DEVELOP3D June / July 2022

PTC Creo 9 highlights P38 Epson 3D printing P47

TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE

Hiive design P64

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PERFECT SHOT Levee Espresso takes aim at the coffee industry with a boost from Pininfarina

WHAT’S HOT IN 2022?

WONDER OF THE SEAS MARSHALL WILLEN SPEAKER PREMIUM PACKAGING p01_D3D_JUNEJULY2022 V1.indd 1

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WELCOME EDITORIAL Editor Stephen Holmes stephen@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3384 5297 Managing Editor Greg Corke greg@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3355 7312 Staff Writer Claudia Schergna claudia@x3dmedia.com Consulting Editor Jessica Twentyman jtwentyman@gmail.com +44 (0)20 7913 0919 Consulting Editor Martyn Day martyn@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)7525 701 542

DESIGN/PRODUCTION Design/Production Greg Corke greg@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3355 7312

ADVERTISING Group Media Director Tony Baksh tony@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3355 7313 Deputy Advertising Manager Steve King steve@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3355 7314 US Sales Director Denise Greaves denise@x3dmedia.com +1 857 400 7713

SUBSCRIPTIONS Circulation Manager Alan Cleveland alan@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3355 7311

`

ACCOUNTS Accounts Manager Charlotte Taibi charlotte@x3dmedia.com

S

ettling down outside a cafe with a coffee in the sunshine is something I’m looking forward to when I (eventually) take a break this summer. So this month’s issue has proved a fine bit of research into what goes into those gleaming, café-based caffeine cannons that produce the perfect espresso.

Our cover story showcases two different coffee cultures: Turkish and Italian. By combining the best of both worlds — in this case, Helvacioglu’s coffee knowledge and Pininfarina’s eye for stunning looks and seamless user interactions — the result is a beautiful, high-performance espresso machine. Given the chance, I bet you’d have one on your own kitchen counter in a flash, even if you’re more of a tea person.

Maintaining the holiday theme, we take a look at how cruise ship builders Chantiers de l’Atlantique produce gargantuan passenger ships like Wonder of the Seas – complex projects that progress from CAD model to Caribbean cruise much faster than you might expect.

Closer to home, we have expert input from CIMPA on the perennial problem of data translation; Joe Macleod gives his input on why designers need to consider the end of a product’s life much earlier than they currently do; and Jude Pullen offers some insight into his role as an ‘engineering whisperer’ – my term, not his, for someone who uncovers hidden talents and ideas for new products among existing workforces.

This issue also sees the return of the D3D 30, our editorial team’s selection of 30 new technologies that we believe have an important role to play in the product development process. Among this list, you’ll find a whole host of exciting new capabilities and companies, as well as recent enhancements to existing tools that will hopefully spark inspiration.

And hopefully, you’ll find time to browse it while sitting outside with a coffee, as the chatter of the world moves past you. Have a good summer!

Financial Controller Samantha Todescato-Rutland sam@chalfen.com

ABOUT DEVELOP3D is published by Stephen Holmes Editor, DEVELOP3D Magazine, @swearstoomuch X3DMedia 19 Leyden Street London E1 7LE, UK T. +44 (0)20 3355 7310 F. +44 (0)20 3355 7319 © 2022 X3DMedia Ltd All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without prior permission from the publisher is prohibited. All trademarks acknowledged Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author and not of X3DMedia.

X3DMedia cannot accept responsibility for errors in articles or advertisements within the magazine

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THE GPU FOR ALL-DAY PERFORMANCE. BORN TO BE A KING. The new AMD Radeon™ PRO W6400 GPU brings a blend of vital performance and ultra-affordability to help ensure you feel confident in keeping to every challenging deadline.

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CONTENTS JUNE / JULY 2022 ISSUE NO. 134

8

NEWS Hexagon launches cloud-based Nexus platform, Lenovo unveils ThinkStation P360 Ultra, Desktop Metal talks up heat-activated FreeFoam, and more

16 19 20 22 30 38 40 47 48 50 52 56 60 62 64

FEATURES Comment: SJ on Roe v. Wade and the threat to industry Comment: Joe MacLeod on the subtle art of ‘endineering’ Visual Design Guide: Marshall Willen portable speaker COVER A boost for baristas from Levee Espresso THE D3D 30: Our listing of 30 new technologies to explore Creo 9: Five new features from the latest release Wide blue yonder: A journey from concept to cruise ship Interview: Epson’s vision for industrial 3D printing Interview: Uncovering innovation with Jude Pullen Blades of glory: Part production at Vestas Wind Systems New design strategies for sustainable packaging Colour pop: Designing the Vlaze range at AJ Wells & Sons The hidden costs of data translation Hot stuff: From custom car to die-cast collectible Hiive mind: A swarm of ideas for a new breed of beehive

66 THE LAST WORD Flag-waving aside, any switch back to imperial units of measurement in the UK would only deliver yet another huge blow to British industry, writes Stephen Holmes

2022

1 November 2022 The wood used to produce this magazine comes from Forest Stewardship Council certified well-managed forests, controlled sources and/or recycled material

University of Sheffield, UK

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NEWS NEWS

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT NEWS

HEXAGON LAUNCHES ITS NEXUS CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM FOR SMARTER MANUFACTURING

» As Shapr3D continues to flesh out its toolset, visualisation capabilities are the latest addition, bringing drag-and-drop materials and colours to 3D models

H

exagon Manufacturing Intelligence has announced Nexus, a cloud-based platform designed to connect its wide range of design and engineering applications, as well as third-party apps. The company describes Nexus as its foundation for new and future offerings in the smart manufacturing space.

Hexagon Nexus is capable of leveraging data sources from across the company’s portfolio, connecting hundreds of design and engineering, production and metrology systems and unlocking new insights from metrology devices and connected machines.

Additionally, newer ‘cloud-native’ visualisation and data management solutions, such as HxGN Metrology Reporting and MaterialCenter, will also be connected through Nexus.

Nexus was launched at Hexagon’s HxGN Live Global 2022 conference in Las Vegas in late June. Company executives say that the intention is to develop further, purpose-built solutions that use the platform, combining multiple technologies to help users digitally optimise complex workflows and boost productivity.

One example given at the event was a workflow for 3D printing optimised, reverse-engineered parts, which could streamline the repair of components from grounded aircraft, for example.

This workflow would connect data from a 3D laser scan to Hexagon products such as RECreate, MSC Apex Generative Design, MaterialCenter and Simufact Additive, as well as bring in a third-party application called CADS Additive.

The aim is to support rapid collaboration when it comes to tackling tricky production issues.

“Our customers are managing increased complexity in the market, which is demanding faster innovation than ever,” said Parth Joshi, chief product and technology officer for Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division.

“Siloed tools, rigid systems and inaccessible data are increasingly ill-suited to the manufacturing industry’s needs and pressures. Our vision for Nexus is to enhance the products our hundreds of thousands of customers have come to know and love with additional capabilities, powered by the cloud, AI and machine learning, real-time collaboration and advanced visualisation.”

At the same event, Hexagon also announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with ESAB, a global fabrication technology leader. Under the terms of this partnership, the two companies will jointly offer a streamlined welding solution that combines Hexagon’s simulation software with ESAB’s InduSuite products to help fabricators achieve more efficient, successful welding operations.

According to company executives, Hexagon’s technologies are involved in the production of 95% of cars and 90% of aircraft manufactured globally, and customers include Microsoft, LG, Airbus, Volvo and BMW. A big theme for its annual conference was the future of manufacturing, with sessions covering digital twins, reality capture, advanced analytics, AI and machine learning, continuous improvement and autonomous production.

Nexus has a significant part to play in the company's vision for supporting smart manufacturing. According to Joshi, the new platform will enable manufacturers to build more agile and resilient processes, “so they can respond positively to change and take advantage of new opportunities.” www.hexagonmi.com

Hexagon Nexus brings together the company's wide range of software tools along with third-party apps

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ai164400941562_NTOP_D3D Full-Page Advert-Outlined.pdf

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2/4/22

4:16 PM

NEWS

DESKTOP METAL CEO TALKS UP HEAT-ACTIVATED FREEFOAM

Gen3D acquired

by Altair

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en3D has been acquired by Altair, giving the simulation giant further tools for creating complex geometries and lattices.

A start-up from the University of Bath, which featured on the 2020 D3D 30 list, Gen3D uses an implicit geometry method to rapidly create complex geometry that would be impractical with traditional boundary representation (BREP) solid approaches. That helps it describe highly complex geometries such as lattice structures in additive manufacturing.

Gen3D’s technology and team will be integrated into Altair Inspire. www.altair.com

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esktop Metal is set to unveil a new FreeFoam resin, which once 3D printed, can be heat-activated at a later date to produce foam parts for use in sports shoes, cars and other applications, Reuters has reported.

Starting life as a ‘compact’ foam, the material is expanded at a later date in an industrial oven, most likely at the final point of assembly. There are a number of advantages to this approach. For a start, it will help manufacturers save space when shipping and storing parts. And, since the material is 3D-printed in its initial state, it can support custom forms and lattices.

As Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop explained to Reuters: “You ship your part tiny and then in the local factory where you’re going to use it, the part blows up

and that gives you a better supply chain, but also it is greener.” He went on to suggest that the weight of a car seat might be reduced “by two-thirds” this way.

It’s not yet known whether the FreeFoam technology will work on existing legacy EnvisionTec hardware — now rebranded ETEC — but judging from a promotional video from Desktop Metal, there looks likely to be a new line-up of large-volume 3D printers for this new resin.

Desktop Metal has expanded the reach of its 3D printing technologies in recent years. In 2019, it moved into the continuous fibre FDM sector.

More recently, it acquired rival metals company ExOne, and took a step into resin technologies with the acquisition of EnvisionTec in February this year. www.desktopmetal.com

Ship small, expand later — and you've got yourself a better way to manufacture with foam, say Desktop Metal executives

Ultimaker launches Metal Expansion Kit

U

ltimaker is now offering a dedicated solution for 3D printing metal pars on the desktop, using its S5 printer, Cura software, Ultrafuse 17-4PH material and the ceramic Ultrafuse Support Layer.

The Ultimaker Metal Expansion Kit includes all required items for metal parts preparation, from printing to accessing post-processing services. It offers materials and a set of dedicated print cores to support both the metal filament and its support layer.

A new Print Core DD 0.4 — a highly wearresistant core able to print the abrasive support material — has been developed, but no permanent hardware modifications are needed. Print cores and materials can simply be tapped out, just like any other print core or filament.

Creaform unveils VXelements 10

C

reaform has revealed the latest version of its VXscan-R software module, VXelements 10, developed to provide small and mediumsized enterprises with easier access to automation and greater operational and budgetary flexibility.

VXscan-R software is part of Creaform‘s 3D R-Series 3D scanning solutions for at-line applications, in turnkey solutions or for customisable layouts, designed to help find defects earlier and ensure that all parts are measured correctly, without human error and subjectivity creeping in. www.creaform3d.com

WAAM3D intros giant RoboWAAM solution for DED

W The kit includes access to exclusive learning content. Available in the UK, EU, North America and China in July 2022, contents of the kit may vary by country. www.ultimaker.com

A new option for 3D metals printing on the Ultimaker S5 desktop machine

AAM3D has launched its new RoboWAAM system, complete with sensing hardware and proprietary software, for large-scale DED (direct energy deposition) metals 3D printing.

A start-up with roots at Cranfield University, WAAM3D has been pioneering R&D in the field of wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) since 2006. Eighty percent of the components used its latest system have been developed in-house from scratch. Bespoke end-effectors control the wire flow and sensors feed back data throughout the build process. www.waam3d.com

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SIEMENS NX 2022 TARGETS BROADER COLLABORATION

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he latest release of Siemens NX for 2022 has been announced, with greater electronic co-design, collaboration, intelligence capture and reuse capability being the headline updates.

