still get big returns on small investments.
Best Practices for Importing 3D Data into SolidWorks
by Brian Zias, Alignex Application Engineer
(condensed from his blog article, found here)
Even with One Million SolidWorks licenses out there (Learn more here), many users find themselves dealing with imported data from time to time. This data usually comes to the designer in the format of IGES, STEP, Parasolid, or possibly native Pro/E, Inventor, and UG files. Fortunately, SolidWorks can import all of these data types, along with many others. Here are four tips for working with imported 3D data:
1. Get the right format
Is there a single-best format in which a user should request 3D CAD data? Yes, SolidWorks format of course! Seriously though, there are myriad formats out there. Some types are neutral, agreed-upon standards while some are proprietary and require licensing from a commercial entity. The best format depends on where the data is coming from.
 2. Say ‘Yes' to Import Diagnostics
Any time SolidWorks opens a non-native file type, the software first creates a SolidWorks document. SolidWorks uses the ‘Default Templates' system setting to determine which template to choose (or whether to prompt the user). The second thing to happen is the Import Diagnostics command is started:
Make it a habit to always answer ‘Yes' to this question. It will analyze the geometric data, and then allow for automated repair if issues are detected.
3. Use FeatureWorks
Imported files contain only geometric data, not the history of how it was made. FeatureWorks is a tool that allows imported solids to be transformed into an intelligent feature tree. It reverses a "dumb" imported part with only one feature (the imported body) into a full feature history.
4. Get comfortable with Surfaces
All solids are really just surfaces in disguise. More precisely, solids are water-tight sets of surfaces that are ‘filled' up with volume. At the surface level, you can manipulate data even without having a part history. An example is the Delete Face command. Try the option ‘delete and patch' next time there's some feature (fillet, small hole) that you need to remove, or erase and re-create. Also tools such as Move Face and Replace Face come in handy to resize or manipulate imported geometry. As a final note: When you are stuck with a poor-quality imported surface and start to question how it can be turned into a solid, surfaces are the answer.
More detail from this article can be found here.
Have a Great Summer!
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2D CAD Spotlight
Many organizations who had held off on upgrading to 3D CAD have re-evaluated that decision in the past year.
Download this CAD Managers Guide to 3D and better understand what 3D CAD can do for you, see how it can benefit your company, and find some helpful tips to incorporate into your transition plan.
User Groups
St. Croix Valley SolidWorks User Group
Based in New Richmond, WIDate: Thursday, July 16th
Time: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Location: Cashman Conference Center on the WITC-New Richmond Campus
Address:
(Click here for map)
Click here for parking info
Note: Contact brian.lindahl@witc.edu
Click here to download full Agenda
For more information on SolidWorks User Groups in your area check out this page on our website.
Does your Product Documentation equal the quality of your design?
3DVIA Composer simplifies and enhances your organization’s ability to create 2D and 3D images and animation for a full range of product documentation. With 3DVIA Composer, you can seamlessly incorporate design changes directly into the product documentation to create up-to-date, accurate printed and interactive materials.
Click here to see a Demo Gallery of 3DVIA Composer Images
SolidWorks 2010 Beta Program
Influence the development of SolidWorks 2010 AND earn points toward great prizes!
The program is open to customers with current subscription service. Only current SolidWorks Enterprise PDM customers with subscription can participate in SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Beta.
New Alignex Mechanical Tech Blog Articles
Every year we look forward to the hundreds of new pieces of function-ality that SolidWorks has developed from customer suggestions as well as from their Reseller com-munity. We have built a page on our website at Alignex with a preview of what should be included in SolidWorks 2010. Much of this information came from SolidWorks World in February, but some of it has been updated since then. Keep that page bookmarked as we'll keep updating it as often as we are able to.. Click to read more....
Reference Only Components in an Assembly by Tim Mika
Working our Alignex support hotline, I have received these SolidWorks questions on multiple occasions:
"I have some components that I want to show on my assembly drawing as hidden or reference. Additionally, I do NOT want them to show up in my Bill of Material. How do I do this?"
In an effort to provide the answer to a wider audience, I'm posting it here on our blog. Click to read more....
SolidWorks Simulation Tips by Brian Zias (5 Part Series)
Part 1 - Meshing Advice including recommended system requirements
Part 2 - Mixed Meshing in SolidWorks Simulation 2009
Part 3 - Mixed Meshing in SolidWorks Simulation - Contact Sets
(NEW) Part 4 - Mixed Meshing in SolidWorks Simulation - Maximizing RAM and solving "Out of Memory" issues
Follow Alignex Online
Alignex has made it easier to follow our efforts online. We encourage you to keep track of us in any way you prefer.
Alignex Mechanical Technical Blog
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