CAMPBELL, CA, USA, Mar 15, 2021 – VELO3D is pleased to announce that Chromalloy, a manufacturing and repair solutions provider for gas turbine engine manufacturers and operators worldwide, recently selected the VELO3D Sapphire system as their additive manufacturing (AM) solution to significantly impact the economics of future Maintenance, Repair & Operations (MRO) projects in Chromalloy’s aviation and energy markets.

VELO3D’s Sapphire Metal Additive Manufacturing System

Chromalloy is installing the VELO3D Sapphire in its manufacturing and repair services environment. This industrial AM technology is increasingly being adopted by manufacturers as a solution to offset the high costs of low-volume, direct-part replacement for conventionally produced parts when demand and long-term forecasting are uncertain.

“Chromalloy continues to seek innovative alternatives for our customers to extend the life of their engines and reduce their MRO costs,” says John Green, Vice President, Engineering & Technology, Chromalloy. “The VELO3D additive manufacturing equipment provides a unique, practical solution for our proprietary LifeX customer solutions.”

According to Chromalloy’s Jim Whitton, Director, Innovation Strategy, “For Chromalloy, 3D printed parts must provide inherent value because they are 3D printed. Otherwise, the printing itself is just a novelty. VELO3D’s unique build capability and material density create high value by reducing post-processing requirements.”

VELO3D will qualify Chromalloy’s machine for 3D printing nickel-based superalloys, including Hastelloy X, which is known for its strength and durability characteristics in high-temperature environments. VELO3D is renowned for enabling geometric freedom through its patented SupportFree process. The capability to produce practically unlimited geometries eliminates the need to redesign legacy parts in order to produce them with AM. This tremendously reduces the barrier of transitioning legacy parts, produced historically by casting, welding or brazing, to additive manufacturing.

All Sapphire machines come standard with VELO3D ‘s highly automated, user-friendly Flow pre-print software and Assure quality assurance and control system.

“As an industry leader in the aviation MRO space, Chromalloy is an excellent partner for us,” says Benny Buller, VELO3D founder and CEO. “They have the expertise to open up a whole market category of parts. With the flexibility to produce high value, high mix, low-volume parts for aerospace, AM allows the supply chain to be scaled to market- and customer-specific requirements.”

Jim Whitton agrees. “For complex gas turbine combustor components that have limited aftermarket availability or high replacement cost, the Sapphire system will allow Chromalloy to produce hardware on-demand, negating high NPI (new product introduction) tooling costs and lead-times of other methods,” he says.

About Chromalloy

Chromalloy is an integrated solutions provider that delivers innovative solutions designed to reduce manufacturing and operating expenses and extend the life of gas turbine engines. Chromalloy serves the airline, military, marine and energy segments with a broad range of services at locations around the globe. Chromalloy is authorized by the FAA and EASA and many other NAAs and is qualified under ISO and NADCAP. Chromalloy is a subsidiary of Sequa Corporation. Sequa Corporation is a diversified industrial company with operations in the aerospace, energy and metal coatings industries. Sequa is a Carlyle Group company. For more information, visit http://www.sequa.com.

About VELO3D

VELO3D is transforming the analog supply chain to digital manufacturing. As the creator of the industry’s first SupportFree solution for 3D metal printing, their product suite is an end-to-end digital manufacturing solution for producing metal parts. With VELO3D Flow™ print preparation software, Sapphire® printer, and Assure™ quality assurance software, manufacturers can accelerate product innovation, become more agile and responsive to market needs, and reduce costs. The company is based in Silicon Valley and is privately funded. For more information, visit https://www.velo3d.com

AACHEN, Germany, Mar 15, 2021 – ModuleWorks, a leading supplier of CAM software components, announces its participation in the EU-funded InterQ project. Coordinated by the IDEKO research centre in Spain, the InterQ project unites 25 partners from 11 European countries to develop an integrated data management platform for zero-defect manufacturing.