Part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, this 2022 NX release emphasises the electronics and electrical engineering space with Siemens EDA — formerly Mentor Graphics.

The electronics design collaboration capabilities are enhanced with workflow for rigid and rigid-flex PCB designs, offering new options for increased product complexity and packaging constraints.

On the modelling side of things, complex shape development sees updates to curve creation and editing with parametric

features. NX Algorithmic Modeling now offers better support for convergent modelling workflows that can enable more efficient complex patterns and shapes.

Siemens says that NX Topology Optimizer now fully replaces and surpasses previous capabilities. Part optimisation, within the context of an assembly, now considers design and manufacturing constraints and makes possible simultaneous optimisation of multiple design spaces with independent materials.

Users will also find a new codeless approach to Feature Templates that enables the reuse of knowledge embedded in NX data during design. This should better enable user-defined features and increase data reuse from pure parametric geometry features. sw.siemens.com

Cross-discipline collaboration between engineers and designers is a big theme for this release

A

complex organic shapes into solid CAD models. And, with the addition of Boolean operations, users should be able to modify models in order to create products such as customised moulds and packaging. www.artec.com

The new CeraMax Vario V900 printer from Lithoz uses laser-induced slipcasting (LIS) technology for large ceramic parts with thick walls and full densities. It uses waterbased slurries of oxide and non-oxide ceramics that can completely absorb a laser beam www.lithoz.com

Bantam Tools’ new turnkey CNC service aims to help customers turn their designs into physical parts, with the company’s engineers figuring out the optimum machining process on its own desktop CNC milling machines and then transferring that knowledge to customers www.bantamtools.com

Seven product updates have been released for Theorem’s flagship CAD translation tool, CADverter. They are: Catia V5 to JT; Creo to NX; STEP to NX; Solidworks to JT; JT to Catia Composer; and Catia V5 to ICEM Surf DB. Updates are also available for the company's 3D PDF Publisher and Extended Reality tools www.theorem.com

'One-click' conversions come to Artec Studio rtec Studio 17 represents a significant leap forward for the software, according to company executives.

Enhancements include improved functionality for quality inspection, reverse engineering and full-colour CGI workflows, as well as a significant boost to speed and ease of use.

Among the new features is the ability to scan an object and completely reverse-engineer it all in one piece of software, which has the potential to streamline design and manufacturing workflows.

The Artec Studio 17 Auto Surface tool has been designed to allow for one-click conversion of

ROUND UP

With Artec Studio 17, reverse engineering just got easier, company executives claim

The Additive Minds Academy has launched its first extended reality app for the EOS M290 system, replacing on-site training for learners. The new app supports remote learning and gives employees the basics on how EOS systems work, even before their company's machine arrives www.eos.inf

Concept Engineering has been acquired by Altair. Its electronic system visualisation and semiconductor design debug technology is available on a standalone basis and also integrates with more than 40 electronic design automation (EDA) and CAD software tools www.altair.com

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WORKSTATION NEWS

LENOVO THINKSTATION P360 ULTRA WORKSTATION LAUNCHES » Innovative compact workstation is half the size of a typical Small Form Factor (SFF) workstation but boasts more graphics horsepower

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enovo has launched the ThinkStation P360 Ultra, a new desktop workstation that delivers ‘tower-like’ performance in a compact chassis with a volume of 4 litres. It's half the size of a traditional small form factor (SFF) workstation and replaces the 8.2-litre ThinkStation P350 SFF. According to global product manager Cris Jara, the P360 Ultra is a redefinition of the compact chassis. “It’s a clean sheet design, where our engineering team was given the challenge of how to make a small chassis without compromises in performance.”

The P360 Ultra features 12th Gen Intel Core processors up to 125W. The ThinkStation P350 SFF was limited to 65W processors, so this is a significant advancement. 35W and 65W 12th Gen Intel Core processors are also supported.

Notably, the ThinkStation P360 Ultra also supports up to Nvidia RTX A5000 mobile professional graphics with 16 GB of VRAM. This is a big jump up from the Nvidia RTX ‘2000’ or ‘3000’ class GPUs often found in compact workstations and makes the P360 Ultra suitable for a much wider range of GPU-accelerated workflows. These include virtual reality, GPU rendering, real-time visualisation and reality modelling, as well as 3D CAD and BIM, which are more typical for a machine of this size.

The P360 Ultra measures 87 x 223 x 202mm and features a unique design

where the motherboard runs down the middle of the chassis. According to Lenovo, this allows for superior cooling, thanks to two distinct airflow channels either side of the motherboard, and maximum space efficiency when configuring the workstation. With a single external shell that slides off, Lenovo also says servicing is easy, and users can get quick access to

This compact workstation is half the size of a typical SFF machine, but boasts more graphics horsepower

internal components, without having to deal with screws and panels.

Elsewhere, the system supports up to 128 GB of DDR5 SoDIMM memory, which is double that of the slightly smaller HP Z2 Mini G9 and Precision 3460 Compact. This ‘industry first’ is achieved by having four SoDIMM slots (two on either side of the motherboard), so there are dual DIMMs per channel. According to Lenovo, this is the result of close collaboration with Intel.

Other features include two PCIe Gen 4 slots for expandability (one PCIe x16 and one x8), up to 8TB of M.2 storage, and support for up to eight displays across two GPUs. The machine comes equipped with dual on-board Ethernet, which could be useful for remote management, and dual Thunderbolt 4 ports on the front, which are typically found in mobile workstations.

A VESA mount accessory is coming later this year.

This feels like a very significant release from Lenovo — a machine that looks set to redefine the compact workstation. The ThinkStation P360 Ultra not only promises to rival the performance of traditional SFF workstations, but in GPU-centric workflows, it should even outpace them.

This includes the Dell Precision 3460 SFF and even the HP Z2 SFF G9, which can take a desktop Nvidia RTX A4000.

The ThinkStation P360 Ultra will be available from late June 2022, with prices starting at $1,299. www.lenovo.com/workstations

AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 Series launches for mobile workstations

A

MD has launched the AMD Ryzen Pro 6000, a new series of processors with integrated pro graphics designed for mobile workstations and business laptops.

The AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 Series features ‘Zen 3+’ cores to deliver what AMD describes as an uncompromising combination of high performance and power efficiency with ‘all day’ battery life.

Offering up to eight cores and 16 threads with a maximum boost clock of 4.9 GHz, AMD says the new CPUs are up to 1.3 times faster than its previous generation.

These CPUs stand out due to their integrated AMD RDNA 2 graphics, which includes support for the AMD Radeon Pro graphics driver.

Offering up to twice the performance of AMD’s previous generation and with

19 planned independent software vendor (ISV) certifications, it should mean some users of CAD and BIM software do not need a mobile workstation with a separate discrete GPU. This could save money, reduce energy consumption and improve battery life as

AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 Series features integrated pro graphics for entrylevel 3D CAD and BIM workflows

the Thermal Design Power (TDP) of the top-end AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 processors only goes up to 45W. The AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 is split into two classes of products: the AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 H Series for high-performance mobile workstations and the AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 U Series intended for thin and light laptops. The new processors also feature “enterprise-class security, manageability, and reliability” to help IT departments support an increasingly remote workforce.

Lenovo is the first major manufacturer to launch an AMD Ryzen Pro 6000-based mobile workstation. The Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen1 (16" AMD) features a choice of AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 6650U (6 cores, 4.5 GHz boost) or AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U (8 cores, 4.7 GHz boost) processors. www.amd.com

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DELL FINALLY EMBRACES AMD RYZEN THREADRIPPER PRO » New Dell Precision 7865 tower workstation gives Dell big boost in multi-threaded workflows

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ell has become the second major manufacturer to release a workstation with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000 WX-Series processor.

The Dell Precision 7865 Tower follows on from the Lenovo ThinkStation P620, which launched in 2020 with 1st Gen Threadripper Pro and had a refresh in April 2022 with 2nd Gen Threadripper Pro (the 5000 WX-Series).

The Dell Precision 7865 Tower can be configured with five different Threadripper Pro models, spanning 12, 16, 24, 32 or 64 cores. The high-end desktop CPU combines high frequencies with high core counts to accelerate a range of workflows including CAD, simulation, rendering and reality modelling.

The workstation can support up to 1 TB of DDR4 ECC memory with Dell Reliable Memory Technology (RMT) Pro. Other features include up to 56 TB of storage (comprising up to 8 TB HDDs, 4 TB NVMe SSDs or an Ultra-speed storage card up to 16 TB), optional Thunderbolt 3, and a range of professional graphics options, including up to two 32 GB AMD Radeon Pro W6800 GPUs or two 48 GB Nvidia RTX A6000 GPUs. The newly designed chassis is 14%

smaller than the dual Intel Xeon-based Dell Precision 7820 Tower. It features a hexagonal venting pattern that supports dedicated air channels for critical components. According to Dell, this enhances both thermal efficiency and acoustic performance.

For servicing and upgrading, the chassis features front and side access. Toolless interiors and colour-coded components are designed to make it more intuitive to upgrade memory, storage or graphics cards. Meanwhile, for security, the chassis can be locked, complete with intrusion detection alerts, while TPM 2.0 (trusted platform module) and self-encrypting drives also help protect sensitive data.

This is a very important win for AMD, since Threadripper Pro has outperformed equivalent Intel processors in multithreaded workflows for close to two years. www.dell.com

The Precision 7865 tower workstation features a hexagonal venting pattern that supports dedicated air channels for critical components

12th Gen Intel Core HX processors launch

I

ntel has announced its 12th Gen 'Alder Lake' Intel Core HX processors, designed for highperformance mobile workstations, including new 16-inch models coming out of Dell, Lenovo and HP. Intel HX processors feature the same hybrid architecture of the 12th Gen Intel Core H processors, with a mix of Performance cores (P-cores) and Efficient cores (E-cores) for background processes.

However, HX offers more cores.

The top-end HX-Series processor, the Intel Core i9-12950HX, has 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores, for a total of 24 threads.

Meanwhile, the top-end H-Series processor, the Intel Core i9-12900H, maxes out at 6 P-cores and 8 E-cores, for a total of 20 threads.

This should give the HX Series a significant advantage over competing CPUs

Teradici and HP launch HP Anyware beta

T

eradici and HP have launched the beta of HP Anyware, an enterprise-class remote graphics solution that combines Teradici CAS with HP ZCentral Remote Boost.

The announcement follows the acquisition of Teradici by HP in 2021 and lays the foundations for a full product launch in summer 2022.

HP Anyware uses Teradici CAS as its base software foundation and, in many ways, is simply the next generation of Teradici’s well-respected remoting software, augmented with select features from ZCentral Remote Boost.

It uses the PCoIP protocol to securely stream ‘highly interactive’ desktop displays between hosts and end-user devices, pixel by pixel. It is well-suited to CAD and BIM software and other demanding 3D applications.

It emphasises colour accurate ‘lossless’ image quality and supports multiple 4K/ UHD displays, plus a range of peripherals with ‘low-latency performance’, including Wacom pen displays/tablets and 3D mice.

The first (22.07) release of HP Anyware will be augmented with two key features from HP ZCentral Remote Boost – collaboration and user control.

For collaboration, multiple users can join the same session and work together in real time. To add more control to a remote session, users will be able to tune the experience and performance to meet their specific needs through an easy-touse interface. www.teradici.com

HP rounds out ZBook G9 family

H in multi-threaded applications, especially ray trace rendering.

