Kubotek USA - Complementary Reports
Jump to: White Papers
Survey Results
White Papers
From March 1 through October 1 2008, Longview Advisors conducted its fourth annual survey to deter-mine how professionals in discrete manufacturing environments deal with collaboration and interopera-bility issues. The questions were aimed at two target audiences, OEMs and Suppliers, across many indus-tries, worldwide. Our analysis of the results is thus split into these two parts, with an introduction ex-plaining demographics.
Kubotek USA began operations in 2004 with the goal of creating world-class software tools to
improve the effectiveness of the next-generation design and manufacturing
engineers. Our belief is that the most practical solutions for defining and
communicating product and machinery designs are fundamentally founded in
geometry, setting us apart from the prevailing industry trends. We call
ourselves Masters of Geometry because we are committed to maintaining focus and
expertise in this field. The mechanical design software industry has reacted
very favorably to our ideas. Nearly all of the major announcements in the
industry since 2006 have related to the shift toward 3D geometry-based
concepts. One of the most significant and long-term benefits of geometry-based
software tools is its promise to address design and manufacturing software
interoperability issues and their significant cost
to society.
Abstract: Examines the needs manufacturers have for working with designs generated from
multiple CAD programs and how new geometry-based feature technology from
Kubotek improves productivity for these applications. The benefits of the
technology are not just in the editing of models. Because the technology can
find pattern and feature relationships between faces all across a model in
real-time, it is a valuable tool for exploring a customer’s model. Since
complex features or “Super Features” can be defined in real-time on
any CAD file, designs can be re-purposed for manufacturing, moldmaking and
more. Versprille provides three examples of American manufacturers already
using these new capabilities to save design time in a design through
manufacture workflow.
Abstract: Has the industry, in its preoccupation with parametric and proprietary
feature-based modeling, overlooked a technical advance in recognizing pure core
intelligence buried within "dumb" explicit solid geometry? Kubotek
USA technologists prove the answer is "yes," with a conceptually
simple and logical enhancement of industry-standard selection algorithms.
Packaged as a complementary tool to a user's existing CAD system, Kubotek's
feature and pattern discovery during real time cursor tracking can assist users
dealing with data exchange between disparate CAD modeling applications.
Published January 2006
Kubotek USA's CAD Surveys
An Ongoing Study of the Design and Manufacturing Marketplace
Kubotek USA's 2006 CAD Interoperability Survey Results mark the latest installment in an
ongoing series of reports aimed at identifying and analyzing the causes of
inefficiency in product development and manufacturing. The results are
tabulated from the responses of 2869 CAD users, representing a variety of
industry segments. This report highlights responses to questions asking about
the number of CAD file types being used, the necessity for model rework, issues
with importing 3D CAD models, the use of different types of CAD modeling
packages and much more.
In May 2005, Kubotek USA (Marlborough, MA) began a broad, cross-industry survey of CAD users
to determine the extent of interoperability issues. Although the problem is
well-known and has existed for over 20 years, the results of the survey
revealed a surprising level of pervasiveness across the industry, regardless of
vertical market or company size. It showed that although many design and
manufacturing companies are focused on standardizing on a small number of
tools, and CAD vendors claim to have “solved the problem” through
the use of industry standard formats and direct translators, the end users are
still having difficulty sharing files.
Avis – “We try harder.” By now we’re all familiar with the slogan of
the number 2 brand in rental cars. The idea is that Avis isn’t the leader
and needs to try harder in order to win customers away from the giant in rental
cars -- Hertz.
Job shops and small manufacturers feel like Avis all the time. They are constantly fighting
for this or that tiny crumb of business. While this analogy may seem apt, the
real manufacturing industry parallel to Avis is the CAD vendors themselves --
all of them. Press release hyperbole aside, not one is a true leader in the
marketplace, and each and every vendor needs to “try harder” to
make sure that every production, die cast and machining shop on the planet is
able to use their products efficiently and cost-effectively.
CAD was going to make engineers and designers’ lives easier. CAD was supposed to help
us bring better products to market faster and cheaper. Unfortunately, sometimes
it seems like we’re no more productive than we were with drafting boards
and paper. Certainly paper had no “interoperability” issues. With
all the different CAD file formats, it is hard enough to share CAD files within
a single organization much less in a global manufacturing environment where
designer and manufacturer may be separated by more than just an ocean. They may
not speak the same language. They may work with different tools. They may have
different experiences, expectations and visions of the end product.
Data Exchange