Digital manufacturing unlocks a vast amount of data on the production chain, but without the right processing and management technologies, it is not possible to turn this data into accurate, reliable, secure and relevant information for optimizing the efficiency and quality of industrial processes. The InterQ project is addressing this issue by developing a data management platform that enables full control over the data emanating from the production process.

InterQ proposes a new generation of AI-driven tools, digital twins and machine learning algorithms to measure, predict and control the quality of products, manufacturing processes and data in smart factories. The reliability of gathered data will be checked in real time using  historical and statistical analyses. The end-to-end approach traces quality across the entire production chain to eliminate waste associated with defects, improve production efficiency and bring production closer to the ideal of zero-defect-manufacturing.

As part of the consortium, ModuleWorks is developing new CAD/CAM software algorithms for automated manufacturing. The new developments arising from the InterQ project are expected to result in greener technologies and more efficient, high quality production that will boost the competitiveness of European companies in key sectors such as aerospace, energy and automobility.

About ModuleWorks

ModuleWorks is the leading software component provider for the digital manufacturing industry. With over 200 employees and 1000 person-years of software development, ModuleWorks’ expertise in toolpath creation and simulation is recognized throughout the industry and its software components are already optimizing the performance and quality of over 500,000 installed seats of CAD/CAM and CNC software around the world. From standard products to exclusive development projects, ModuleWorks helps companies to bring their vision of Industry 4.0 to life. With its comprehensive portfolio of cutting-edge software components, ModuleWorks enables its customers to optimize their CAD/CAM solutions and connect to CNC/MTB systems to increase their competitiveness and help them Get There Faster. For more information, visit https://www.moduleworks.com.

About InterQ

InterQ is a European project. The main objective of InterQ is to measure, predict and control the quality of the manufactured products, manufacturing process and gathered data to assure zero-defect-manufacturing by means of AI-driven tools powered with meaningful and reliable data. 25 European partners including research centres, industrial and technological companies, and universities are uniting their efforts. They are located in 11 countries and the project coordinator is Spain-based research centre IDEKO.

The project started on November 3rd, 2020 and will last 36 months. It has a total budget of 11 million Euros. For more information, visit https://interq-project.eu/

The InterQ project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 958357 and it is an initiative of the Factories-of-the-Future (FoF) Public Private Partnership.

Metalcam is a market leader in shop floor digital solutions, that has been helping users to improve their CNC machine productivity for 30 years

Selection of a CAD/CAM solution is a major game changer in the performance of any CNC shop floors. An easy to use and learn CAM in combination with a powerful CAD can be a boon for the CNC workshops, but this combination is rare, and has always been in demand by the shop floor industry. Metalcam has been pushing its limits by innovating and solving machining problems with its exciting product offering of Fikus Plus 20.

FikusPlus 20 stands as an intuitive, easy-to-use and easy-to-learn CAM solution. All the tools designed to increase productivity and reduce the time to the shop floor. This time we are glad to introduce you to the new solution for 2D Milling.  so combined with our 3D Milling and Wire EDM gives the customer a really attractive solution.

This new release of FikusPlus 20 comes with a host of power packed features to enhance the productivity of your shop floor. So, let’s have a look at them one by one:

FikusPlus CAD

New version of the 3D CAD environment has been added with major improvements to help users to get the maximum efficiency in their designing jobs. In the following paragraphs you can see the main features included in this renewed CAD section of FikusPlus 20.

The translators have been updated to enable opening files from other CAD systems as:  SolidWorks 2020, Solid Edge 2020 and Catia v5 R2020.

Sketch options now offer three Design modes like Sketch, Selection and 3D Model. It is very simple to build and design using the functions from the Sketch tab: Create, Modify, Constraints (Figure 1) and Edit.

Another new significant feature introduced is the Block Recording (Figure 2) which allows the user to easily edit the parameters of CAD geometries within FikusPlus 20. This new function captures the step-by-step feature creation and edits either starting with a new sketch or adding features. It gives high flexibility to design parametrically and permits the users to control history-based technology for quick design edits.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

1. 2D Milling technology

A new module has been added to the FikusPlus environment for 2D Milling technology, with an advanced algorithm for using the final stock in the calculation which can avoid the air movements of the tool and define the stock with the optimized programming. 2D Mill technology is formed of following processes Facing, Roughing, Profiling, Slotting and Drilling.

