To maintain its reputation as the technology leader, Diamond Systems wanted presentations to customers to look leading-edge.

Fast-moving machines that don’t break eggs After using 2D AutoCAD for
many years, designers and engineers at Diamond Systems switched to 3D CAD (Solid Edge from Siemens PLM Software.) An important reason for the transition was to maintain the company’s leadership position among manufacturers of egg handling systems.

When the Grand Am organization wanted to take sports car racing in a new direction, Fin-el worked with FABCAR to create a new class of car.

Small teams, big tools
Top-of-the-line design technology is commonplace around the facilities of Formula 1 and NASCAR teams, those enviable organizations with lots of sponsors and plenty of money. But in the garages of smaller teams, such as those around Indianapolis, in the shadow of the city’s famed motor speedway, CAD, CAM and CAE are still pretty unusual. Jeff Berger, director of an Indianapolis-based engineering firm called Fin-el, recently teamed up with race car manufacturer, FABCAR, on a project that may change all that. “I hope our success with the Grand Am Daytona Prototype will help convince smaller teams that this technology can be useful to them, too,” Berger says. The Daytona Prototype is a new class of Grand Am racing car that debuted in the 2003 season of the Rolex Sports Car Series, the series that sponsors the Rolex 24 At Daytona and other endurance races.

Gem City Engineering (GCE) steps up to the competitive challenge: adapt or perish. GCE focused on its concept-to-finished product cycle, especially the engineering change order process.

Engineering change orders frustrated Gem City’s efforts to remain competitive
Since Gem City Engineering expanded the size and range of its client base, it now provides automation and conveying solutions as well as tooling, stampings and contract manufacturing for high-tech industries. Inescapable design changes in the 2D-design process thwarted efforts to lead its competition by prolonging the time from concept to finished product. In 1998, Roger Wentworth, GCE director of Mechanical Engineering, began investigating mid-range solid modelers. Looking for a short learning curve, productivity features and exceptional value, he tried Solid Edge®.

Machines are competitive advantage Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) is the largest supplier of custom nucleic acids in the United States, serving academic, government and commercial researchers in biotechnology, clinical diagnostics and pharmaceutical development. The uses for IDT’s products, which are essentially small portions of synthetic DNA or RNA, include diagnostic tests for genetic diseases such as breast cancer and cystic fibrosis, diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, research to discover new drugs and treatments, and producing safer and more plentiful agricultural products.

Extreme machines designed with Solid Edge puts Michigan company in the national spotlight.

What happens when you cross a PT Cruiser with an industrial-strength wood chipper? This isn’t a joke and there’s no punch line. It really happened, on The Discovery Channel show, Monster Garage.The result was a PT Cruiser that tools along like a regular car but when you open the back end and feed in wood, chips blow out the roof – a crazy concept, but that seems to be the point of Monster Garage, one of the most popular shows on cable television.

To leverage CAD data, Pella Corporation knew the next step was PDM, but remained concerned regarding implementation, training, integration, IT resources and usability issues.

Volume of CAD data limits Pella’s design efficiency Pella Corporation designs premiumquality commercial and residential windows and doors, as well as the machinery that manufactures them. Pella began implementation of Solid Edge® CAD software early this year and is pleased with the results of the CAD package. The challenge now is how to manage all of the design.

Vehicle seat maker, Seats Inc., needed the benefits of solid modeling – accurate communication with customers, geometric data to drive manufacturing equipment – without sacrificing engineering productivity

To 3D or not to 3D Seats Inc. faced what has become a common dilemma for mid-size manufacturing companies: to upgrade to solid modeling or stick with a familiar 2D design system. Solid modeling’s advantages over drawings are proven: a more accurate part definition; the ability to assemble parts on-screen and detect errors; many more downstream uses for design data, such as images for marketing, exploded views for documentation and 3D geometry to drive computerized manufacturing equipment. Seats Inc.needed these capabilities, but didn’t want designers’ productivity to decline due to a new modeling approach.

Five wind tunnels on three continents Founded in 1916, Modine Manufacturing Co. specializes in thermal management systems and components, bringing highly engineered heating and cooling technology and solutions to diversified global markets. Modine products are used in light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles,
HVAC (heating, ventilating, air conditioning) equipment, industrial equipment, refrigeration systems, fuel cells and electronics.The company has more than 8,200 employees at 34 facilities in 15 countries worldwide.

Heat transfer challenges grow more complex and sophisticated by the day. Modine’s track record of innovation (more than 2,200 patents in 90 years) is key to the company’s success.

Disabled children are more independent at meal times thanks to the work of engineering students at Saginaw Valley State University and their design software, Solid Edge.

Senior mechanical engineering students at Saginaw Valley State University used the design software, Solid Edge, to create a robotic device that helps disabled children feed themselves. When using the automatic feeding system, a child with severe physical limitations is able to perform 75 percent of the tasks involved in eating a meal. Without it, he is completely dependent on others. “Someone must still prepare the food, but the device allows much more independence at meals,” says Mike Woodley, one of the students who worked on the project.

A mixture of requirements AMF Canada designs and manufactures the complete line of baking equipment from mixers and make-up equipment to slicers, baggers and post-packaging solutions as well as washing machines for the bottle industry. Much of its equipment is customized and under contract to be delivered by a certain date. This puts product design on the critical path for profitability. “When designs have errors, that can delay delivery because some amount of rework is usually required,” explains Marc Stringer, the company’s CAD coordinator. Because missing a delivery date might cause a client to look elsewhere the next time for its baking equipment, management often authorized overtime, cutting into the profitability of the project.

A passion for cycling; a talent for mechanical engineering

Hugo Bardou, a mechanical technician in Montreal, wears two hats – or maybe that should be one hat and one bicycle helmet. He owns two businesses: Bardou Consulting, which offers mechanical engineering services to companies in Quebec; and Xprezo Cycles, which designs and produces high-end, handmade bicycle frames. In the consulting business, Bardou helps clients develop large, complex machinery.