Bus 461- Management of IT
Elçim Öneç
2015- Fall
Company Introduction Designnobis is an award winning design consultancy based in Ankara, with a visionary approach on product design. It has ranked among top industrial design firms by achieving 153 design awards. Offering solutions to the world's contemporary problems by developing visionary and eco-friendly designs, it has been gathering attention globally since its foundation (2006). Designnobis provides industrial design, product development, product and brand identity, advanced studies, prototyping and tooling support services for industry. The company handles everything from research and concept development to prototyping and production. Helping clients to differentiate the brand in market by creating products and services with strategic value. The team aims to reveal their research and creative identity and plan on to become a leader in national design with their wide experience.
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New Software Project In general, product design companies use computer-aided design software solutions like Rhinoceros, SolidWorks and Autocad combined, however, they likely to cause difficulties in the prototyping process. Except SolidWorks, other CAD software products are not accurate. Manufacturers and engineers have to solve problems caused by Rhino and AutoCAD, and this process consumes time. Also, SolidWorks crashes frequently and it cannot handle large files as well. Siemens had released a new software solution and it is more powerful than previous solutions. This program also integrated software applications and equipment. Siemens PLM Software provides the entire NX software suite of CAD, CAM, CAE and CMM programming applications all in one system, to support full range manufacturing engineering needs. Users can also manage their data and process. Teamcenter provides data and process management that allows manufacturing engineering and production teams to work together using a single source of information. This helps to eliminate the need for multiple databases, re-use proven methods, manage tooling, and connect the work package directly to the point of execution. And users can access manufacturing planning data directly from the shop floor by connecting PLM to production systems. By connecting Teamcenter and shop floor system for direct numerical control (DNC) and tool management, users can send machining data and tool list information directly to CNC machines.
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Unlike CAD-only solutions and closed enterprise solutions, NX delivers the highest integration between development disciplines in an open, collaborative environment.NX design tools are superior in power, versatility, and productivity. Users can work faster and more efficiently in the full range of design tasks, from 2D layout through 3D modeling, assembly design, drafting, and documentation. To help fulfill designing and engineering requirements, NX offers integrated, automated design validation capabilities. Users can continuously monitor their designs for compliance with company and industry standards, and more easily produce designs that achieve their goals and customer requirements so it reduces delivery cycle time and delevopement time by more than 30 percent.
Sales & Cost Calculations NX eliminates costly physical prototyping by simulating, validating and optimizing products across multiple product development stages and enables cross-discipline teams to deliver faster and safer design iterations by using common data and models. With efficient interaction and streamlined workflows, NX design tools help users accomplish design tasks much more quickly than with other CAD systems.
The software minimizes time and cost impact of product changes that affect multiple disciplines it speeds up development by using simulation to deliver critical product performance information earlier in the development cycle. NX validation checking helps to ensure product quality, eliminate errors and optimize designs for performance and manufacturability.
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These aspects of the software reduce costs of prototyping by reducing development time by more than 30 percent. Design companies contract with engineers for technical design and their fees are in between $25-$100 per hour, average production of mid-sized design takes up to 4 days with the revision of defected parts. Since NX is highly accurate, production process only takes 1 day.
Average design office sale revenue is (+-) $4.166 per month, $50.000 per year in total. In this report, we estimated a %34 increase in sales in 2016, as the new software allows
Designnobis to produce two projects per month instead of one. Tools will be more powerful after each upgrade. However; we cannot expect the same impact of the first year, consequently anticipated growth in sales is %5 in 2017 and %3 in 2018.
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System Request Report Project Name: Siemens NX PLM Software Project Sponsor: Hakan Guü rsu, Owner Business Need This project has been especially initiated to improve the prototyping process and eliminate issues caused by CAD only solutions and reduce subscription costs. Business Requirements Eliminates costly physical prototyping minimizes time and cost impact of product changes. Ensures product quality, eliminates errors and optimize designs. Business Value We expect to reduce system errors caused by other CAD solutions. New revenue will be gained from reduction prototype costs and subscription fees. The company will not use AutoCAD, SolidWorks or Rhinoceros anymore, thus, there will be just one subscription instead of three. Conservative estimates of tangible value to the company include the following:
$ 59.100 increase in sales from designs from 2016 to 2018 $ 4.123 decrease in AutoCAD subscription for each year.
$ 5.940 decrease in Rhinoceros subscription for each year.