2.  3D Milling technology

In the new release 3D Milling has become faster with additional functions that helps the users to achieve their goals.

The retracting of the tool has been considerably reduced with the new algorithm. This way the process time will be reduced and the time consumption will also decrease.

3D Finishing: In this process we have the new adaptive depth step that allows the user to use constant “z” values in straight walls and reduced down step in radius or draft angle in the same procedure. Moreover, establish the limit by the angle for the machining of the surface.

Project Contour: This function offers possibilities to project a 2D Sketch into a part surface as you can see in the figure 3. This option has been added to a part of the programming for single projection, the user can now apply an offset calculation. This option comes with a feature to use containment to limit the projection over the surface. All the tool path movements have been reduced to arcs instead of polylines. This allows in the machining smoothness and improving the performance.

3. Automations to reduce cycle time

FikusPlus 20 has been designed to minimise human interference so as to improve the efficiency and reliability of the output. This new release will have two new automation routines, Feature Recognition (FR) and Drill wizard.

Feature Recognition (FR): FR is an advanced tool for Milling which simplifies the workload by detecting all geometries to be cut automatically in a single setup. This feature identifies the CAM geometries that need to be machined and brings it to the user in a matter of seconds from a 3D  Model. It is a fully automated selection tool which identifies features like Bosses, Pockets, Drills and Slot. Refer figure 4 showing similar diameter/ height cylinders grouped together in the same colours

Drill Wizard: This feature allows the user to quickly create all the groups and processes required to mill a large number of holes in a single model. This Wizard is especially useful if we often work with a set of defined templates, see figure 3.

The Wizard can logically identify those drills and apply a sequence of processes that the user has defined over all the similar drills.

Wire EDM

FikusPlus 20 wire EDM solution is an easy to use shop floor solution which fulfils the need of tool-making, precision engineering, press & extrusion tool, mold & die industries and so on.

The new version is powered with specific machine assistants, templates, customizable databases or automated technology points, 4X from 2 contour synchronization, surfaces or construction support to facilitate usability and extract optimal performance from the wire EDM machines.

The programming Wizards offer to create the cutting sequence step-by-step and control all the machining parameters. Thus the expert knowledge base helps to complete the programming process easily and efficiently.

Machine  technologies from dozens of machine manufacturers are implemented in FikusPlus 20 with optimized technological tables and postprocessors. The programming Wizards make handy the expert knowledge base that facilitates to complete the programming process easily and efficiently.

This new FikusPlus 20 have several enhancements for wire cut CNC users such as:

Feature Recognition (FR)

FR was already included in the previous version of FikusPlus, however, this latest version will be providing a face lift to this valuable FR functionality by giving options to group cylinders/ contant tapers according to diameter/ height. These options are useful in setting the same cutting conditions for the whole part using groups based on diameter or height or both, thus giving additional selection facility to the users.

Surface selection

Surface selection has been advanced in a way that proposes available wire cut surfaces to select during split / multi-face options conditions. In addition, it provides smart alternate options for leading and trailing edges when multiple edges are involved, which only need to be selected by the user for cable movement. Facilitating quick and reliable selection.

Multi-origin 

Stay tuned for our next article on additional FikusPlus 20 modules at a glance

• TBI (Turn & Burn Indexed)
• ASW (Automatic Slug Welding) or Core Stitch
• ASM (Automatic Slug Management)
• Alignment Basics (AB)
• Alignment Renishaw (AR)
• Alignment 3D Setup (A3D)

And A new application Cimatron to FikusPlus 20 Plugin to export the Geometries

About the authors 

Dr. Ashutosh Chitravanshi

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashutoshc)

Is the Country Manager, India for Metalcam Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bangalore.

Author

   Deepak M Ambekar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepak-m-ambekar)

Is Jr. Product Manager, for Metalcam Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bangalore.