And, because of its ‘E-cores’, this processor should also enjoy an even bigger advantage over ‘Tiger Lake’ 11th Gen Intel Core mobile and Intel Xeon W processors. www.intel.com

P has launched two new 16-inch ZBook mobile workstations, the HP ZBook Fury G9 and HP ZBook Studio G9.

The ZBook Fury G9 is powered by the new 12th Gen Intel Core HX-Series processors. With up to 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores, these should offer a significant performance boost in multithreaded workflows. It measures 363 x 251 x 2.78mm and starts at 2.44 kg.

The ZBook Studio G9 is significantly slimmer and lighter, so offers the slightly less powerful 12th Gen Intel Core H-Series processors with up to 6 P-cores and 8 E-cores. It measures 356 x 242 x 180mm and starts at 1.73 kg. www.hp.com DEVELOP3D.COM JUNE / JULY 2022 13

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WORKSTATION NEWS

ARRIVAL OF THE LENOVO THINKPAD P16 MARKS A NEW ERA FOR THINKPAD DESIGN » With a completely redesigned chassis, the ThinkPad P16 continues to deliver all the strength and rigidity for which the brand is celebrated

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enovo has introduced the ThinkPad P16, a new mobile workstation with a new look, designed to deliver the highend performance and features of a 17-inch laptop, but in a compact 16-inch chassis.

In a bold departure from the classic ThinkPad styling, the P16 also features an innovative industrial design, plus an advanced thermal solution to maintain performance levels, while keeping the machine running cool and quiet.

Built around the new ‘hybrid architecture’ 12th Gen Intel Core HX mobile processors, the ThinkPad P16 offers up to eight ‘Performance’ cores and eight ‘Efficient’ cores, for a total of 16 physical cores and 24 threads.

This is a big step up from 11th Gen Intel Core mobile processors, which maxed out at eight cores and 16 threads Compared to previous generation ThinkPads with 11th Gen Intel Core processors, the P16 should offer better single-threaded performance, which is important for CAD and BIM software, and significantly better multi-threaded performance, which is important for ray trace rendering, simulation and reality modelling.

Lenovo has not yet released performance figures for the ThinkPad P16, but Intel benchmarks show that the flagship Intel Core i9-12900HX CPU enjoys an 81% performance lead over the Intel Core i911980HK when rendering in Blender.

With more cores, 12th Gen Intel Core HX

processors have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 55W, 10W more than 11th Gen. In order to handle increased thermal load in the smaller 16-inch form factor, Lenovo’s thermodynamics engineers had to create an all-new cooling solution with dual fans, heat pipes, a dual vapour chamber, keyboard air intake and dual by-pass design.

According to Lenovo, this innovative solution allows for more airflow through the chassis and keeps the P16 cooler and quieter even during the heaviest workloads. Warm air is expelled at the rear, rather than the side, so it does not heat up the user’s hands.

The cooling solution is also designed to balance the thermal load between the CPU and GPU. Lenovo offers several options here including the 125W Nvidia RTX A5500 (16GB) for the most demanding real-time visualisation, GPU rendering and virtual reality workflows.

The completely re-designed chassis features a new storm grey aluminium ‘A cover’, built around a magnesium subframe to protect the display. The palm rest is crafted from ABS plastic and polycarbonate, coated with a grey anti-fingerprint paint, to echo the aesthetic of the A cover.

Meanwhile, a solid magnesium sub frame or ‘roll cage’ gives the laptop body its traditional ThinkPad strength and rigidity. A red stripe

In a bold departure from the classic ThinkPad styling, the new P16 boasts a new 'industrial' design

across the rear expands on the aesthetic of Lenovo’s desktop ThinkStation workstations.

The ThinkPad P16 also comes equipped with the latest DDR5 memory, supporting up to 128 GB across four DIMMs, as well as a maximum of 8 TB of storage, via two high-performance M.2 NVMe SSDs. The laptop features a new 16-inch low blue-light display, with OLED Touch option with pen support. The 16:10 viewing area is said to deliver a higher screento-body ratio, thanks to narrower bezels, higher pixels per inch and higher vertical resolution and space.

Additionally, the P16 features a wider 115mm touchpad, an integrated onchip fingerprint reader in the power button, and a FHD camera for better picture quality on video calls. Wireless connectivity options include Intel WiFi 6E AX211 and 4G LTE. Meanwhile, for easy upgrades or repairs, a service hatch with a single screw gives easy access to one NVMe drives and two memory slots, while the second NVMe drive, Wi-Fi and 4G modules can be accessed by opening the entire bottom cover.

The laptop measures 364 x 266 x 30mm and starts at 2.95kg, which is slightly bigger and heavier than the HP ZBook Fury G9 and Dell Precision 7670, both of which have similar specs. www.lenovo.com

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VARJO REALITY CLOUD LAUNCHES FOR VR/XR STREAMING » The new platform will allow on-demand access using VR/XR headsets from Varjo and other manufacturers, as well as iOS and Windows devices

V

arjo, best known for its ‘human eye’ resolution VR/XR headsets, has launched a new platform for streaming VR/XR content from the cloud. The Varjo Reality Cloud is available now as part of a collaborative design service for automotive viz tool Autodesk VRED. Support for Unity and Unreal Engine will come later this year.

Varjo is also working with other software developers and has an expectation that users will be able to upload their own apps in the future. “The long-term vision for us is to become software-agnostic,” says Jussi Mäkinen, chief brand officer at Varjo.

The Varjo Reality Cloud is powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Nvidia GPUs. It currently works with Varjo VR/ XR headsets, but as Varjo aims to make the platform ‘industry-standard’, support will extend to “all other headsets” (both tethered and untethered) and other devices later this year. This includes iOS phones and tablets and Windows PCs. Mäkinen told DEVELOP3D that he wants to make collaboration in the Varjo Reality Cloud as easy as a Teams or Zoom call.

He uses the example of automaker Volvo, which has been using the service to connect design studios around the world.

“If they [in Stockholm] want to engage their US people, for example, in a very quick way, all they need to do is send the link and whoever gets the link can just click it and put the headset on,” he says. “There’s no need to install Autodesk VRED, or no need to install [download] a car model. They just click the link, and it starts to stream.”

According to T. Jon Mayer, head of exterior design at Volvo Cars, “Varjo Reality Cloud enables us to work together seamlessly through both virtual and mixed reality. This virtual space allows us to review design models together as if we are standing there physically together in the same space.”

He continues: “The technology is a significant step towards democratising the use of VR and XR for collaboration through ease of use and lower PC hardware requirements.”

As with Varjo VR/XR headsets, visual fidelity in the Varjo Reality Cloud is of paramount importance. The platform is built around a ‘lossless’ proprietary foveated transport algorithm to stream the immersive content to devices.

This uses the Varjo headset’s eye tracker to prioritise the pixels that the

user is paying most attention to, so there’s no perceivable latency and visual quality is kept at the optimum level.

As with any remote graphics technology, distance to the datacentre is important for a good experience. Urho Konttori, cofounder and CTO of Varjo, says that when connecting from New York to an AWS datacentre on the US West Coast, “you cannot perceive the latency at all.”

For greater distances, each user connects to the most local AWS datacentre, and datasets — plus any subsequent changes made to those datasets — are synced between datacenters.

In the future, firms will be able to deploy the service on-premise using Amazon Outposts. This could be important for automotive or defense firms with strict controls over data and IP. In terms of technology, the AWS instances that Varjo Reality Cloud relies on are highly scalable and are powered by Nvidia A10G GPUs. An Nvidia GPU is also needed for decoding on the client, and the minimum spec is currently a GeForce 3050 or 2060.

However, Konttori says this is less about processing power and more about the DisplayPort standard required for Varjo headsets. When Varjo adds iOS support later this year, decoding will be done using Apple M1 silicon.

With Varjo Reality Cloud, users can create collaborative Autodesk VRED sessions on demand and invite key decision-makers to join. Cloud streaming

support for VRED is available for up to five concurrent users per company at $1,595 per month.

The service gives design teams fast access to GPU-accelerated instances on AWS, licensed with Autodesk VRED. “We reserve fully the instances, so they’re always up and available, and you will never not have a server available for you,” says Konttori.

In developing the VRED service, Varjo worked closely with Autodesk to make it very easy to use. Setting up a collaborative session has historically been complex and required everyone to have a locally-installed license of VRED on a high-end workstation. Through the Varjo Reality Cloud, set-up for collaborators is instant and they enter the VR/XR space automatically, without having to go through the standard VRED desktop UI. The bundled VRED service is just a start and Varjo is looking into different pricing models and options. “Not everyone wants five concurrent users,” says Konttori.

He also acknowledges that while an automotive design firm might use the Varjo Reality Cloud daily, an architectural team might only need one hour per week for design/review.

With support for Unity and Unreal Engine coming later this year, it won’t be long before the Varjo Reality Cloud service expands into other sectors.

Architectural visualisation tools, Enscape and Twinmotion, are “certainly interesting”, says Konttori. www.varjo.com

Varjo Reality Cloud is built around a 'lossless' proprietary foveated transport algorithm to stream immersive content

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COMMENT

The potential overturning of Roe v Wade might seem like a big leap away from design and engineering, writes SJ, but any step backwards on civil rights will only add to the burdens already impacting businesses in our sector

O

n a recent call, I found myself posing the following question to my colleagues: “Is it safe for me to go to visit any of the Southern States if I have a uterus? I mean, I’m kidding – but, also, not really.”

My teammates chuckled nervously, if not a bit awkwardly, unsure how to handle this sort of social situation. The feeling of unease went both ways, as I struggled to figure out how to address the glaring elephant in the room that was my biological sex.

I recently started a new remote position and was really excited for the travel portion.

I imagined myself traveling all over the States – and then the world – spreading the good gospel of 3D printing.

I pictured conference rooms on the 52nd floor, with a view looking out over sprawling cities, as I presented my case for securing supply chains and digital manufacturing.

Bald heads attached to dark suits, nodding in agreement as I went on about business cases and strategy and solving pain points or roadblocks for customers.

All of that excitement, however, came to a screeching halt as I felt the horrible realisation that men – yet again – had the audacity to tell me what I could and could not do.

One of my favorite books is Bossypants by Tina Fey, where the comedian describes her experience in sex education class as follows: “To this day, all I know is there are between two and four openings down there and that the set-up inside looks vaguely like the Texas Longhorns logo.”

As a young person, I thought it mildly hilarious. But given the current climate, I’m terrified to think that Fey’s one-liner may well sum up what most politicians think we’ve got going on in there.

STICK TO THE DATA This is an opinion piece, but it is one that considers a dicey subject, so I’ll try to stick to the data and not the genitalia.

Research shows that women forced to keep unwanted or unplanned pregnancies

are four times more likely to live below the federal poverty line.

Reading between the Longhorns, that seems fairly obvious, when you consider how difficult it is to find a job when you’re pregnant, to keep a job when you’re pregnant – not to mention the challenge of maintaining that job while you nurse and care for an infant.

If you’re reading this and you’re a man and you think this doesn’t affect you, buckle up.

In America, the demand for labour is so high that there are two jobs for every person looking. Similar patterns are seen elsewhere in the world.

Fuel prices are rising and so are the ‘Help Wanted’ signs. If women are not allowed to control their fertility, we could see more businesses closed due to lack of staff.

With the housing shortage, interest rates rising, and the demand for labour still elevated, it’s a huge economic risk to do anything that would impact such a large segment of the workforce.

According to the US Department of Labor, women make up 54.8% of the workforce as of April 2022 – that’s a lot of jobs. And, as a man, can you imagine how enraging it is, as the dominant working gender, to know that the rest of the workforce (45.2%, give or take) has the ability to deny not only your job, but also your healthcare?

On the call, a gruff male voice came off mute: “SJ, I hear what you’re trying to say.

