Siemens has announced the latest release of Solid Edge, a portfolio of software tools for all aspects of the product development process, including mechanical and electrical design, simulation, manufacturing, technical documentation, and data management.

Solid Edge 2019 adds best-in-class electrical and PCB design technologies, new requirements-management capabilities, fully integrated simulation analysis, the latest tools for subtractive and additive manufacturing, and free, secure cloud-based project collaboration. The expanded portfolio is said to make it even easier for customers of all sizes to take advantage of the end-to-end digital twin.
Siemens’ latest release of Solid Edge provides new modular plant design capabilities, with Solid Edge P&ID Design and Solid Edge Piping Design. Providing 2D flow diagram and symbol support for P&ID creation, Solid Edge P&ID Design supports strict governing requirements for factory design. Combined with Solid Edge Piping Design capabilities, such as automated 3D piping design with comprehensive 3D part libraries and fully automated isometric drawing output for plant design, these new features can help reduce design errors.
New design for additive manufacturing capabilities include better control of shapes, weight and strength, and specific factors of safety to enable customers to develop new designs that were previously not possible. Solid Edge also automates print preparation, including multi-colour, multi-material printing capability, which reduces bill of material size and parts inventory, and decreases dependency on costly manufacturing equipment. Additionally, these new capabilities enable manufacturers to produce low batch sizes very quickly and affordably,
says Siemens.
Also new in Solid Edge 2019 is Solid Edge CAM Pro, a system that uses the latest machining technology to program CNC machine tools, helping to confirm parts are manufactured as designed.
For further information www.siemens.com/plm/solidedge2019

A quick-delivery mould (QDM) specialist says the ‘Draft Analysis’ function in VISI software from Vero is an important time saver for its business, and has played a major contribution towards meeting customers’ increasing demands for rapid turnaround.

Based at Incheon in South Korea, Polyhitech uses VISI as its CAD system for designing a variety of plastic injection mould tools for medical, automotive and IT products, and says it has slashed surface editing time by up to half.
Polyhitech’s mould design manager Jisung Li says as well as fast delivery times, customers also demand high precision, and that is where VISI comes in.
“The main reason we invested in VISI was that our previous CAD system couldn’t fully deliver our customers’ needs for shorter delivery times,” he says. “When we received data from them, we used to edit the surface before starting the mould design process. However, we found it difficult to meet deadlines because we were spending a lot of time editing where surfaces were corrupt or missing, and working on complex geometry where a high graphic performance was required.”
Li says the Draft Analysis function in VISI is perhaps the most important tool for the company’s mould design and production process. “I often use Draft Analysis after finishing the design. It’s so easy to check if there are any undercut areas. Our previous CAD system didn’t fully support that function, so I had to enlarge each part and check them one by one. Now, using VISI, I can quickly find any undercut areas through the colour display by draft angle, and it’s possible to split the parting line according to that.”
For further information www.visicadcam.com