Register here and join FikusPlus 20 LIVE webinar on 17 March 2021

Visit https://www.metalcam.com

Enquire for a demo: sales@metalcam.com 

EXTON, PA, USA, Mar 12, 2021 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated (Nasdaq: BSY), the infrastructure engineering software company, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with investors led by Accel-KKR to acquire Seequent—a leader in software for geological and geophysical modeling, geotechnical stability, and cloud services for geodata management, visibility, and collaboration—for $900 million in cash, subject to adjustment, plus 3,141,361 BSY Class B shares. The acquisition of Seequent is expected to initially add approximately 10% to each of Bentley Systems’ key financial metrics (ARR, annual revenue, and EBITDA) and is expected to be measurably accretive to Bentley’s organic growth rate. Most significantly, the combination will deepen the potential of infrastructure digital twins to help understand and mitigate environmental risks, advancing resilience and sustainability.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including New Zealand Overseas Investment Act consent as well as clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. Upon closing, Seequent will operate as a stand-alone Bentley subsidiary, with Seequent’s current Chief Operating Officer Graham Grant, succeeding its retiring CEO Shaun Maloney, reporting to Bentley’s Chief Product Officer Nicholas Cumins.

Seequent, founded and headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand, has more than 430 colleagues in 16 office locations, serving geologists, hydrogeologists, geophysicists, geotechnical engineers, and civil engineers in over 100 countries, and the world’s top mining companies. Its established presence in mineral-intensive geographies such as South America and southern Africa is expected to accelerate Bentley’s overall opportunities in these regions with significant infrastructure requirements. In turn, Bentley’s established presence in China, and its mainstay reach across civil engineering sectors, is expected to accelerate Seequent’s expansion in new markets.

Subsurface conditions comprise the “infrastructure of our infrastructure” and literally underlie the earth’s major environmental risks. Bentley’s current offerings enable digital twins to incorporate what’s constructed “near surface,” including foundations, drainage facilities, buried utilities, tunnels, and subsea structures. The addition of Seequent will now make it possible for infrastructure digital twins to reach full subsurface depths, augmenting environmental resilience against flood, seismic, climate, and water security threats.

Seequent first applied implicit modeling technology to geological science more than 15 years ago, using mathematical tools to derive and visualize 3D geological models from measured data and user interpretation. This software advancement caused a “leapfrogging” paradigm shift in the understanding of the earth’s subsurface and has been increasingly adopted by geoscientists and researchers around the world to uncover and visualize valuable insights about environmental conditions and challenges.

Seequent’s products include Leapfrog, its leading product for 3D geological modeling and visualization, Geosoft for 3D earth modeling and geoscience data management, and GeoStudio for geotechnical slope stability and deformation modeling. Bentley’s complementary geotechnical engineering software portfolio, including PLAXIS, gINT, and OpenGround, will be integrated in due course to support open digital workflows from borehole and drillhole data to geological models and geotechnical analysis applications.

The mining industry, with its economic sensitivity and environmental responsibilities, was the first and fastest to adopt 3D earth modeling, superseding traditional 2D processes to speed and improve decision cycles. A mine is at once a never-ending and continuously changing infrastructure construction project, and a valuable and environmentally critical infrastructure asset. Seequent recognized the potential, for ALL major infrastructure engineering projects and assets, to likewise “leapfrog” traditional 2D subsurface modeling and simulation processes. Leapfrog’s usage, often in conjunction with Bentley’s software offerings, has been growing consistently in civil infrastructure sectors.

The integration of Bentley’s and Seequent’s solutions, for deeper infrastructure digital twins, can contribute a multiplied “ESG handprint” to improve the world’s environment while improving the world’s economies. While Seequent’s products aren’t appreciably used in oil and gas exploration or production—which is served by its own dedicated industry of specialized geophysical software—imperatives for energy transition present new opportunities, even beyond the expansion of mining to produce the materials needed for widespread electrification. Seequent is a leader in 3D modeling for geothermal energy sources, and its software and cloud services provide the important geosciences context for water resources simulations and environmental engineering.