I’ve been to that city and if it’s okay with you, I’ll take that client appointment, but I’ll keep you in the loop so you can be aware of what’s going on.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF ALLIES The relief I felt at finding allyship, rather than contention, reminded me how lucky I am to be working at a start-up.

Start-ups, banks, big tech and younger companies that are better resourced have already started implementing more robust employee benefits, such as extended paid parental leave, more predictable hours or allowing employees to set their own schedules.

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With the housing shortage, interest rates rising, and the demand for labour still elevated, it’s a huge economic risk to do anything that would impact such a large segment of the workforce

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There are also other benefits for young parents, like student loan repayment assistance, more options for remote work, childcare stipends for preschool or daycare, and college savings assistance.

Unfortunately, most of these areas – for example, finance and big tech – are also overwhelmingly dominated by men. What this means is that the vast majority of the female workforce still doesn’t benefit from having access to such expansive benefits packages.

BAD FOR BUSINESS I was so excited for my new position, but now I’m terrified of travelling alone through red states where the fate of my uterus is decided by balding heads attached to dark suits in conference rooms on Pennsylvania Avenue.

I’m kidding – but, also, I’m not really. It is maddening to pretend to be okay when you’re not, to smile and pretend like none of what’s going on outside of work affects you.

I’ve noticed a shift in the market – magnified by the pandemic – where companies are so focused on dividends for investors that they forgo focusing on the wellbeing of their employees.

That’s bad for business. Research has shown that companies that incorporate robust parental policies have improved productivity and increased employee retention rates.

Let’s be clear: I don’t want to put a pin in this and circle back next week. Let’s get aligned now.

Robbing women of their right to control their own fertility comes at an enormous cost to businesses – and what with inflation, rising interest rates and a supply chain further complicated by war in Ukraine, is your business really ready to be thrown by the horns?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Contributor SJ is a metal additive engineer aka THEE Hottie of Metal Printing. SJ currently works as a metal additive applications engineer providing AM solutions and 3D printing of metal parts in order to help create a decarbonised world.

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27/06/2022 13:35

COMMENT

Businesses often fail to consider the final stage in the experience they give their customers, writes author Joe Macleod. What happens at the end of a product’s lifecycle should be decided at its earliest design stages

D

espite paying careful, thoughtful attention to a product’s appeal and function, many businesses overlook an enormous gap at the end of a product’s life.

Within this gap, brand equity drops, sustainability targets are missed and consumer satisfaction is thrown away.

Businesses constantly overlook the end of the consumer lifecycle as a place to add meaning and yield benefits.

We can break the consumer lifecycle into three sections: on-boarding, usage, and off-boarding.

Consumerism is great in the first two sections. Marketing inspires meaning and purpose in a wonderful marriage between consumer and provider. Good design, research and execution results in products that solve problems, complete tasks and that people love.

But at the final stage, the consumer/provider relationship breaks down.

Consumers are abandoned and stumble on alone, with little or no advice on how to manage the end of the product experience.

boarding experience, their reputation is cut in half, slaughtering the opportunity to engage again in the future.

Modern products need to be better for the environment, but without engaging the consumer in an off-boarding experience at the end, new ‘circular economy’ products won’t close the loop. They will continue to fall into landfill, just like last century’s waste.

Take the issue of plastic in the sea. How much of that plastic is made from recyclable plastic? Given that Coca-Cola, a massive producer of plastic bottles, introduced lightweight, resealable and recyclable 2-liter polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles in 1978, I think we can assume that the material capability of a lot of that plastic in the sea is ‘recyclable’.

The reason it has ended up in the sea isn’t because it is made from the wrong material. It’s because it dropped out of the consumer lifecycle at the end.

Building customer satisfaction is short-lived when the ending isn’t easy for the consumer.

Netflix says: “We are proud of the no-hassle online cancellation. Members can leave when they want and come back when they want.”

Netflix subscriber growth hit 118.9 million in 2018, up from 94.36 million the previous year, achieving customer satisfaction of 78%.

That beats the 62% notched up by traditional cable TV, an industry that traps customers in long-term, often punitive contracts and where customer satisfaction ratings have been dropping for more than a decade.

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THE END IS NIGH

One of the biggest hurdles for businesses around endings is getting over their fear of the consumer relationship ending, too

A common business justification for this problem goes as follows: ‘Why should we care? They are not our customers anymore.´ This is a traditional, twentiethcentury argument, and it needs to change.

Modern branding is about relationships.

A bad ending can irreparably damage a consumer relationship.

The psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s work around human memory finds that a person has only two moments that they clearly commit to memory – the peak of the experience (good or bad) and its ending. If brands fail to create a good off-

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WHERE TO FOCUS One of the biggest hurdles for businesses around endings is getting over their fear of the consumer relationship ending. It holds back so much innovation. Businesses need

to have discussions about the end. They need to build understanding and confidence.

The first thing to understand is what happens at the end of your current product relationship with the consumer?

What are the stages of this journey? What are the most common endings for your products? This will also help businesses adhere to new legislation, such as Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission targets, which require businesses to measure the emissions at product end-of-life.

Next, they need to start thinking about what their brand does elsewhere in the customer lifecycle. Many companies have brand values, such as transparency or freedom, which they celebrate elsewhere in the consumer lifecycle, but they tend to quickly reverse these when it comes to retention tactics at off-boarding.

Start working out what you want your product off-boarding to look like. What vision does your business have of a good ending? There are lots of insights, models and techniques described in my book, Endineering, to help with this.

Lastly, be positive about the end. Start becoming endineers, as well as engineers.

Designers have a key role to play in tackling the waste that ends up in landfill

GET IN TOUCH: Joe Macleod has worked in product development and now trains business influencers, policymakers and product developers about the need for ‘good endings’. He is the author of two books on the subject, most recently, Endineering: Designing Consumption Lifecycles That End As Well as They Begin. www.andend.co DEVELOP3D.COM JUNE / JULY 2022 19

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27/06/2022 10:30

VISUAL DESIGN GUIDE MARSHALL WILLEN MINI PORTABLE SPEAKER Don’t be fooled by its tiny size. The new Marshall Willen portable speaker packs a powerful punch, combining mighty sound with rock star looks and attitude

STRAPPED UP A rear-mounted rubber strap enables the speaker to be attached to a wide range of items on the move, from rucksacks to bike frames

BACK TO LIFE Offering a hefty 15+ hours of portable playtime on a single charge, it takes just three hours of charging to bring the Marshall Willen back to full power. A quick 20-minute charge, meanwhile, will equip the speaker for three more hours of play time

CONNECTED SOUND The device-pairing button supports Stack Mode, so that users can join together Willen speakers, to create multi-speaker sessions

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WHERE TO BUY The Marshall Willen will be available to order from the Marshall website this summer, priced at £89.99 in the UK www.marshallheadphones.com

EVERYWHERE YOU GO Built with one 2-inch, full-range driver, two passive radiators and a sealed casing with an IP67 dust and water-resistance rating, users can take the iconic heavy Marshall sound anywhere

PRESS PLAY Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity enables users to control their music via an app. For a more hands-on experience, the front-mounted, multi-directional control knob pumps up the volume

ROCK STAR Despite its compact 100 x 100mm frame, the Willen reflects the heritage design of Marshall guitar amps, right down to that iconic logo

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COVER STORY

THE PERFECT SHOT » Born from Helvacıoglu Kahve’s coffee-making expertise and Pininfarina’s flair for design, the new Levee espresso machine aims to give professional baristas the tool they need to extract the very best beverage. Claudia Schergna speaks to the team behind the design

I

f you ask an Italian barista why they chose the espresso machine they’re using, there’s every chance you’ll be listening to a story laced with sentiment for the next half hour. A coffee machine is never just a coffee machine.

While built from cold steel and copper pipe, a machine embodies status, family history, tradition and loyalty. Many coffee lovers choose to become regulars of a bar just because of the espresso machine used there.

A market like this is therefore not an easy one to enter if you are new to the game. And this is something Helvacıoglu Kahve was aware of when it started working towards launching its own coffee-making appliances.

One of the most recognised coffee roasters in the world, Helvacıoglu Kahve was founded in 1926 as a food

company. After specialising in coffee during the 1980s, it introduced its high-end coffee brand Levee in 2010.

In 2021, its engineering team started working on its first Levee espresso machine. However, being familiar with the coffee industry, the company knew that in order to get noticed by customers, any product would also need to stand out to baristas. So it turned to one of the world’s leading design studios with a history of style: Pininfarina.

“The goal was actually a triple goal,” says Nicola Girotti, head of ideation and industrial design at Pininfarina.

“On one side, it was to design a beautiful machine; on the second side, it was to be visible in the market, where other players have been for many, many years, and have a very established position; and, thirdly, to create something that was really helping the position of the brand in this competitive arena.”

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HANDS-ON RESEARCH The design process started exactly where it was going to end: a bar counter. Pininfarina brought its client Helvacıoglu Kahve to see how Italians consume their coffee, what baristas look for in a coffee machine and to identify gaps in the market.

“We were given a very specific brief in this case,” says Girotti. “The goal is to try to make something that is unique but also proven by the baristas to be the best machine in the market. So, we couldn’t just start from a simple layout and do a normal design job.”

Both Pininfarina and Helvacıoglu Kahve were very well aware that having an important name and coming up with a good design were not going to be enough to truly stand out from the crowd of big brands that dominate the industry.

To find their niche, they decided to stake it all on delivering the best possible user experience: “We started with professional workers. We went to interview different kinds of baristas in their locations, drinking tons of coffee. It was probably the peak of coffee of my life,” jokes Girotti.

The very best professional baristas are trained to consider every single factor that can affect the quality of the coffee they make, he points out – from the pressure of the water to the level of humidity in the air, in order to obtain the best aroma that they can possibly extract.

“It’s not a question of pressing a button,” he says.

“These people work on the settings in the morning to check in. And, depending on the weather, they might have to change the settings of the machine, in order to have the best coffee during the entire day.”

Helvacıoglu Kahve tasked Pininfarina with creating a design that would stand out both for its sophisticated aesthetic and its practicality

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To do so, they need a machine that gives them control over all these elements, while at the same time being intuitive, and offering a unique and distinctive design.

By interviewing different professionals, the design team had a chance to identify what control areas on the espresso machine the baristas interact with most, and how they manually control the levers, knobs and handles.

The human/machine interface (HMI) was essentially co-designed with baristas, says Girotti: “The job of the design and the job of developing the HMI were very much done in parallel. Every time that we were doing this evaluation with the baristas, we were actually fixing some points and putting some question marks on others.”

BARISTA-FRIENDLY HMI “First, we created a very low-fidelity prototype directly with the customer, in order to engage them and initiate our thoughts on the overall HMI,” he explains.

“We decided on purpose to go very manual or very digital, to try to have a range of different interfaces with different HMIs, and then we selected three of them and we prototyped them with 3D-printed elements.”

The first prototypes were rough and experimental, using foam and card, and then glueing on different elements, before the design team split into groups to

focus on identifying different solutions and variants.

During this hands-on research, the team identified three clusters of baristas, all with specific needs and demands.

“What we did was a role play; we were not designing the best interface for us, but the best interface for each specific cluster,” Girotti explains. “[We were] trying to see the different kinds of configuration because, with the end result, you want to be able to stretch and support all targets.”

The whole HMI for the Levee machine was designed to provide baristas with a pleasing as well as functional tool to use. The design team studied ways to give them visual and tactile feedback while they are using it, to help them feel a connection with the product.

“From the display to the buttons on the top, we wanted to make something that felt alive,” says Girotti.