$ 5.490 decrease in SolidWorks subscription for each year.
$ 12.112 decrease in prototype cost after the new software from 2016 to 2018
184% ROI
Special Issues or Constraints The company is wasting funds due to high subscription payments and additional prototype expense. ~5~
Feasibility Analysis Technical Feasibility:
SolidWorks and AutoCAD solutions are using similar tools with NX. However, designers need to get used to different features of the new software, implementation of NX does not require an IT. NX enables users to convert their previous data from other CAD systems without an error, also the other software solutions need extra add-ons to work properly. Subscription fee includes; maintanence costs, upgrade and new tools.
Economic Feasibility:
Development Costs NX Installation: $30.000 User Training: $4.500 (750$ per user x 6 Designers) + $100 for development training.
Operational Costs Software Subscription (NX)
:$9.405
Software Subscription (AutoCAD)
:$4.123
Software Subscription (Rhinoceros) :$5.940 Software Subscription (SolidWorks) :$5.490
Tangible Benefits (Cost Savings and Revenues) Reduction in prototyping costs and additional software subscription costs.
Intangible Benefits Ensured accuracy of drawings and compliance with standards, increased productivity and quality with 3D annotation. Head designer can interpret data quickly and accurately so decision-making process will be improved.
Organizational Feasibility:
The system may provide Designnobis designers to create more detailed projects; accordingly, the company can accept complicated project proposals. Project displays low risk, as designers know how to operate with CAD solutions.
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*Currency: $
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1. Short List of Vendor Packages Software solutions were narrowed based on the core technology that do not require extra add-ons, also integration with the third party software company use. Also, to remove risks, solutions that already been implemented in design industry was considered. To finish the design completely, Inventor needs additional programs like Vault for data management, Autodesk Nastran In-CAD for simulations and Inventor HSM for milling and turning operations. PTC Creo separates 2D sketching and 3D modeling features that needs conversion and it costs time. CATIA has a lot less functions compared to Siemens NX and users have to get creative with the tools that the software provides. The simulation capabilities (Assembly mechanism, fluid, structure, fluid structure interaction etc.) of Siemens NX are superior on the other side; CATIA does not even support fluid CFD analysis. (Computational fluid dynamics is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows.) The drafting features of Siemens NX are better than CATIA and NX has reverse Engineering module. Both NX and CATIA have equal capabilities when it comes to CAD only, but NX has close to 30 modules ( Includes various CAE and CAM modules ) making it the most competitive software in the CAD software industry, also it has seamless integration with PLM software Teamcenter, which is very much required for collaboration with suppliers and product data management.
2. Evaluation Criteria Six different evaluation criteria are chosen in this project; • The price which includes installation fee, maintenance fee and training cost, presents an important role for software selection since it affects company's profit. Consequently, between alternative products, most effective and profitable software was selected. • Providing consulting service is an asset, software firms should respond fast to feedbacks with detailed explanations. Vendor reputation within the industry concluded the software selection. • After sales support strengthens client and vendor relations. With the help of after sale service, the company can avoid potential problems. • User friendliness is an essential feature for CAD systems. To avoid delays, users must adapt to the software instantly. Therefore, the interface of the software solution shouldn't be too complex compared to the former software. • Most companies compare customers of the vendor, features and references of software solutions on websites or forums before purchasing a product. These references should be accurate, reliable and supportive. • Return of Investment quantifies project value and removes uncertainty regarding software solutions. Siemens NX was chosen for the project, as it has the highest return compared to alternatives.
3. Evaluation of Packages
Weight
Criteria
0,1
Price
0,2
Service
Siemens NX 1 4
PTC Creo
CATIA
Inventor
4
5
3
3
2
2
0,1
After sales support
0,2
User Friendliness
0,1
Preference of vendor
0,3
ROI
∑=1
∑score ∑(weighted scores)
5
1
2
1
4
3
3
2
5 4
23 4
2 3
16
2,7
3 2
17
5,3
3 2
13
2,2
The results show that Siemens NX has the lowest total weighted score, and therefore would be the best choice.
Sources
http://allyplm.com/knowledgebase/2014/5/27/nx-9-system-requirements
http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/nx/for-design/productdesign/index.shtml
http://cad.softwareinsider.com/l/20/NX
http://end.aytasarim.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=45
http://www.bogazicicadcam.com/