Bentley’s CEO Greg Bentley said, “We can be very confident about Seequent’s contribution to our shared future not only because of our product synergies, but because we recognize in Seequent’s trajectory an echo of the playbook that made Bentley Systems successful—except they have grown faster! They have made farsighted decisions to benefit the future at every stage: identifying and then laser-focusing on the 3D “vertical” opportunity in earth modeling, institutionalizing a subscription commercial model from the outset, directly populating the appropriate global markets, acquiring and consolidating the best software for adjacent disciplines, and bringing it all together with cloud services, ready for digital twins advancement together. I can think of no greater compliment than our determination to leave intact Seequent, as a Bentley Company, entrusting its management with greater responsibilities to continue their dynamic momentum. I congratulate retiring CEO Shaun Maloney on the quality of the business and the team he has developed, and we will warmly welcome his established successor Graham Grant, and all Seequent colleagues, to our shared values and endeavors in advancing infrastructure.”

Tom Barnds, co-managing partner at Accel-KKR and Seequent board member, said, “We had been looking forward to Seequent’s IPO this year, but we are so convinced of the logic of this combination that we are glad to anticipate instead becoming BSY shareholders. The Seequent board congratulates and thanks Shaun Maloney for his long service and remarkably consistent success in growing this great business, its great management team, and this great outcome for Seequent investors and colleagues.”

Shaun Maloney, chief executive officer of Seequent, said, “By ‘leapfrogging ahead’ with Bentley to align geosciences with infrastructure engineering through deeper digital twins, Seequent underscores our conviction that better understanding of the earth creates a better world for all. Users and accounts of Seequent, as a Bentley Company, can expect business as usual, with many product and commercial synergies eventually forthcoming. For my Seequent colleagues, I am confident that the future is in safe hands with like-minded Bentley Systems and our COO Graham Grant, so this presents a timely moment for me to announce my planned retirement. For all, our new larger scope presents a great opportunity for shared advancement.”

Bentley’s CFO David Hollister said, “The transaction is expected to close in Q2, with the cash consideration settled via a combination of cash on hand and availability under our undrawn $850 million revolving credit facility. We expect Seequent to contribute in excess of $80 million to our ARR during this year. Seequent impressively has a historical and current organic revenue growth rate which, coupled with an operating margin profile similar to ours, makes Seequent accretive to our financial model. Our financing of this transaction is facilitated by having issued, earlier this year, $690 million in convertible debt, due 2026. Our deleveraging target—to reduce our total net leverage multiple of Adjusted EBITDA from under 4.0x post-closing, to about 2.5x over the next two years—could be accelerated by any future equity offerings.”

Advisors

BofA Securities is serving as financial advisor, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Bell Gully are acting as legal counsel, to Bentley Systems. Goldman Sachs is serving as financial advisor and DLA Piper is acting as legal counsel to Seequent.

Conference Call

A call for investors will be held on Friday, March 12, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. To register for the investor call, click this link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TN6D4dUVTcWAIVlsqxDmkw

Click here to view a 90-second video about Seequent.

About Seequent

Seequent is a world leader in the development of 3D geological modelling and visual data software for understanding subsurface geoscience and engineering design solutions.

Our solutions enable people to analyze complex data, manage risk and ultimately make better decisions about earth, environment, and energy challenges.

Seequent software is used on large-scale projects globally, including road and rail tunnel construction, groundwater detection and management, geothermal exploration, subsea infrastructure mapping, resource evaluation and subterranean storage of spent nuclear fuel.

Seequent’s global footprint includes its Christchurch-based HQ and R&D center, and a network of offices across Asia/Pacific, Africa, South America, North America and Europe servicing blue chip companies and customers with leading subsurface solutions in over 100 countries. For more information, visit https://www.seequent.com.

