Speeding design time

Citation

(1999), "Speeding design time", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 71 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1999.12771bab.007

Speeding design time

Speeding design time

Keywords CAD, Division, Software

DIVISION Ltd, a developer of Interactive Product Simulation (IPS) tools, has signed a £1million deal with the Airbus Consortium to provide dVISE software to streamline the airline manufacturer's design process.

According to IPS dVISE software allows engineers to interact with their designs using the very latest data from their CAD systems. Up to now, one of the most time-consuming aspects within the design process was the need to create physical mock-ups in order to ensure fit of entire assembly. A wing mock-up, for instance, can take several weeks to create, but can be quickly out of date because of the difficulty in keeping the mock-up in sync with the CAD design. This problem can cause serious issues, with the CAD design moving on apace and the physical mock-up several iterations of the design behind (Plate 1).

"The scale and complexity of BAe's products demand best-in-class solutions for all phases of our design lifecycle", said Steve Tothill, British Airbus, CADCAM manager. "With the seamless integration of DIVISION's dVISE product into PTC's EPD Connect our key users will be able, for the first time, to visualise and interact with the entire virtual mock-up, all under the robust control of the PDM system."

Plate 1 Using Division's dVISE software, Airbus engineers are able to utilize the most current CAD data to visualise aircraft design

"Since the physical mock-up becomes the master database for many disciplines, in the past decisions have be made on 'old' design data. Thus mistakes can be made and the design cycle increased, all adding to the costs", said Charles Grimsdale, CEO of DIVISION.

"Today's CAD tools are not designed to visualise and interact with large scale assemblies which is where dVISE comes into its own", he added.

After an extensive period of evaluation, Airbus chose the DIVISION suite of software tools to be fully integrated into their CAD and PDM systems to allow the engineer to check the performance of his design within the context of the entire assembly.

"dVISE allows us to easily conduct daily project design reviews and verify that our products are right the first time ensuring that we produce a quality product that is easily maintained and meets the exact requirements of our customers, without the need to produce full physical mock-ups", Steve Tothill said.

With these tools now in place in France, Germany and the UK, Airbus' design reviews can be conducted without the need to travel, and at a moment's notice. It is anticipated that significant savings can be expected within the first year.

Further details from DIVISION Limited. Tel: +44 (0) 1454 615554; Fax: +44 (0) 1454 615532; E-mail: kosterj@division.co.uk