... a lifeline in choppy waters asks Mark Mills of Micro Concepts

Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Businesses currently preparing their plans and budgets for this year face a real dilemma.  It seems as if every financial pundit on the planet is urging prudence.  And for many smaller organisations, the lack of credit and possibly a shrinking of demand to match, battening down the hatches may be the only option.

However, at the same time, we are still being told by business gurus, industry spokespeople and manufacturing experts that we shouldn't hibernate, we should innovate.  There will always be a market for perfectly designed, original, cutting-edge products, they say and designers and manufacturers must keep bringing new products to market or lose their competitive edge totally. 

For many in business, the need to take risks runs like adrenalin through their veins; for others, caution is their bedrock.  But this is an area where, for once, those who inhabit the middle ground may actually come out in front. 

These will willingly make an investment - but only if they know they will see payback through cost-savings and/or increased revenue within the necessary timescale. And the truly astute, ensure that this investment is maximised to the full by adopting best practices surrounding workflow and processes around the new solution. 

Selective pioneers

Usually these sensible few aren't the pioneers, but are perhaps the early adopters.  But they are selective about the solutions or strategy they choose - opting only for the "killer app", the "sweet spot" or the one that presents a "no brainer" when comes to the evidence before them. 

Digital prototyping is one such choice.  In itself it's a way of working rather than a solution or strategy.  Yet, unlike other more complex ideas and methods, it can be implemented using industry standard technology. 

But why is digital prototyping such a level-headed decision to make?  And why can users expect early return on their investment? 

A digital prototype is an on screen representation of a product which is accurate in every way - from its dimensions (scaled up or down for convenience and size of screen!) to the way it performs.  For this reason it can be used to test the form, fit and function of a product before it is anything more than a virtual image. 

Best in class manufacturers begin the process of creating a digital prototype right at the concept stage.  This allows designers to capture ideas as they occur, but at the same time, the latest parametric technology enables changes to be made constantly, automatically updating the rest of the model and the database behind it. 

"You can take a laptop to client meetings and - because, when you make a change in Inventor everything else updates accordingly - you can listen to feedback and show them the implication of making any change," customer James Cannon of InterFocus Ltd told us, demonstrating the new responsiveness between client and designer this can foster. 

The entire process

Then as the digital model goes through the entire design process, further information is added - including engineering, mechanical and electrical data.  At the same time as the aesthetics can be visualised, the materials and assemblies can be analysed and functions simulated.  The result is a virtually real product that can be explored, manipulated and interrogated well before it gets to be manufactured. 

The analyst firm, Aberdeen Group, has written several seminal benchmark reports on the use of digital prototyping.  The first, The Transition from 2D Drafting to 3D Modelling, provided a real jolt to the industry when it was published a few years ago, showing just how effective this way of working could be.  The follow-up, Complementary Digital and Physical Prototyping Strategies, published early 2008 was equally packed with insights into the behaviour of best in class companies and their approach to prototyping.

Aberdeen's main point is not that digital prototyping will always replace physical prototypes, but that it dramatically cuts down the number needed, because of the accuracy of the data provided. In fact, it found that best in class manufacturers make, on average, half the number of physical prototypes.  This obviously has a big impact on the cost of development which knocks-on to the cost of product.

Affecting timelines

This also affects timelines and the all important race to market.  Aberdeen found that on average those creating digital prototype get their products to market up to 58 days faster on average, often reaping the rewards of first to market advantage. 

This has certainly been the experience of Rugby-based logistics systems developer SDIGreenstone.  Its design engineer Victor Fernandez explains: "Using Inventor (part of Autodesk's digital protyping solution) helps us generate a high-quality proposal for a typical medium-sized prject in a matter of hours, create the assembly of a whole job in two to three days and detail all manufacturing parts in just one week.  Previously, we would have expected thesee tasks to have taken at least twice as long." 

The rapid detailing of parts, coupled with the software's ability to support quick supplier turnaround times, has dramatically reduced SDIGreenstone's lead times.  And the ability to minimise on-site re-work, ensure that modelling and assembly drawing processes are right first time and that data is transferred efficiently has reduced the installation time by an estimated 10 -25%. 

But some of the main return on investment comes through the ability to optimise a product through online testing and analysis.  For example, FEA testing can be carried out on multiple materials to ascertain the best balance of strength and cost. 

This helps avoid over-engineering; one company we spoke to were able to cut down the weight of their product by half, and subsequently its cost by 20% by these very methods. 

"Inventor allows us to start a project and make changes as we go along," another customer, Martyn Mills of TROX UK explained to us.  "We may revise a design 10 or 15 times before a project is completed.  But with Inventor we only need make changes at the top level, confident that they will ripple down through all the elements in the design." 

Improving design

Brian Bell Associates which specialises in heavy civil and structural engineering both for permanent and temporary works is of a similar opinion: "Inventor's ability to manipulate assemblies to show relative motion, such as hydraulic cylinders and hinges operating, is especially valuable," says Brian Bell.  "These motions can be shown in a movie and fly-throughs and assembly or disassembly processes be put together. 

For Bell, moving to digital prototyping has proved especially valuable in reducing financial risk and improving the safety aspects of each design.  In fact, in the environment of large scale construction, it is rarely possible to product prototypes for testing purposes, but using Inventor, designs can be easily analysed and amended quickly and easily throughout, so minimising the risk of costly errors at the production and installation stage. 

It's clear that digital prototyping has advantages on so many levels; minimising time to market, helping to keep product costs low, ensuring the safety of the product, improving all-round product quality, helping to avoid over-engineering and avoiding the need for multiple physical prototypes, it's no wonder that ROI is rapid. 

But whereas the use of 3D manufacturing design software is now widespread, it is becoming evident that there is a big difference between using the software just to model up a 2D drawing and adopting a totally digital approach across the entire workflow.  

Consequently this is where the real rewards will lie for progressive thinking manufacturers over the next few years. 

It looks likely that UK manufacturing will be tested further in the coming months - and companies need to decide on their tactics.  However, it's encouraging that there will still be those who are able to innovate - and survive, thanks to the value of digital prototyping.