Appliance Design - September 2007 - (Page 69) SOFTWARE opportunities of improving design collaboration. Atrus serves a range of clients, including the faucet company Moen, and Diebold, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ATMs, voting systems, and electronic and physical security products. The scope of Atrus services is broad, with the company handling everything from initial product designs to working with parts suppliers and manufacturers. Often, each step in the design process involves collaboration across internal Atrus design teams and externally with clients and partners. For Atrus, streamlining workflows is a priority. “Every minute we spend on administrative processes is less time that we can devote to hands-on, value-added engineering services,” says Doug Dominick, president of Atrus. To improve design workflows and better engage partners and clients, Atrus is using Adobe Acrobat 3D software. With Acrobat 3D, Atrus engineers can communicate design intent to all project team members, regardless of their level of technical expertise or the proprietary CAD software applications on their computers. “Collaborating on 3D models in PDF brings new clarity and accuracy to our work,” says Jeff Walker, senior mechanical engineer. “Project teams everywhere now have instant insight into design details. They can rotate images, cut cross sections, and zoom in or out on designs simply using the free Adobe Reader.” Product data can be shared with anyone using the free Adobe Reader software to view, mark up, cross-section, or measure 3D designs without the need for CAD applications or CAD viewers. laboration challenges, CAD interoperability issues, and to improve disseminating product information, companies like Porkka are finding new ways to accelerate the design and manufacturing of higher quality products. Overcoming obstacles Integral to keeping design costs in check and product development on schedule is ensuring that everyone — no matter how technical they are, where they are, or what computer hardware and applications they use — can work together easily. The goal is to give all stakeholders, including engineers, internal managers, suppliers, customers, and others the tools they need to make informed decisions at every point in the design process. By catching flaws earlier in the design cycle and accelerating development, organizations can gain a competitive edge. For most companies, this has been easier said than done. As project teams today encompass a wider variety of managers, suppliers, customers, and partners, sharing even the simplest information has become increasingly difficult. Different computing applications, an array of document types, incompatible visualization formats and viewers, and varying technology skills are just some of the things that can block effective collaboration. Dealing with 3D models has been particularly problematic as more engineering teams use them to better communicate design intent. Typically, extended project teams have had to purchase full licenses of expensive 3D modeling applications or buy proprietary viewing software to open models originating www.applianceDESIGN.com from various sources. This presents several challenges. First, engineers frequently engage with many organizations worldwide, so it is difficult to ensure everyone has the means to buy the necessary software. Second, even if suppliers purchase an application, they might not have the skills to use it. And of course, if they buy a different version of a software program, files still might not view properly. Adding value Atrus, a leading contract engineering firm, understands firsthand the challenges and Designers can generate dynamic cross-section views of 3D designs with the free Adobe Reader so everyone fully understands the design intent. applianceDESIGN September 2007 69 http://www.appliancedesign.com
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