CATI Tech Notes

Shout outs

...so using the term "shout out" gave me pause. I am getting to the age where my daughter tells me what is cool and what isn't, and it is too late to wake her to ask her if shout out is an acceptable term to use in 2011.

Hopefully, our readers are as socially awkward as I am and will forgive me lack of social awareness.

In any case, I simply want to recognize one of our customers that has achieved some amazing results in the area of Lean Manufacturing. Ryan King of Arpac in Schiller Park was written up in AutomationWorld this month for his efforts in creating a lean environment and his automation of their ERP system. His next step will be to feed data from SolidWorks Enterprise PDM and to eliminate additional overhead and duplication of efforts.

http://www.automationworld.com/operations/it%E2%80%99s-contribution-continuous-improvement

Big Files = Big Problems

Think your part is way bigger than it should be? Maybe it is... Little known facts from 2011 SP2 there was an error that caused file size to balloon.

The problem was in the creation of multiple redundant display states that are all expendable. In 2011 SP3 the issue was corrected, however files with this issue will continue to have the issue. 2011 SP3 and later added a right mouse click menu to the display states called "purge redundant display states".

This will clean your file, and in some cases a lot. We saw a 200MB+ file go down to around 17MB. Big savings there.

Please make sure to back up your files before attempting this to make sure nothing undesirable happens to any wanted display states.

Happy Purging!!
John Van Engen
CATI Tech Support

Enterprise PDM - Working with overseas vendors

I thought I would share this blog article that I wrote on the InFlow site...this issue has come up more and more with our CATI customers:

http://blog.inflow-tech.com/inflow/2010/04/no-one-wants-to-buy-plmpart-9-of-an-infinite-series.html

In Search of a Prius That Runs on Cooking Oil, or Product Documentation Contributes to the Smart Grid

If you root around the CAD websites these days, everyone seems to be looking to add a check to the "green" box.  SolidWorks, for example, recently rolled out "Sustainability Express" in all licenses of SolidWorks. This video highlights some functionality of the SolidWorks Sustainability Suite.

As the child of a Beatnik (just a bit too old to be a hippy), I find it very satisfying to find companies that are trying to do the right thing for the environment.  I am proud to say that we recently took part in just such a project.

My customer produces complex equipment used to power our world.  They recently developed a product that was widely accepted by their customers as an essential component of the Smart Grid and, simply put, sold as soon as they could build them.  And therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub...

This company had sufficient floor space and enough business to triple their manufacturing capacity.  However, this piece of machinery is extremely complex and can only be built by a small number of qualified individuals.  Our customer needs to train its users without sacrificing the time of these valuable, qualified shop floor individuals. 

Recently, this company chose to implement 3DVia as a solution to this issue.  The solution will allow CAD data to be used as a starting point for interactive assembly instructions. These instructions will be delivered to shop floor with a Bill of Material (BOM) and data that describes each part.  Moreover, these instructions will be automatically updated when the BOM/geometry/description changes to alleviate confusion.

The expected outcome of this project is to build more than three times as many units, and increase revenue by 3x on the chosen product line.  If successful, the solution can be scaled up to include any product that they have designed in 3D CAD.

Ken Kesey once said "You're either on the bus or off the bus."  Working together, we are simply building a bigger, more pimped out version of the bus that will house more workers, create lower emissions and decrease our carbon foot print.  And what a long, strange trip it's going to be...

Do You Ship Products to the European Union?

Recently, we have had a number of customers inquire about solutions to help them comply with environmental regulations.  While many of these regulations have been in place for quite a few years, the enforcement of these regulations is becoming a reality.  Thus, companies have to prepare themselves in order to continue exporting their products, especially to the European Union.

This survey is simply intended to understand the value of such solutions in CATI's customer base. Please take a few minutes to let us know if compliance with these regulations is important to your business.

<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PpL8Lr3bCTBYb20TRvWADQ_3d_3d">Click Here to take survey</a>