The Levee’s human/ machine interface is designed to enable baristas to easily adjust settings

RIGHT KNOWLEDGE, RIGHT TOOLS The Pininfarina design team had many tools and resources to draw from, starting from a fully stocked model shop, which proved useful in the first stages of the design process, as well as mixed reality technologies for visualisation, and a selection of CAD software tools to choose from.

‘‘ What we did was a role play. We were not

designing the best interface for us, but the best interface for each specific cluster

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COVER STORY To design the initial form of the machine, the design team worked in Rhino to quickly generate the shapes and layout of key features. Says Girotti: “Once we had a good idea of what was the final design, from that moment we then moved to Creo, because we wanted to create volumes and surfaces that were very precise.”

The engineering team at Helvacıoglu Kahve had already designed the key internal workings of the espresso machine using Solidworks, helping it develop a pressure system that enabled smooth and constant steam flow for more controllable use. Once Pininfarina had built a 3D concept design around this interior system in Rhino, it switched to PTC Creo in order to create the very precise volumes and shapes needed to transform the external structure and key touchpoints into a manufacturable form, while helping maintain original design intent.

“The beauty of having a multitude of tools, in my position where I’m leading the entire team, is that I can discuss with my team and say, ‘Why don’t we try this?’, and we try to propose it to the client at a very early stage,” says Girotti. “And they can have the perception of the physical object in all its beauty and proportion very early in the design phase.”

The choice of materials proved a turning point in the design process. To build the touchpoints that require skills and knowledge from the baristas, such as the handles and knobs, they chose to use wood, which not

1

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only gives a nice texture to the touch, but also ages well and can be matched to an existing environment.

Plus, wooden elements help protect the user from high temperatures. Anyone who has ever used an espresso machine knows how unpleasant it is to burn yourself while making a cappuccino.

“The other element where we put wood, for example, is the little lever on the front. This is for professional baristas: they don’t press a button, they use this lever for controlling the exact time of pre-brew and brew, in order to extract the best aroma from the coffee,” says Girotti, explaining that the reason they selected wood over other materials goes beyond just its physical properties.

“Everything that is an interface, is also connected with something that is very warm and human.”

SMOOTH, SOPHISTICATED DESIGN A digital control panel on top of the machine allows baristas to receive information regarding temperature and brewing time and features a set of buttons that allows them to use the machine in an automatic mode. This way, the machine is accessible to baristas with different levels of expertise and in different contexts.

Every element has been designed keeping in mind the aesthetics as well as the practicality, explains Girotti.

For example, there are few edges to trap coffee grinds, because the machines need to be easy to clean daily.

To facilitate that even further, Pininfarina introduced two glass platforms at the bottom of the machine, raising the machine above the counter: “It is beautiful because it looks like the machine is suspended. But on the other side, we learnt that it is fundamental to have at least four centimetres [of clearance], in order to clean underneath the machine on a daily basis. We’ve been learning what the relevant things are to the end customer, and we implemented them in a design that is very iconic.”

Girotti says most coffee machines are made of bent sheet metal and other pretty cheap materials, which isn’t reflected by the six-figure prices, which are typically added to justify a big-name brand.

“From a production point of view, they are not worth €10,000. It’s just the brand that’s pushing the price,” says Girotti. “We needed to go into that world, but with something that was clearly different.”

The approach Pininfarina adopted was to develop a machine with a seamless, high-end finish. All nonrelevant elements such as screws and mechanical parts are hidden from view. Yet given this is a professional machine, access for maintenance is still a high priority, so the design team created a system of magnets that attach key cover panels, which look sophisticated to the eye and yet are easy to unlock when necessary.

“The lateral panels, for example, we fixed them with magnets – the same magnets that we use in Formula

1 ● 2 ● 3 The team at Pininfarina ●

3

used software tools including Rhino and PTC Creo to achieve the right blend of aesthetics and practicality for the Levee

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‘‘ There is

quite an intimate connection between the barista and the machine, because they use it on a daily basis – eight, nine, even 10 hours a day.

They can tell you a lot of stories

’’

One cars,” explains Girotti, referencing Pininfarina’s decades of experience in automotive design.

“We are maintaining the simplicity of use, but also offering a sophisticated design and solution.”

GREAT ESPRESSO IN ANY LOCATION Another feature of the Levee coffee machine is its versatility, adapting to different locations as well as to different users.

The wooden elements come in different grains and natural shades, and can be matched with a café or restaurant interior. There is an option to choose between a one-group and a two-group serving coffee machine: “If you want to enter into a bar, you need to be able to make four coffees in one shot. It’s a question of time,” explains Girotti.

“With the one-group machine, we can enter other kinds of businesses, where maybe you don’t need to produce as much coffee as you do in a bar: a hotel for example, or a restaurant, or the home of someone who wants something unique – or even on a yacht,” he says.

“A lot of machines put all the effort on the front and then the back is like just metal with a grid. We decided to design a machine by looking at it from 360-degrees, with wood and a backlit logo at the back.”

In essence, Pininfarina wanted the Levee machine to be a piece of interior décor, that could immediately and forcefully communicate its high level of quality and sophistication.

“There is quite an intimate connection between the barista and the machine, because they use it on a daily basis – eight, nine, even 10 hours a day. They can tell you a lot of stories,” concludes Girotti.

And great stories make for great designs. The new Levee espresso machine seems to have what it takes to conquer a market where brewing good coffee is simply not enough. Through its sophisticated lines and honed interface, it aims to support baristas in their mission to bless us all with a daily cup of tradition.

4

5

6

www.leveeespresso.com

7

8 4 ● 5 Interviews with baristas ●

were carried out to identify how professional baristas interact with espresso machines and use the various levers, knobs and handles 6 ● 7 ● 8 Wood was used for the parts ●

that baristas interact with the most, providing a tactile material as well as protection from high temperatures

9 The Levee is a stylish addition to ●

any cafe or bar, we well as a highly functional one

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COVER STORY

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Sponsored content

CONCRETE COLLECTIVE TAKES A NEW SPIN ON CONCRETE DESIGN WITH THE FUSION 360 NESTING & FABRICATION EXTENSION Concrete Collective uses the Fusion 360 Nesting & Fabrication Extension to cut the melamine board for their moulding accurately and cost-effectively, resulting in beautiful bespoke designs.

By: Heather Miller

Over 100 years after the Bauhaus movement, concrete is experiencing a new revival in design.

The material now conveys a sense of luxury, playing into minimalist trends and aesthetics throughout interiors and exteriors.

Glass-fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC) has revolutionized designing with concrete. Futuristic designs are now possible, from crisp, industrial edges to sinuous lines. Gone is the standard gray; you can customize concrete to any colour.

Michael Mitris and Scott Henderson immediately took notice of GFRC’s growth in the United States and of the demand for the material in their own country, Australia. They began to assess the new opportunities GFRC presented. They merged Henderson’s background in carpentry and Mitris’ experience in construction management to found

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Concrete Collective, becoming one of the first to introduce it to the Australian market.

The Concrete Collective team produces bespoke designs, including kitchens, baths, bars, outdoor seating, and even furniture. They most recently started a new standard collection. Soon anyone will be able to order Shift Furniture products via their online store.

“We try to push boundaries and do things that other people haven’t done before,” says Michael Mitris, co-founder and director, Concrete Collective.

Designing for Concrete with Fusion 360 Concrete Collective’s design process starts with receiving an idea or request from an architect or consumer—or simply dreaming it up themselves.

Then, it’s time to get to work.

They begin by drawing the concrete shape in Autodesk Fusion 360 and then adding the steel subframe beneath those surfaces. Next, the team extrudes all the bases to create the moulds before sending the files to the CNC machine.

“For the installation of a recent, large park bench project, the installation was seamless,” Mitris says.

“Every single join and angle were absolutely perfect.”

“With Fusion 360, all the elements are in one model,” he continues. “It’s all going to work because it’s all in one place. That’s where we struggled previously. Moving over to Fusion 360 helped us a lot.”

Taking a Digital Approach to Moulds and Nesting Concrete Collective’s bespoke moulds are made from melamine because it’s cheaper and more disposable.

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Sponsored content

According to Mitris, plywood tends to double or triple the price and adds a considerable amount of waste because it’s not reusable from project to project.

About eight months ago, the team decided to try the Fusion 360 Nesting & Fabrication Extension.

The extension enables them to design and cut all the melamine board for their moulding accurately and cost-effectively.

“We label everything in Fusion 360 so we know exactly what everything is,” Mitris says. “That way, when we do nest the individual items, we can easily find the part once they have been cut. We have greater visibility into our project and how it all comes together. Whatever we have drawn in the actual model itself is what’s going to end up on the CNC—even if you change your live model—and that gives us great piece of mind when going through each stage of the process.”

“When we gave the Nesting & Fabrication Extension a go, we found that it was far more efficient at nesting than the other products we were using,” Mitris continues. “We used one or two less melamine sheets when cutting multiple items and saved even more for larger projects.”

Making the Switch to Fusion 360 Concrete Collective first made the switch to Fusion 360 about a year and a half ago, and they haven’t looked back. Prototyping and sending projects straight to the CNC is extremely helpful and “Fusion 360 really looks after everything from start

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to finish in the design process,” Mitris says.

“I just believe Fusion 360 is a great tool to be able to build something in 3D and see what the product is going to look like as you’re designing it,” he continues. “You’re actually creating the product rather than having 2D models and everything coming together later. You push, you pull, you can see things happen as you go in Fusion 360, and that’s the best part.”

Ready to take your fabrication process to the next level? Check out what the Fusion 360 Nesting & Fabrication Extension can do for you: www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/ nesting-fabrication-extension And learn more about Concrete Collective here: https://concretecollective.com.au

All images courtesy of Concrete Collective.

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THE D3D 30

» Welcome to The D3D 30, our round-up of 30 new technologies from around the world that we firmly believe could deliver a major boost to your product development work

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T

he D3D 30 is our annual roundup of 30 new technologies that we believe have an important role to play in our readers’ product development processes.

Chosen from companies around the world, our hope is that you’ll all find something here that fits well in your own personal toolbox, to make you more productive in 2022.

Some of these technologies have been developed by start-ups that we’re excited to see take their first steps out of stealth mode.

Others may be more familiar, coming from established companies that continue to develop new capabilities within their existing systems or launch brand-new tools, in order to take customers in new and thrilling directions.

We’re delighted to showcase this illustrious group, selected entirely on merit. Our listing includes new takes on modelling, innovative ways to tackle big data challenges, fresh approaches to 3D printing and more – all with the aim of helping our readers design and build the products and systems of the future.

Previous lists have highlighted new technologies we’ve watched grow in terms of capability. Speaking with readers, we know that many of them have since been adopted and become vital to your workflows.

We have faith that the Class of 2022 will offer you many more such candidates – and hopefully, you’ll have the chance to get hands-on with many of these in the months to come, including at DEVELOP3D LIVE, which returns to the UK in November 2022.

ADDIFAB ADDIFAB X NEXA3D

AMD RADEON PRO W6400

AUTODESK BCN3D FUSION 360 EXTENSIONS VLM 3D PRINTING

Freeform injection moulding

Future-proofed GPU

Bolt-ons for big guns

Doubling down on DLP

Injection moulding remains king, but AddiFab’s additively created, dissolvable tooling looks to tap into the benefits of both injection moulding and 3D printing, as it fasttracks tool designs and validations for complex part injection moulding.

AddiFab’s tooling, up to 154 x 241mm in size, is compatible with most traditional thermoplastic materials, including reinforced highperformance feedstocks.

A collaboration with Nexa3D gives customers access to the NXE 400 3D Printing system – including industrial 3D printer, wash and cure units – with Addifab providing proprietary tooling resins and postprocessing equipment. The goal is to give designers access to the ecosystem needed to take injection moulding to the next level.

