Because of growing international competition, many companies are striving to make considerable increases in productivity. The efficient integration of in-house design departments, suppliers, and engineering partners in the development process are essential for competitiveness. A significant aspect of this is the networking of the most varied CAD/CAM/CAE landscapes and their efficient integration into the product development process.
As a project progresses, the degree of freedom to make changes decreases markedly. Important realizations are often not made until the actual building of the prototype, during production, or even when the product is in use. The later modifications are carried out, the higher the cost. With the use of Tecoplan's solutions, all those involved in the project will have sound information about the entire program and its later developments significantly earlier than before. Design errors can be recognized earlier and can be rectified at the layout or initial design stages, long before building an expensive prototype.
The company's Virtual Workshop can be integrated into the various CAD systems on the market. An engineer can input data to the total project and receive results immediately. Because the engineer receives information about faulty components directly, a prompt action can be taken to make the necessary corrections. Before the individual parts from the design team are approved for production, the entire design is checked once more by a central department.
The assembly of a product is verified using the Virtual Workshop. The product structure can be accessed via the Internet or intranet from any location to make final design checks. The software's basic functionality is integrated into the most commonly used CAD systems. The open architecture facilitates the integration of any software programs from the digital mockup (DMU) environment.
Tecoplan's voxel technology can be integrated into existing EDM/PDM systems. This technology facilitates the exchange of data between any CAD systems. The Virtual Workshop transfers complex CAD data into an open data format, the voxel models. These models consist of a facetted structure that contains the original geometry of the component. This process does not alter the original CAD model.
The Virtual Workshop considerably reduces the cost of integration and coordination with suppliers regardless of their location. Entry into this new dimension of engineering is substantially easier because the software allows the existing CAD infrastructure (in which, for most companies, a considerable financial investment has been made) to be used without restriction.
