Introducing NX 7 with HD3D Webinar Now Online

• What is HD3D?
• How does it change the way you develop, design, and manufacture new products?
• How can it help you get more out of your design data and enterprise data?

In the Webinar I co-presented with Troy Vanderhoof, Americas NX marketing director for Siemens PLM Software, we addressed these items -- and more. In the 60-minute event that marks the release of NX 7 with HD3D, we covered how you might use the software to address CAD (design), CAE (simulation and analysis), and CAM (manufacturing). The presentation is now live.

• To watch the archived Webinar, click here.
• To download the presentation as a PDF, click here.

Traditionally, the 3D geometry of a product lives in a CAD system, and project data, supplier information, deadlines, and the rest lives in another enterprise-level data management system. By bringing them together with NX 7's visual reporting features, you can eliminate many of the headaches associated with product development.

According to Vanderhoof, Synchronous Technology with direct editing is the single most important improvement added to NX to speed up geometry creation, the task that occupies nearly 80% of an engineer's time.

In addition to geometry creation, geometry reuse -- turning legacy data into 3D data -- also happens to be another challenge. Vanderhoof pointed out, "The Copy to 3D capability provides a streamlined path for converting 2D designs into 3D models, without recreating the geometry. This optional work flow enables you to move old 2D designs into new versions as 3D models."

According to Vanderhoof, more and more designers have begun to perform initial stress tests, FEA tests, and simulations that used to be the exclusive domain of experts and specialists. Advanced simulation in NX 7 encompasses NX Nastran, NX Flow, NX Thermal, PCB (printed circuit board) Thermal Analysis, and other functions. These applications are expected to give designers greater confidence in their products' stability, durability, safety, and performance.

In computer-aided manufacturing, inadvertently introducing geometry that's impractical to produce could lead to costly errors and (in the worst case scenario) production shutdown. Vanderhoof explained, "[In NX 7], in preparation for mold making, we can check draft angles, degrees of curvature, wall thickness, and undercuts ... There's also an application called Checkmate to check your corporate standards."

During the survey, we polled the audience on a series of questions. Here are the results from the live poll:

• Do you spend time searching for information to support decisions? Yes: 90%; No: 10%
• Is it common for your company to see engineering changes until release? Yes: 100%; No: 0%
• Does your company work with CAD Data from different sources? Yes: 85.7%; No: 14.2%
• Do your engineers spend most of their time editing existing designs? Yes: 46%; No: 53%
• Does your company have any problems predicting product performance? Yes: 68.4%; No: 31.5%
• Are you pressed to cut down your product development cycle times? Yes: 100%; No: 0%

Though not identical, Webinar audience responses echo what participants of another survey identified as their top concerns. According to a study conducted by Aberdeen Group, IBM, BCG, and AcuPOLL Research on behalf of Siemens PLM Software:

• 60% of CEO’s seek better information for product decisions.
• Less than 40% of engineering man hours add value.
• 35% of companies continue to see engineering changes until release.
• 166 days on average are spent building and testing physical prototypes.
• 30% of time is spent Searching for information to support decisions.
• 85% of product information lacks product structure.
• 1-3 companies have problems predicting product performance.
• 27% of executives say lack of speed is the biggest obstacle to innovation.
• 95% of new product introductions fail.

Disclosure: I received compensation as a moderator for the Webinar.

For more on NX 7 with HD3D, also read the following blog posts:

• Siemens PLM Connection 2010: NX Goes HD, June 29, 2010
• NX with HD3D: Where CAD Geometry and Lifecycle Data Mingle, November 4, 2009