Graphics engines in 3D CAD software haven’t evolved that much over the years, but this looks set to change pretty rapidly.

With several developers exploring modern graphics APIs, viewports could soon offer new levels of visual fidelity through GPU-accelerated hardware ray tracing.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6400 GPU stands out from the crowd in this respect, because it is the only pro graphics card in its class to have hardware ray tracing built into the silicon.

With professional drivers for all the major CAD applications, it’s tuned for 3D CAD now, but should also offer product designers and engineers some level of futureproofing as their favourite 3D design tools begin to evolve.

Fusion 360 continues to mature as a versatile CAD product, yet its armoury of specialist extensions that customers can add on to the main product with a no-nonsense subscription fee set-up mean it is growing as a team-wide product.

Enhancing the key capabilities of the base Fusion product, these bolton applications add new features and functions, and more efficient workflows, for specialists in the development process. That might include those involved in advanced machining, for example, or in 3D printing high-value parts.

For many users, the Product Design Extension adds the most daily value for CAD design usability.

It can be activated when needed for £84 per month, or £684 for the full year.

Viscous lithography manufacturing (VLM) aims to accelerate the already speedy process of resin-based 3D printing, while allowing for different resins to be combined for multimaterial parts.

The technology uses a system of rollers to apply viscous resins from two tanks to a film, which is then applied to the build using UV light.

The process is designed to recover, filter and recirculate unused resin from the film, which means that every drop of resin can potentially be used, helping reduce overall costs and minimise waste.

www.addifab.com

www.amd.com/radeonPROW6400

www.autodesk.com

https://vlm.bcn3d.com

BCN3D says that VLM can operate with resins 50 times more viscous when compared to those that are more traditionally used, and thus supports a wider range of material options and properties.

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THE D3D 30

CADENCE FIDELITY CFD

BOTCHA3D BOTCHA 3D

Speedy CFD

Softly, softly

Speed and accuracy are the goals for Cadence’s next-generation CFD software suite for multiphysics simulation. This features highorder numerics, scale-resolving simulations and hardware acceleration.

Built on the expertise and technology gained from the acquisitions of Numeca and Pointwise, Fidelity CFD uses their meshing capabilities to power an end-to-end CFD workflow. This is capable of supporting a wide range of use cases, from how best to cool circuit boards to assessing turbulence around an aircraft.

Included in Fidelity CFD are several specialised flow solvers for marine and turbomachinery applications, as well as general-purpose flow solvers for a broad range of flow types.

Developed by an Italian team with a strong background in footwear design, Botcha is a 3D CAD software designed for modelling organic shapes and soft goods.

Its tools make it particularly suitable for visualising 2D designs and photographs as 3D models, beginning with sketches that can then be fully textured with materials and rendered with the in-built path tracer, or exported.

Its ability to give life to products like shoes, and form a bridge with 2D industries like fashion, make it an interesting prospect.

www.cadence.com

www.botcha3d.com

DASSAULT SYSTÈMES SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION INTELLIGENCE Circular impact Dassault Systèmes’ lifecycle assessment solution focuses on minimising the environmental impacts of products, materials and the processes they create, to drive more sustainable product development practices.

Embedded in the 3DExperience platform, the tools aim to help users make greener decisions, earlier on in the design process, rather than as an afterthought.

The platform uses the independent Ecoinvent database to give data on the environmental impact of more than 18,000 industrial and

agricultural processes, as well as that associated with virtual design, product development, manufacturing engineering, operations and logistics. www.3ds.com 32 JUNE / JULY 2022 DEVELOP3D.COM

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CARBON M3 MAX 3D PRINTER Maturing manufacturing What could have been a ‘difficult third album’ for Carbon actually turns out to be the best iteration yet of its midsize 3D printer.

Yes, it’s faster, offers better part finishes and all the other stuff you’d expect. But the big winner here is the ability to self-install the printer. Need to move it into another room or building? You no longer need to make a support call.

The M3 Max is the pick of the bunch, with a 307 x 163 x 326mm build area and new 4K light engine — double the standard M3 build area, but offering the same pixel density. www.carbon3d.com

E3D RAPIDCHANGE REVO

EPSON 3D PRINTING

FOVOTEC FOVORENDER

HEXAGON MATERIALCENTER

Switching nozzles

Heavyweight arrival

Immersive view

Materials matter

Compatible with FDM 3D printers from Ultimaker, BCN3D, Lulzbot, Prusa and more, this third-party product is capable of improving the output and extending the life of your desktop workhorse by changing the hot end for different 3D printing requirements.

Swapping nozzles – colour-coded for fast identification – can be performed at room temperature with just your fingers. No tools or potentially hazardous processes required.

Each Revo nozzle carries a colour-coded silicone sock and is metal-engraved with easy-to-read numbers for fast identification, with sizes covering the most popular 3D printing use cases.

Big brands entering 3D printing have helped speed up the development and adoption of the technology, so it’s with great interest that we see Epson enter the market with technology derived from its injection moulding solutions.

Its proprietary extrusion method enables the 3D printer to be used with a variety of common third-party materials, such as resin or metal pellets, which are generally available at lower cost than other materials, environmentally considerate biomass pellets, and PEEK materials that can provide high heat resistance.

Human vision is dynamic, and while photorealistic renders capture digital details, they can often warp perspective – something that, once it’s pointed out to you, is impossible to unsee.

Enter Fovotec and its new rendering technology designed to give deeper, more immersive content with minimal distortion – fine-tuning cramped car interiors to give a more natural viewpoint, fit in more features and remove unwanted distortions.

FovoRender works with real-time 3D engines Unity and Unreal, with the Fovotec team providing expert technical and creative advice, including optimising technical set-ups to maximise impact.

A Materials lifecycle management system designed to link material specialists to mechanical simulation, Hexagon’s tool captures data from integrated processes for full traceability across a company and a product’s lifecycle.

Its cloud-based set-up means it can deliver on-demand commercial databases. These include the Senvol Database — the first database of industrial AM machines (+1,000) and compatible materials (some +3,000).

With Hexagon promising to bring more of its vast catalogue of software elements together, the efficient manner in which MaterialCenter does its work could be a sign of more to come.

www.fovotec.com

www.hexagon.com

www.epson.com

www.e3d-online.com

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THE D3D 30

HP Z2 SFF G9

HYPERGANIC HYPERGANIC CORE

INTEL 12TH GEN INTEL CORE

LUMAFIELD NEPTUNE SCANNER

No-compromise workstation

Complex inside

Performance for CAD

Under the skin

Small form factor (SFF) workstations are becoming increasingly popular, especially for those working in space-constrained environments, such as home offices.

However, there is a trade-off to having a compact chassis. SFF workstations are usually limited to low-profile graphics cards, which are best suited to less demanding 3D workflows such as CAD. The HP Z2 SFF G9 stands out because it is the first SFF workstation from a major vendor to support a full-height, full-length graphics card, up to and including the Nvidia RTX A4000. This makes it suitable for a wide range of graphics-intensive workflows such as real-time visualisation, GPU rendering and VR.

Hyperganic’s Algorithmic Engineering technology gets its first software product release in 2022, with Core.

This platform, which uses customisable building blocks and frameworks to create individual applications and automate repetitive tasks, looks to enable users to build and design 3D-printed objects. This can include developing applications for mass customisation, or generating complex internal cooling channels, lattice structures, and thin-walled geometries.

Beta projects have included a jawdropping 800mm tall aerospike for a rocket engine concept.

The last few years have seen intense competition between Intel and AMD in desktop CPUs. While AMD continues to dominate in multithreaded workflows, Intel currently has the single-threaded lead with 12th Gen Intel Core.

The Intel Core i9-12900KS is our number one choice for CAD. However, this special edition CPU has limited reach. Workstations from HP, Dell, Lenovo and Fujitsu come with the slightly slower, but still impressive, Intel Core i9-12900K. How long Intel keeps its lead remains to be seen. Later this year, AMD will launch Ryzen 7000 with the promise of a >15% single thread performance gain over Ryzen 5000.

Lumafield raises the prospect of a CT scanner in your workshop — not as an external service, but a unit specifically designed for designers and engineers right there on the shop floor. It’s 6 feet wide, 3 feet deep, and plugs into a standard wall socket.

Immediately, there are quality assurance uses, such as checking for faults and verifying internal wall thicknesses on 3D-printed parts using detailed cross sections of the part from any angle. But there are other uses, too: assessing internal mechanism fits, for example, and even competitor product teardowns — all without removing a single screw.

www.hyperganic.com

www.lumafield.com

www.intel.com

www.hp.com

MATERIALISE CO-AM

MAXON MAXON ONE

MAYKU MULTIPLIER

METAFOLD LIGHTCYCLE

Modernising materials

Promising package

Box of tricks

Lighting up lattices

Building on its acquisition of Link3D, in CO-AM, Materialise has produced an open software platform to manage the AM production process. Users get cloud-based access to a full range of software tools for planning, optimising and monitoring every stage of the operation.

Data from all stages can be analysed and stored, allowing for continuous improvement of processes, with potential for AI-powered learning, where every part has the potential to be better than the previous one.

Materialise plans to offer more than 25 software applications on CO‑AM, including a seamless integration with Magics, and third-party applications such as Castor and AM-Flow.

Adding ZBrush to a line-up of products - including Cinema 4D, Redshift, Red Giant, Universe, and Forger — means that Maxon One is an eye-catching package for visualisation workflows.

ZBrush is used widely in film and game development, and as a result, often finds its way into product development – especially for fast concept development and organic surfaces. Added to this stack, it also brings some useful automatic retopology tools into Cinema4D for creating optimised meshes.

Renderer Redshift has added GPUaccelerated rendering, using AMD Radeon Pro cards, and Forger is an interesting concepting tool. In short, there’s a lot at work here.

While Mayku’s FormBox has found a niche in the maker community, small craft businesses and high-end chocolatiers, its most recent product has more in its locker for the product developer.

Putting down the pressure equivalent of four tons to a single material sheet on a heated bed, the Multiplier can vacuum-form sheet material between 0.25 and 8mm thick.

Its goal is ‘absolute precision’, as it looks to rival silicone and injection moulding by capturing lines and grooves up to 0.0004mm thick.

Metafold’s LightCycle software aims to enable large-scale design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) for highly challenging geometry. This might include huge lattice structures with tens of thousands of cells and massive surface areas to calculate.

There’s extra focus on metamaterials and allowing them to be used in everyday applications – enabled by the software creating reusable workflows for manufacturers.

Against the traditional narrative around cloud-native software, it has some security advantages too – with the potential to stream every build slice as a single URL to a 3D printer, so never sending a full model, and thus ending the pain of STL.

www.materialise.com

www.maxon.com

www.mayku.me

www.metafold3d.com

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NVIDIA NVIDIA RTX A2000 Compact contender Compact workstations have typically been limited to low-profile or mobile graphics cards, more suited to less demanding 3D workflows like CAD. The Nvidia RTX A2000 is low-profile but, with a thicker double-slot design, it’s significantly more powerful than others, making it suitable for entry-level viz, GPU rendering and VR workflows.

And with 6 GB or 12 GB models, it can handle some sizable datasets.

What’s more, the GPU is available in ultra-small form factor workstations, including the Dell Precision 3260 Compact and HP Z2 Mini G9, both with a chassis that comes in at around 200mm square and 70mm deep. www.nvidia.com

MONOLITH AI MONOLITH

SEURAT AREA PRINTING

AI for engineering

Big builds

Monolith AI uses self-learning models to quickly predict the results of simulations such as complex vehicle dynamics systems, reducing the need for physical tests or simulations.

Legacy data can be used to find new insights, or alternatively, Monolith can learn from data captured from physical prototype tests and predict behaviour over further operating conditions.

