After getti ng Cati a V5 r un-

ni ng i n our shop, i t hel ped us

cut up to 50% off the ti me
usual l y r equi r ed to desi gn
pr oducts wi th our pr evi ous
desi gn softwar e. The sol i d
model er s i con-dr i ven i nter -
face makes i t easy to l ear n
and use. Whi l e eval uati ng
several sol i d model ers, Cati a
was th e on l y on e th at i n -
cl uded the sheet-metal fea-
tu r es we n eed to des i gn
products rangi ng from l i ght
fi xtures to mi ssi l e parts.
User s can effi ci entl y cr e-
ate s h eet-metal des i gn s
from scratch and i n the con-
text of an assembl y. Rather
th an deal i n g wi th pl ai n
geometr y , des i gn er s can
wor k i n the manufactur i ng
l an gu age th ey al r eady
know, such as wal l s, bends,
r el i efs, tabs, thi n extr udes,
stampi ngs, and fl anges. And
featu r es ar e eas i er to u s e
than before now that the de-
vel oper has added drag-and-
drop capabi l i ti es.
V5 l ets desi gner s cr eate associ ati ve featur es on
fol ded and unfol ded par t r epr esentati ons. For ex-
ampl e, a cutout pl aced on an unfol ded r epr esenta-
ti on of a par t automati cal l y r efl ects on the fol ded
representati on. Associ ati ve features can be added at
any ti me duri ng model creati on and wi thout prereq-
ui si te operati ons.
V5 mak es i t pai n l es s to i mpor t an d pr es er v e
l egacy data i n I GES and DXF fi l e for mats. Thi s i s
cr uci al when deal i ng wi th l ong-establ i shed cus-
tomers who have accumul ated many drawi ngs of ex-
i sti ng equi pment.
Our previ ous CAD software l acked good part organ-
i zati on, someti mes taki ng hour s to scr ol l thr ough
comprehensi ve part tabl es i n l arger desi gns. V5 l ets
engi neers decompose assembl i es i nto part trees or ta-
bl es that show how the pr oduct i s assembl ed, or to
qui ckl y fi nd a part they are l ooki ng for wi thout search
operati ons.
The software can turn sol i d model s i nto drawi ngs,
and cr eate subassembl i es and compl ete assembl i es
usi ng expl oded vi ews and bi l l s of materi al s. After us-
i ng the software for si x months, i ts easy-to-use draw-
i ng tool s and assembl y features have cut desi gn and
devel opment ti me across the board by 50 to 80%.
For trai ni ng and i mpl ementati on, we worked wi th
Advanced Enterpri se Sol uti ons, a Texas-based I BM
Premi er Busi ness Partner. AES i ni ti al l y approached
us wi th a week-l ong trai ni ng schedul e. I asked them
to tur n thei r one-week cl ass i nto 2.5 days, and they
di d. Our team of engi neers wi th many years of sol i d-
model i ng experi ence, pi cked up V5 i n short order.
We pl an on i ntegr ati ng Cati as Knowl edgewar e
wi th the sheet-metal software so that our engi neers
can generate thei r own cost esti mates. And to work
more cl osel y wi th customers, wel l use Cati as Web ca-
pabi l i ty so they can vi ew and markup drawi ngs.
The software gi ves l i ttl e to compl ai n about. I f I had
to pi ck somethi ng to i mpr ove, I d say the l i ter atur e
that comes wi th the software i s toocomprehensi ve. I t
reads more l i ke a begi nners manual . The accompany-
i ng CD-ROM demo wi th voi ce technol ogy i s better and
User review
Edited by Paul Dvorak
CATIA LETS JOB SHOP CUT 50% FROM
PROJECT TIMELINES
The sheet-metal enclosure, modeled in Catia V5, shows the capability of the
software, such as holes, cutouts, tabs, and bends. The feature tree for the part
appears to the left.
As appeared in the February 8, 2001 issue of M A C H I N E D E S I G N
I fi nd mysel f r el yi ng on i t mor e
than the manual .
And tal k about a wi sh l i st: We
si gned an agr eement wi th Das-
saul t Systemes to become a strate-
gi c par tner i n devel opi ng futur e
Cati a Sol uti ons ver si ons for the
sheet-metal i ndustr y. Our ul ti -
mate goal i s to mak e al l of V5s
sheet-metal featur es as easy as
one cl i ck.
Cati a V5 comes from Dassault
Systemes, Bur bank, CA 91504-
3341, (818) 295-4114, www.ds-
us.com. Thomas Saputo
Mr. Saputo is president of J omico
Metal Fabricators
(www.jomico.net) a high-tech
metal and fabrication company in
St. Louis. They design and
engineer precision sheet-metal
components and assemblies for the
aerospace, commercial, consumer
and electronics industries.
User review
The assembly in Catia shows how sheet-metal parts might be combined
with others for sizing studies or assembly guidelines.
Copyright 2001 by Penton Media, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio 44114