Appliance Design - September 2007 - (Page 72) SOFTWARE agile in creating and communicating product details.” Further challenges come in ensuring that government regulators and customers understand how designs address safety and building concerns. “Trying to show how a refrigeration system will fit into a historical structure is extremely difficult to do with 2D drawings and virtually impossible to describe verbally,” adds Kahrola. “By delivering 3D models in PDF, customers and contractors have visual guides to help them understand how systems integrate safely into existing environments.” For Porkka, an added advantage to converting 3D models to PDF is that all critical project information — such as product specifications, spreadsheets, bills of materials, and large, complex assemblies — can be delivered in a single, highly compressed document package. Final information can be incorporated into product documentation that customers and support engineers use for ongoing reference or archived to meet regulatory requirements for long-term access to information. Versatile models After finalizing drawings, engineers continue to face obstacles as they attempt to communicate designs to suppliers and manufacturing partners. In fact, the estimated costs associated with problems sharing product information are staggering: the U.S. automotive supply chain loses approximately $1 billion annually due to imperfect data interoperability, according to a study done by RTI International. Even taking a more conservative approach to estimating losses in other industries, the need to better manage and share product information is undeniable. Engineers today are all too familiar with the challenges of distributing product information to companies and specialists using a range of CAD, CAE, and CAM systems. Delays are common, even for routine processes. For example, outputting and sharing high quality, neutral file formats such as STEP or IGES is difficult, as is including product manufacturing information such as dimensions, tolerances, and annotations with CAD details. 2250 SERIES WOB-L® Brushless DC Piston Pumps and Compressors • • Oil-less design Available with barbed or threaded ports PTFE Piston Ring Aluminum die cast components 24V DC Vacuum to 22.0" Hg Flow to 1.21 CFM • • • • • For more information on the 2250 Series, or our complete line of WOB-L® pumps and compressors, visit thomaspumps.com/2250ad For more Information Enter 148 72 applianceDESIGN AD03074Thom.indd 1 For more Information Enter 149 www.applianceDESIGN.com 8/7/07 10:44:48 AM September 2007 1/31/07 9:11:29 AM AD09074Sol.indd 1 http://www.thomaspumps.com/2250ad http://www.soler-palauinc.com http://www.thomaspumps.com/2250ad http://www.soler-palauinc.com http://www.appliancedesign.com
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