Six years in development, Monolith has already reportedly helped Honda to achieve an 83% faster design cycle. www.monolithai.com

While other metals AM vendors target one-off complex builds, Seurat is making big claims for how it can deliver high-throughput parts in industries like automotive.

The technology manipulates a high-power laser into a postage stamp-sized beam with two million controllable points of light, allowing faster prints.

Its target numbers shatter current metals AM cost-per-part figures, and its team members aren’t resting there. Their aim is manufacturing costs below conventional die-casting processes by 2030. www.seurat.com

SHAPR3D SHAPR3D VISUALIZATION

SIMCENTER STAR-CCM+ GPU Flipping cards

Viz on the fly Shapr3D has expanded its product offering with the addition of a new rendering software that integrates into all the platforms of its 3D CAD programme, including on iPad. It’s the missing link for on-the-fly design and client presentations.

On the iPad version, from the CAD interface, a couple of taps put the user straight into the visualisation toolset. Need to change the model?

Flip back into CAD mode, then show a client the render again in seconds. www.shapr3d.com

Siemens Digital Industries Software’s collaboration with Nvidia enables its Simcenter STAR-CCM+ solver to utilise GPU-enabled technology to achieve CFD simulations at speeds on a par with CPU servers, but at a significantly lower hardware cost.

CUDA-enabled GPU acceleration in its Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2022.1 software release includes single and multiple GPU support on Linux operating systems.

While most complex simulations will likely still run best on CPU servers and clusters, the latest Nvidia GPUs feature enough memory to put up impressive numbers. www.sw.siemens.com

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THE D3D 30

PHENOMETRY THE PHI PLUG-IN FOR ONSHAPE Slick surfacing Designers are not short of an organic CAD modelling tool or two, but the proprietary technology behind Phi, and its subsequent plug-in for PTC Onshape, is intriguing. Not NURBS, or T-Splines, or Sub-D; users draw curves that define the shape and Phi fills in the surfaces automatically to create the 3D model, with quality, watertight and smooth surfaces.

Interacting with and editing the model is speedy; precision and smoothness are maintained; and flipping these back and forward into Onshape means that the cloud-based CAD has a very interesting surfacing tool at its disposal. www.phi3d.com

SMARTPARTS SMARTPARTS

SOLID EDGE CAM PRO 2.5 AXIS

VARJO VARJO REALITY CLOUD

WOMP WOMP 3D

Programmable particles

Tooled up

Shared spaces

Online power

Traceability in 3D-printed parts is a huge issue if we’re going to start manufacturing one-off parts en masse, at irregular intervals.

SmartParts’ solution is a sprinkling of magic dust – a proprietary rare earth material mixed with the AM feedstock - that embeds a part with traceability on a particle level. When scanned with SmartParts hardware (similar to a barcode reader), the part returns all the necessary info.

There’s a little more science to the programmable particles (infrared tuning and light wavelengths), but industry is already taking notice.

One of the core elements of Siemens’ digital arsenal is its CAM software, so when Solid Edge adds a 2.5 Axis CAM package based on Siemens NX CAM as standard, users can rightly rejoice.

Featuring the same capabilities as the full 2.5 Axis package, it includes advanced capabilities such as adaptive milling for 2.5 axis operations; automated toolpath creation and visualisations for optimised machining processes, as well as access to more than 1,300 post-processors via Post Hub.

Already known for its sector-defining hardware, it’s Varjo’s collaborative Cloud VR software that looks set to transform workflows in 2022.

Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Nvidia GPUs, Reality Cloud currently connects users with Varjo VR/XR headsets, but support should be extended to other devices later this year.

It’s currently available as part of a collaborative design service for Autodesk VRED. Support for Unity and Unreal Engine will come later this year, with plans for other software developers to be included in the future.

With its actively rendered forms, push/pull controls and emphasis on social sharing, Womp 3D looks at first glance like a tool for creating NFTs. However, this merely alludes to its cloud-based power.

A browser-based, voxel-based, volumetric CAD software, rendering in real time, it has several tricks up its sleeve, including a blend tool that can merge materials in real time and integrate objects.

The notion of 3D-printed digital materials controlled at a voxel level has long been touted, and Womp has enough in the locker to enable this and more.

www.varjo.com

www.womp3d.com

https://solidedge.siemens.com

www.smartparts.com

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I want to inspire other women to become entrepreneurs.

DIGITAL INDUSTRIES SOFTWARE

Make something great with Solid Edge for Startups.

Laura Boccanfuso founded Vän Robotics to revolutionize student learning ‒ at school or at home ‒ with an approachable, AI-driven robot. With help from Siemens, and the Solid Edge program for startups, she is able to focus on developing her products, not stretching her budget. See if you too are eligible for free Solid Edge product development software. siemens.com/startups

FEATURE

FIVE KEY UPDAT IN PTC CREO 9 » The latest release of PTC Creo includes enhancements to core tools, a raft of new technologies and more tempting simulation nuggets that look to streamline design work and speed time to market

W

ith Creo 9, released in May 2022, PTC has delivered a host of productivity and usability enhancements that it claims will help users to deliver “your best designs in less time.”

In other words, there’s a strong emphasis here on product improvement and faster time to market.

According to Brian Thomson, divisional manager and general manager of Creo at PTC, Creo 9 “is an important release, and our customers’ feedback played a big part in making that happen.”

As an overview of what’s new in the release, Thomson provided the following detail: “We made core improvements, such as the divide surface capability and stronger design intent management to benefit our users. We focused on advanced technologies transforming product design – including simulation, generative design and additive manufacturing.”

And to better support users, Thomson added, “we’ve strengthened Creo’s ergonomics capabilities. All these enhancements are about helping engineers get their best designs to market more quickly.”

There’s a lot packed in to this latest PTC Creo edition – and, according to Thomson and his team, even more enhancements already lined up and ready to be added in when the first maintenance release comes around.

For now, here’s a brief guide to some of the highlights of this Creo 9 release.

1

FREEFORM CAPABILITIES

Creo’s Sub-D Freestyle modelling functionality was originally introduced way back in Creo 2.0.

This allows users to manipulate a control mesh around a CAD model, which is clearly very useful. In Creo 9, however, PTC has gone further, by adding the ability to modify that mesh using brushes. What this means is that, instead of picking an individual vertex of the control mesh, users can now use their mouse as a brush. From there, they can choose both the diameter of the brush head and the hardness fall-off, in order to better control the sensitivity of brush strokes that manipulate all of the control vertices touched. This can then be used to push and pull surfaces as needed, mirror them, or even to attach them to an imported STL file and sculpt over it.

2

DIVIDE/UNIFY SURFACES

The ability to divide and unify a surface supports a bucketload of valuable use cases. For example, it can be extremely helpful when it comes to rendering aesthetics, simulation load regions, engraving and generative design load and constraint surfaces. Likewise, it works well in simpler contexts, too, enabling a user to switch a surface colour, so you can find it in an assembly quicker, for example. The new Divide Surface command inside Creo lets the user take either a given chain of curves, a loop of curves or a sketched entity and project that onto the surface, and split a single surface or multiple surfaces. This allows you to then isolate those surfaces and do your thing. And, should you wish, you can unify the surfaces again using the Unify Surface command.

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ATES

3

CURVE FROM POINT

The ´curve from point’ tool in Creo 9 enables users to specify a point on a surface or geometry, give it a direction, and it will then create a geodesic curve between two points that represents the shortest distance following along the surface.

This builds on the geodesic curve functionality introduced in Creo 8 and, in its newest incarnation, may prove particularly valuable for designers and engineers creating composite design products; for example, when a users is looking to lay fabric down over a shape with a straight edge to it and needs to ensure that the material conforms to the shape of their geometry. Being able to quickly and easily identify this geodesic curve speeds up the overall design process and provides users with an additional level of control.

4

CUSTOM MANNEQUINS

Expanded ergonomic tools have been included in this release, in order to help designers create products that comply with safety, health and workplace standards. While Creo has shipped for years now with a library of mannequins built to fit specific standards, some customers said that they wanted to be able to create their own custom dummies to fit specific demographics. Creo 9 now includes this capability. Mannequin reach has also been added as a constraint: this means that if changes are made to a CAD model, the model will regenerate and so will that constraint.

If, for any reason, a mannequin is unable to reach a particular area, it still moves to its extremities of reach, but Creo displays a dimension that tells the user how far short of that location it is.

5

FLUID FLOW LATTICE SIMULATION

Creo 9 also sees an expansion of formula-driven lattice structures to create gyroids. That’s great for a snazzy concept of a heat exchanger, but it’s a capability that Creo 9 backs up by enabling users to perform fluid flow simulations using Creo Simulation Live. PTC has worked hard to make these features more user-friendly, with an ‘initial simulation’ option available. This enables users to quickly ensure that a given optimisation study is set up correctly, saving them valuable time that might otherwise be spent making painstaking corrective tweaks. PTC has also introduced support for variable wall thicknesses, allowing users to vary thicknesses, to block off volumes entirely, as well as to explicitly control how fluid will flow through a product.

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PROFILE

WIDE BLUE WONDER

» With her maiden voyage now under her belt, Wonder of the Seas is preparing for a busy 2022. At shipyard Chantiers de l’Atlantique, engineers explain how CAD integration with digital twin technology helped to turn this complex design concept into competitive advantage

W

onder of the Seas is exactly as described – an engineering marvel.

At 362 metres in length, and weighing in at 236,857 gross tons, the world’s largest passenger ship boasts a cruising speed of 22.5 knots.

The ship was built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France. The company is one of Europe’s most renowned shipyards and the name behind some of the world’s most legendary ships, including the SS Normandie and the Queen Mary 2.

“At our yard, we are aware that we have designed and built one of the most exceptional ships in the history of the cruise market,” says Laurent Castaing, general manager of Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “Wonder of the Seas is a unique synthesis of innovation, state-of-theart technologies and the savoir faire of thousands of engineers and skilled workers.”

The numbers are incredible. Wonder of the Seas’ 18 decks contain 2,865 staterooms, capable of handling up to 6,988 passengers, as well as 2,300 crew. There are 24 elevators, 20 restaurants and 35 bars, not to mention water parks with giant, swirling, deck-to-deck slides, a zipline, theatres, a casino and climbing walls. One of the special features on board is the Central Park, home to over 10,000 real plants.

Construction began in April 2019 and cruise line Royal Caribbean took delivery of the ship in early November 2021. Against a backdrop of pandemic-related delays, the delivery timeline was as impressive as the ship’s size and amenities.

“Harnessing complexity for us is a matter of process,” explains Yves Pelpel, technical director at Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “This is especially true for engineering. We have a robust process that we have developed over a number of years. In terms of competitiveness, the more complexity we have, the happier we are because it will be more difficult for Far East competitors to enter the market.”

SMOOTH SAILING One of the key ways Chantiers de l’Atlantique manages complexity is by using a customised, integrated digital twin built in Intergraph SmartMarine software. The CAD system is directly linked to its SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which contains the entire structure, its piping, HVAC and cable trays.

“Around that we have different tools connected with that system,” says Pelpel, explaining that this keeps the company one step ahead of its competition, allowing it to undertake pre-outfitting and conduct engineering phases in advance Immense as the digital twin is, the entire model is updated nightly, so that all stakeholders are working with the correct data and information.

Like most ships from Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Wonder of the Seas contains millions of parts, thousands of components and a huge variety of finished products, ranging from the floors of prefabricated cabins, elevators, engines and HVAC systems, to water slides and swimming pools. All this needs to be designed and integrated in the digital twin before it is integrated into the physical vessel.