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems (Nasdaq: BSY) is the infrastructure engineering software company. We provide innovative software to advance the world’s infrastructure – sustaining both the global economy and environment. Our industry-leading software solutions are used by professionals, and organizations of every size, for the design, construction, and operations of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater, public works and utilities, buildings and campuses, and industrial facilities. Our offerings include MicroStation-based applications for modeling and simulation, ProjectWise for project delivery, AssetWise for asset and network performance, and the iTwin platform for infrastructure digital twins. Bentley Systems employs more than 4,000 colleagues and generates annualized revenues of more than $800 million in 172 countries. For more information, visit www.bentley.com.

LEVIS, QC, Canada, Mar 12, 2021 – Creaform, the worldwide leader in automated and portable 3D measurement solutions and engineering services, announced the release of Pipecheck 6.1 software, a significant upgrade to the already advanced pipeline integrity assessment software. Always on the cutting-edge of technology in NDT solutions for the oil and gas industry, this latest version will offer unique possibilities that will open new doors to various business opportunities.

Pipecheck 6.1 remains the safest NDT solutions for pipeline integrity assessment. It provides a complete 3D visualization of internal and external surfaces, ensuring pipeline integrity and public safety. Used in conjunction with either the HandySCAN 3D or the Go!SCAN 3D 3D scanner product lines, Pipecheck 6.1 is to this day the most trusted by NDT service companies. Here are a few of the key features that explain why:

1. Increased capacity: This new version will allow for much larger diameter measurements for objects like storage tanks, pressure vessels, rail cars, etc., ultimately opening new market opportunities in the transport and refinery industries.
2. Time and cost saving: You no longer need additional pictures to complete the assessment reports. When used with the Go!SCAN 3D, you get the full 3D picture with geometry, colors, textures, and even writings.
3. User independence: The new feature weld selection and the well-known virtual pit gauge are removing many manual operations that would normally require expertise and experience.
4. Flexibility and versatility: Pipecheck 6.1 provides assessment capabilities for different types of pipeline damage (corrosion, mechanical damage, radius, wrinkle, ovality, etc.), in-line inspection (ILI) correlation, and ultrasonic testing (UT) data import for a mixed analysis.
5. Rapid field deployment: It is efficient across all work conditions, whether under direct sunlight or in harsh environments. Additionally, since it requires less targets to measure corrosion, it saves time and provides a major competitive advantage.
6. Accuracy and speed: With up to 1,500,000 measurements per second and up to 0.025 mm (0.0009 in) accuracy, it delivers accurate and repeatable results you can trust.

“This newest version of Pipecheck clearly shows Creaform’s commitment to the continued improvement of our NDT pipeline inspection solutions”, said Jérôme-Alexandre Lavoie, Product Manager. “With the added feature of recording textures and all the new tools geared toward user independence, this software provides a complete, thorough, single-file reporting of any small or large diameter objects.”

To learn more about the Pipecheck software and assets integrity in general, join us for a live webinar on March 25th (10am EDT or 3pm CET)

About Creaform

Creaform develops, manufactures, and sells 3D portable and automated measurement technologies and specializes in engineering services. The company offers innovative solutions for applications such as 3D scanning, reverse engineering, quality control, non-destructive testing, product development, and numerical simulation (FEA/CFD). Its products and services cater to a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, consumer products, heavy industries, healthcare, manufacturing, oil and gas, power generation, research and education.

With headquarters and manufacturing operations in Lévis, Québec, Creaform operates innovation centers in Lévis as well as Grenoble, France, with direct sales operations in Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Singapore. Creaform is part the Ultra Precision Technologies division of AMETEK Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with annual sales of approximately $5 billion. For more information, visit www.creaform3d.com.

ANN ARBOR, MI, USA, Mar 12, 2021 – CIMdata and Eurostep are pleased to announce the agenda topics for PLM Road Map & PDT Spring 2021, which will take place as a virtual-live event in May. The theme for this year’s event is “Disruption—the PLM Professionals’ Exploration of Emerging Technologies that Will Reshape the PLM Value Equation.” The event will take place between 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (EDT) / 15:00 – 19:00 (CEST) on May 19 & 20.

