Editor's Pick: Tolerance Analysis Using CETOL 6 Sigma v8.0

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

A problem with MCAD is that it creates a picture-perfect world in which all parts and assemblies perform to spec flawlessly. But then the variabilities of humans, geometry, manufacturing, and processes meet the real world and all those design assumptions that everybody — um, well, assumed were correct come back as ECOs, cost overruns, and quality complaints. Tolerance analysis software can provide quantitative estimates of the consequence of variation on your design assumptions, product robustness, and assembly serviceability, but not all tolerance analysis software integrates the entire design-to-manufacture process. That’s what makes CETOL 6 Sigma v8.0 from Sigmetrix different from any point solution.

CETOL is an all-points solution that integrates with your CATIA V5, Pro/ENGINEER, and SolidWorks models natively. It provides the statistical and worst-case scenario tolerance management analyses and decision support that help you develop the solutions you need — often to problems you did not recognize — early in the design process. And because CETOL tightly integrates with CATIA V5, Pro/ENGINEER, and SolidWorks, its insights become part of the model’s PLM existence.

At the hands-on level, CETOL 6 has assembly modeling tools that provide control over the behavior of assembly models and dimensioning tools to model as-designed, as-manufactured, or as-inspected parts. It has sensitivity animations, the ability to reuse tolerance model templates, and automatic report generation at the part, subassembly, and assembly levels. It even has tolerance advisors to help you see your way through knotty problems. In a nutshell, CETOL 6 helps you release designs to manufacturing with the confidence that they can be made with a minimum of ECOs, scrap, and finger pointing.

Still, in my opinion, the key take-away about CETOL 6 Sigma v8.0 is that its integration with CATIA, Pro/E, and SolidWorks means you can transfer knowledge and build engineering best practices throughout your design-to-manufacture process. Over time, not only will you create ready-to-manufacture designs, but your parts, assemblies, and products will be cost efficient, highly robust, high quality, and, consequently, highly marketable.

Tolerance management may not be the jazziest subject in design to manufacture but, in the real world, it is a bad assumption to imagine that everything is picture perfect without it. Check out the video link in today’s Pick of the Week write-up or use the links to go to the Sigmetrix website to learn more about what CETOL 6 Sigma v8.0 can do for you.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor At Large, Desktop Engineering Magazine