Product NX Business challenges Operate profitably in environment of stringent quality, cost and delivery expectations Incorporate complex sheet metal working capabilities to provide full-service solutions Keys to success Implement NX knowledge- based 3D design system for press dies Import clients’ data in Parasolid format Accelerate die design through use of library parts Results 60 to 70 percent fewer design operations Die design time reduced by up to 50 percent Design errors down by 40 percent Time needed to create a blank from a master model slashed from three days to one hour 3D solution for progressive die design allows firm to serve clients whose products require sheet metal components Meeting customers’ high expectations Shonan Design is one of the largest proto- type makers in Japan with more than 30 years of experience. The company has Electronics and semiconductor www.siemens.com/nx Shonan Design Prototype manufacturer adds new capabilities to remain competitive more than 130 employees specializing in prototype making, using methods such as CNC machining, reverse engineering and rapid prototyping (both SLS and SLA technology). Shonan Design has estab- lished itself as an important service bureau supporting research and development activities for internationally known companies. Examples of its work include
Transcript
ProductNX
Business challengesOperate profitably in environment of stringent quality, cost and delivery expectationsIncorporate complex sheet metal working capabilities to provide full-service solutions
Keys to successImplement NX knowledge-based 3D design system for press diesImport clients’ data in Parasolid formatAccelerate die design through use of library parts
Results60 to 70 percent fewer design operationsDie design time reduced by up to 50 percentDesign errors down by 40 percentTime needed to create a blank from a master model slashed from three days to one hour
3D solution for progressive die design allows firm to serve clients whose products require sheet metal components
Meeting customers’ high expectationsShonan Design is one of the largest proto-type makers in Japan with more than 30 years of experience. The company has
Electronics and semiconductor
www.siemens.com/nx
Shonan Design Prototype manufacturer adds new capabilities to remain competitive
more than 130 employees specializing in prototype making, using methods such as CNC machining, reverse engineering and rapid prototyping (both SLS and SLA technology). Shonan Design has estab-lished itself as an important service bureau supporting research and development activities for internationally known companies. Examples of its work include
prototypes for image electronics equip-ment, cell phones, car stereo systems, printer parts, amusement equipment and other consumer products.
In Shonan Design’s line of work, custom-ers’ demands for quality, cost and delivery – known by the initials QCD – have reached their limits, according to Takahiro Maruyama, chief engineer, Manufacturing Division, at Shonan Design. “The challenge of profitability has become like a survival game,” he says. “There is a fixed minimum amount of physical work that must go into making a product; the key is to minimize the other work.” The company has been using NX™ (formerly called Unigraphics) software for the last eleven years as part of its strategy for doing this, and has succeeded in establishing a product development process that precedes market needs.
In recent years, however, the company has faced a new challenge. “Traditionally, plas-tic parts accounted for an overwhelmingly large proportion of product construction, with sheet metal parts accounting for only a small percentage of the whole,” explains Takahiro. “With the trend toward minia-turization and thinner walls, which are unique to the Japanese market, the sheet metal proportion has risen significantly. In
some cases, we faced difficulties in getting a contract for the whole product because we had not yet established our sheet metal parts production technologies.” With Shonan Design wanting to offer its customers a full-service solution, it needed to incorporate advanced press working technologies.
Knowledge re-use streamlines the processWith all of its design work being done in 3D, Shonan Design searched for a 3D solution to help with the design of the progressive dies used to fabricate sheet metal parts. “We evaluated a number of systems before we chose NX Progressive DieWizard,” says Takahiro. “It is capable of complete solid die design with features ranging from automatic generation of flat sheet templates to punch-die layout, base design, master part design and parts list creation. Another key deciding factor in our selection was that since manufactur-ers use the Parasolid® format as their common format, we could seamlessly migrate our data.”
NX Progressive DieWizard streamlines the die design process in a number of ways. For example, a feature recognition func-tion makes it possible to automatically
Customer’s primary businessShonan Design supplies the Japanese marketplace with plastic prototypes. http://210.174.189.182/ english/shonan_folder/
Customer locationKanagawa Prefecture Japan
“NX Progressive DieWizard has helped us decrease the number of operations needed to design a typical die by 60 to 70 percent, which has led to a design time reduction of up to 50 percent.”
analyze product data and extract necessary press processes, such as bending, drilling and creating apertures. Many standard progressive die design processes, such as 45-degree bend, 90-degree bend, V bend, etc., are predefined within the system, so the user simply re-uses them rather than modeling from scratch. (Processes may also be defined by the user and added to the library.) The strip layout feature speci-fies the order for the specified processes, and simulates the actual press strip.
Streamlined process saves timeUsing NX Progressive DieWizard, Shonan Design has been able to reduce the num-ber of operations required to design a typical die by 60 to 70 percent,which helps shrink design time. The vast amount of die design knowledge built into the software, as well as the design data that is re-used from the library, also helps accelerate die design. Since implementing Progressive
DieWizard, design time has been reduced by as much as 50 percent for some dies. And because the embedded knowledge and library data is highly accurate, design errors are now down by as much as 40 percent. The company has also seen the time needed to create a blank from a master model drop from three or four days to one hour.
Shonan Design has long relied on technol-ogy to help it remain competitive. “Ten years ago, our turnaround time for die fabrication was around 30 days,” says Takahiro. “Today, our average turnaround is from eight to around 14 days.” (This was accomplished through the use of NX Mold Wizard, prior to the implementation of Progressive DieWizard.) Now that the com-pany has added knowledge-based software specifically for die design, it has ensured its ability to provide full service to its cus-tomers, a critical capability for a prototype model maker in these competitive times.
“ Ten years ago, our turnaround time for die fabrication was around 30 days. Today, our average turnaround is from eight to around 14 days.”Takahiro Maruyama Chief Engineer, Manufacturing Division Shonan Design Co., Ltd.