PLM Road Map & PDT 2021 represents an event customized to the interests of the PLM Professional. With this in mind, our agenda will offer a mix of reports and case studies from teams of industry experts, covering technologies, processes, and people. PLM Road Map & PDT Spring 2021 will examine various emerging disruptive technologies looking at the value they promise to deliver and why they are disruptive. We will address the role of standards in ensuring the openness and interoperability of these technologies. Additionally, we will share some examples of applying these technologies in the aerospace, defense, AEC, energy industries. Presentations will cover the following topics:

1. Today’s Emerging Trends & Disruptors: Reshaping & Rethinking PLM
2. Digital Transformation Supporting Army Modernization – Challenges and Opportunities for PLM
3. Joining Up Engineering Data without Losing the M in PLM
4. Integrating Models
5. Additive Manufacturing – not as simple a paper printing–yet
6. What Can Be Stupid About Smart Products
7. Designing and Keeping Great Teams. Lessons from Preparing for Mars. What Can PLM Professionals Learn from This?
8. Building a profitable Digital Twin Business
9. Leveraging PLM and Cloud Technology for Market Success

“The agenda topics are of high interest to any PLM professional, and we have a great line-up of speakers, matching previous PDT Europe and PLM Road Map events,” says Mr. Håkan Kårdén, Eurostep’s Director of Marketing. “Technology is at the heart of everything we do today. What are the disruptive technology trends to keep an eye on? Are they disruptive at scale? How do we build teams that embrace technologies and deliver value? We are looking forward to delivering another must-attend event, again on-line,” added Mr. Kårdén.

According to Ms. Cheryl Peck, CIMdata’s Director of Marketing, “Back in November of 2020, we successfully introduced our first-ever virtual-live PLM Road Map & PDT conference. For our spring 2021 event, we are once again planning a virtual event focused on disruptive technologies and the value they promise. Keeping track of the large number of disruptors can be daunting and not optional if we do not want to miss out on the opportunities disruption affords. The agenda topics we have put together will expand our scope of thinking and help PLM Professionals learn how to harness the potential of using disruptive technologies to maximize organizational value.”

PLM Road Map & PDT is a highly relevant event for PLM industry leaders and PLM practitioners globally, providing independent education where ideas, trends, experiences, and relationships critical to the industry germinate and take root.

For more detail on the agenda, please visit https://www.cimdata.com/en/education/plm-conferences/plmrm-pdt-spring-2021

SURREY, UK, Mar 12, 2021 – Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has launched a new coordinate measuring machine (CMM) that overcomes challenges common to the measurement of delicate components, such as smartphone camera lens assemblies, to help manufacturers perform quality inspections up to four to six times faster than conventional methods with uncompromising sub-micron accuracy.

Leitz PMM Gold combines greater accuracy, high measurement speeds and sensor flexibility ideal for small and fragile parts with tight tolerances.

Continued demand for high-value products that are precisely assembled from delicate materials, such as smartphones and wearable technology, requires electronics manufacturers to inspect large volumes of fragile and miniaturized components with high precision. For example, the plastic lens barrel of a smartphone could have a part diameter of 7 mm and the tolerance to which they are produced could be as small as 1-2 microns. The precise geometrical shape of these components is of great importance because misalignment would lead to distorted camera images and severely affect the customers’ experience of the product. For many applications, quality sampling is sufficient, but every part of a lens assembly must be inspected to ensure perfect quality.

With a first term length-measurement accuracy of .28 microns, the Leitz PMM Gold – with a “P” for precision – is the most accurate metrology machine ever produced by Hexagon. The new machine’s optical inspection takes about five minutes to inspect a lens barrel from start to finish, doesn’t require human intervention beyond the positioning of parts, and does not contact fragile components during measurement. In addition to supporting faster measurement processes, its non-contact probes are especially sensitive to deviations in geometry, which can be critical to validating the quality of precision components. For example, up to seven different material layers are required to produce a single smart-phone camera lens, so even minor variances in surface quality can drastically alter results.

By contrast, the profilometers traditionally used for the inspection of delicate electronics parts such as smartphone camera lenses, often deform components during measurement and require a commitment of 20 to 30 minutes per part for inspection due to stringent part-positioning requirements. While highly accurate, an additional limitation of the profilometer is that it can only be used for final quality inspection, whereas non-contact inspection can be introduced at each phase of assembly where it is required.

Svenja Schadek, product manager, commented, “As the world’s largest CMM provider, Hexagon has significant experience across product teams in responding to the needs of manufacturers as they navigate new challenges to productivity and quality. Through combined R&D effort, we developed a CMM that features very high accuracy and a smaller footprint so that our customers could bring the latest consumer products to market faster, with greater confidence in their manufacturing processes by employing rigorous, high-sample-rate inspection.”

The ability to easily switch between optical and low-force tactile inspection tools is a strength of the Leitz PMM Gold, as accurate measurement of components with deep crevices or detailed features can be difficult to achieve without the use of styli. Low-force tactile probing capabilities provided by the new CMM ensure that delicate surfaces remain intact, while an optical sensor supports the performance of rapid inspection without contacting parts. The CMM’s fully automatic sensor-exchange system enables users to easily switch between these probe and sensor heads and delivers seamless transitions when measuring a mixture of different part features.

Designed especially for ultra high precison manufacturing, the Leitz PMM Gold is 30 percent smaller than competing machines, which saves valuable floor space. Available globally from today, the CMM’s unique capabilities are also ideally suited to the high-accuracy inspection of precision gears for electric vehicles, as well as other precision components and the calibration of gauges and masterparts.

For more information please visit HexagonMI.com/Leitz-PMM-Gold.

About Hexagon

Hexagon is a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous solutions. We are putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, and quality across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, safety, and mobility applications.

Our technologies are shaping urban and production ecosystems to become increasingly connected and autonomous – ensuring a scalable, sustainable future.

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division provides solutions that utilise data from design and engineering, production and metrology to make manufacturing smarter.

Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B) has approximately 21,000 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately 3.8bn EUR. Learn more at hexagon.com and follow us @HexagonAB.

CLEARWATER, FL, USA, Mar 12, 2021 – BobCAD-CAM, the world leader in affordable & powerful CAD-CAM software, announces the release of BobCAM For Rhino V1 – The newest CAM plug-in for Rhino 6 & 7

BobCAD-CAM is one of the leading CAM systems with more than 155,000 users worldwide. Since 1985 BobCAD-CAM has been developing user-friendly and cost-effective CAD-CAM software. The software offers CNC programming solutions for milling, turning-milling, waterjet, plasma, laser, and wire-cutting machines.

Rhino is the world’s most diverse 3D modeler for professionals, used universally in areas such as product design, architecture, shipbuilding, tool and mold making.

BobCAM for Rhino integrates CAD and CAM functions in a single setting thus enabling a seamless transition from the design process to toolpath programming, simulation, and G-code processing.

At BobCAD-CAM software is developed by machinists for machinists. Many of the software engineers began their careers programming, setting up, and operating CNC machines in manufacturing companies. Their understanding of the industry creates effective solutions for day-to-day business.

BobCAM for Rhino: 2 – 5 axis simultaneous milling, 2 – 4 axis wire EDM, 2 axis turning, drilling, water jet, plasma, laser cutting – stable and extremely budget-friendly with a unique price / performance ratio. BobCAM for Rhino is modular and can grow with the CAM requirements.

To know what’s new in V1, visit https://bobcad.com/cad-cam-software-products/the-new-bobcam-for-rhino-v1/.

To download a free trial, click here.

About BobCAD-CAM

Since 1985, BobCAD-CAM provides manufacturers just like you with powerful and easy to use CNC programming CAD-CAM software. Our purpose is helping you effectively automate the machining process. We offer CNC programming solutions for Mill, Mill Turn, Lathe, Router, Plasma, Laser, Waterjet, and Wire EDM machines. For more information, visit http://www.bobcad.com.