During the process, hundreds of designers, engineers, integrators and production specialists work on each project. To manage this complexity, the entire company works on an object-centric process following the bill-ofmaterials (BOM) throughout the workflow “From the initial design to building the ship, we want to stay object-centric,” explains Sébastien Blanchard, PDM and CAD manager of Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “We have a system with an automatic BOM and we directly go from the 3D model or the 2D model in the CAD system to the ERP every night.

“For one ship, we send nearly 100,000 parts in our BOM from the 3D model to the ERP system every single night. This is the only way that everyone involved can be up-to-date.”

‘‘ Wonder of

the Seas is a unique synthesis of innovation, state-ofthe-art technologies and the savior faire of thousands of engineers and skilled workers

’’

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Cruise operator Royal Caribbean took delivery of Wonder of the Seas in November 2021

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PROFILE PROFILE

1

CABIN FEVER To fit out the thousands of cabins onboard, Solid Edge is used, with each prefabricated layout tailored to the personality of each individual ship. Solid Edge is used to design and verify the initial integration of the cabins into the vessel via the SmartMarine digital twin. This is an important part of the ship’s design and requires many iterations between teams at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, shipowners and third-party architects and designers.

Once a basic layout has been agreed, specialists from the design and engineering teams create each cabin in precise detail, including basic room design, bathroom layout and electrical cabling, as well as design elements such as lighting, bespoke woodwork and unique furnishings. The entire process is completed in Solid Edge, from the first conceptual phase to the second, more detailed design phase.

“Working in Solid Edge lets us go from a general design phase to a much more detailed phase without losing information,” says Gwenael Enet, cabins design department manager, Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “Solid Edge allows us to improve the quality of our cabin design models. We can communicate better – not only with the different designers and architects on the customer side – but also with our suppliers and colleagues in production who have to integrate our cabin designs into SmartMarine.”

Cabins are constructed on a dedicated assembly line in the shipyard, where they construct between 25 and 30 cabins per day. Each prefabricated layout is ready to be placed into the cruise ship under construction, saving time and boosting the overall quality of the integration process.

1 At 362m in length, The advantages of Chantiers de l’Atlantique process, says ● and with a cruising Gossiaux, is that it enables designers to create concepts speed of 22.5 knots, while interfacing with other teams and design studios this ship is a majestic working on concepts for other sections of the ship, while sight to behold coordinating the entire vessel digitally throughout the 2 A digital twin ● of the ship was company, using the SmartMarine interface. built in Intergraph “You have to remember that our main job is as an SmartMarine integrator,” says Gossiaux. “We have to be able to work together extremely well, so it is not just everyone working on their own in their own camp, so to speak.”

She continues: “The main idea is to utilise both solutions to our advantage and make a little flowchart: what do we do with SmartMarine and what do we do with Solid Edge.”

The process of creating this massive digital infrastructure is still a work-in-process, especially as the teams look to further homogenise the process, adding a more detailed standard catalogue and data structure, even as cruise ships continue to grow in scale and complexity.

And as part of staying at the cutting edge of development, Chantiers de l’Atlantique is adding more environmentally friendly technology to its ships, developing its own fuel cell technology and launching its first vessels with sail propulsion by 2025, helping to bring the wonder of ocean travel to passengers for many years to come.

www.chantiers-atlantique.com

2

INTEGRATION SKILL “We handle an enormous number of objects and need a tool that can interface between hundreds of different jobs,” says Marie-Gabrielle Gossiaux, technical manager of hull integration. “So it is extremely important to have a unique digital twin that every person can consult easily based on SmartMarine. On the other hand, Solid Edge helps us develop concepts that are more mechanical, more complex.”

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techtoday.lenovo.com/workstations

Technical report

Technical report - ThinkPad P16

Lenovo ThinkPad P16

T

he ThinkPad P16 is one of the most ambitious mobile workstations to come out of Lenovo in recent years.

It marks the convergence of two different form factors – the 15-inch and 17-inch – into an innovative high performance 16-inch chassis.

But it’s not just its size that’s different.

With a brand new industrial design, the ThinkPad P16 brings Lenovo’s legendary mobile workstation family bang up to date with a sleek, modern aesthetic and premium materials, including an anodised aluminium ‘storm grey’ cover.

With a 16:10 aspect ratio on the display, which includes a 4K OLED option, and thin bezels on each edge, the chassis is equivalent in size to a more traditional 15.6-inch laptop.

Optimised performance

The high-end mobile workstation is designed for the most demanding

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professionals, including product designers, architects, engineers, and visualisation specialists.

Performance is up front and centre.

Powered by the new 12th Generation Intel Core HX processors, the ThinkPad P16 delivers processing performance that can rival desktop workstations.

With up to eight ‘Performance’ cores and eight ‘Efficient’ cores, for a total of 16 physical cores and 24 threads, the processor excels in both single-threaded workflows, such as CAD and Building Information Modelling (BIM), and multithreaded workflows, such as engineering simulation, ray trace rendering and reality modelling.

In addition, the ThinkPad P16 offers a choice of high-performance professional GPUs up to and including the NVIDIA RTX A5500 (16 GB) for the most demanding real-time visualisation and VR workflows.

Other specs include up to 128 GB of DDR5 memory, up to two high performance NVMe SSDs and the very latest in wireless connectivity including Intel WiFi 6E AX211 and 4G.

Cool operator

Despite offering similar core specifications, not all mobile workstations are the same.

Due to cooling constraints, processors can be fed different levels of power and can sometimes be ‘throttled’ to stop them getting too hot. This is not the case with the ThinkPad P16.

Thanks to its innovative dual vapour chamber, the powerful mobile workstation excels in its thermal design, delivering exceptional performance while running cool under heavy loads.

SCREEN IMAGE COURTESY OF ENSCAPE

The new ThinkPad P16 packs the high-end performance of a 17-inch mobile workstation into a compact 16-inch form factor, powered by new 12th Generation Intel Core HX processors

Learn how the ThinkPad P16 was designed tinyurl.com/P16-D3D

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Technical report - ThinkPad P16

techtoday.lenovo.com/workstations

ThinkPad P16 - tech highlights With a brand new industrial design, the ThinkPad P16 delivers exceptional performance in a stylish, strong and durable 16-inch form factor

FHD camera The FHD (1,920 x 1,080) camera delivers a higher resolution for better video conferencing and comes with hardware noise reduction. There’s also a ThinkPad Webcam Privacy Shutter and an IR option for Windows Hello support

16-inch pro display

SCRE

EN IM

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COUR TESY

OF LU X

ION / S

ERGIO L

OZA

With a 16:10 aspect ratio, the 16-inch display has 11% more pixels and a significantly greater viewable working space. It also creates a ‘deeper’ system which allows for thinner bezels and an improved screen-to-body ratio.

Resolutions go up to WQUXGA (3,840 x 2,400). There are IPS or OLED options for exceptional colour saturation and dark blacks, up to 600-nit peak brightness, 100% Adobe RGB colour gamut, X-Rite colour calibration, and low-blue light for reduced eye strain

KEYS

HOT

ThinkPad keyboard The ThinkPad keyboard has been enhanced with a ‘soft landing’ design that provides more shock absorption for smoother and more responsive typing. The keyboard is backlit, spill resistant and also aids cooling, by drawing in air between the keys to increase air flow through the fans

Power and security Touchpad & TrackPoint For improved control, the 115mm wide touchpad is 15% wider than before, while a new ‘glass like’ mylar surface decreases friction for a more premium experience. The TrackPoint cap has also been improved to deliver ‘more certain and precise movement’ and decrease wear

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Strength and style

The power button features an integrated on chip fingerprint reader for enhanced security and a cleaner, less cluttered design. Engineering simulation was used to optimise the shape and spring force of the button

The palm rest is crafted from ABS plastic and polycarbonate. To echo the aesthetic of the anodised aluminium ‘A Cover’, it is coated with advanced anti fingerprint paint. Meanwhile, a solid magnesium sub frame or ‘roll cage’ gives the laptop its renowned ThinkPad strength and rigidity

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techtoday.lenovo.com/workstations

Antenna performance The ThinkPad P16 comes with a range of options for wireless connectivity, including Intel WiFi 6E AX211 and 4G. To optimise the performance of the antennas, a window is cut out of the anodised aluminium ‘A Cover’

Technical report - ThinkPad P16

Serviceability To minimise downtime in the rare event of a failure, or to extend product life through easy upgrades, the ThinkPad P16 was built with serviceability in mind. A service hatch with a single screw gives easy access to one of two NVMe drives and two (out of four) memory slots, while the second NVMe drive, Wi-Fi and 4G modules can be accessed by opening the entire bottom cover

Premium frame For strength and rigidity the ‘A Cover’ features a magnesium subframe, finished in anodised aluminium for a premium look and feel, with a ‘storm grey’ finish

Tough cookie To help ensure long term durability, the ThinkPad P16 goes through a rigorous process of in-house ‘torture tests’, including thousands of open-close cycles for the zinc alloy hinges. To demonstrate its toughness, the ThinkPad P16 is also put through the US Department of Defense’s MIL-STD 810G standards, which include tests for mechanical shock, humidity, cold, heat, sand & dust, vibration and more

Sustainability

Rear connectivity Many of the ThinkPad P16’s ports, including HDMi, power and Intel Thunderbolt 4, are located to the rear of the machine for a clutter free desk

The ThinkPad P16 follows Lenovo’s commitment to environmental sustainability, utilising 30% postconsumer recycled plastic material (PCC) in the speaker enclosure and 97% PCC in the batter pack frame and FSC certified materials used in the carton and accessory box. Lenovo has also launched a CO2 Carbon Offset Service based on ‘realistic’ five year product emissions covering production, shipment and typical usage

Thermal exhaust The ThinkPad P16 features an advanced thermal design to keep the system running fast and cool. Cool air is drawn in from the bottom and through the keyboard, then expelled at the rear, rather than the side, so it does not heat up the user’s hands

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Technical report - ThinkPad P16

techtoday.lenovo.com/workstations

Game changing performance With a new hybrid architecture, the Intel ‘Alder Lake’ HX series of mobile processors, at the heart of the ThinkPad P16, give a phenomenal performance uplift in multi-threaded workflows like ray trace rendering

N

ew 12th Generation Intel Core processors are different to all previous Intel processors.

They are the first to feature a hybrid architecture with two different types of cores: Performance (P) cores for primary tasks and Efficient (E) cores, which are heavily focused on maximising performance per watt. Intel calls this its biggest architectural shift in a decade.

The idea behind Intel’s hybrid architecture is that critical software, including your current active application, runs on the P-cores, while tasks that are not so urgent run on the E-cores. This could be background operations such as Windows updates, anti-virus scans, or hidden tabs on a web browser. No processing power is ever wasted. If the software is highly multi threaded then it will run on both sets of cores.

P-cores are not only faster than E-cores, but they also support hyperthreading, Intel’s virtual core technology. This means every P-core can run two threads at the same time, which can help boost performance in certain multi-threaded workflows, such as ray trace rendering.

12th Gen Intel Core HX

The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 features 12th Generation Intel Core HX processors.

Specifically designed for high-end laptops and mobile workstations, they offer more cores than the 12th Generation Intel Core H processors, found in the super slim Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 5.

With 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores, for a total of 16 physical cores and 24 threads, 12th Generation Intel Core HX processors are designed to take performance to new levels.

They offer a significant performance uplift compared to 11th Generation Intel Core processors, which maxed out at 8 cores and 16 threads.

The performance benefits are likely to be felt most strongly in highly multithreaded workflows such as ray trace rendering. Here, applications such as Luxion KeyShot and Chaos V-Ray should

be able to harness the full processing capabilities of both sets of cores.

That’s not to say 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors won’t deliver improvements in single threaded workflows. With a higher Instruction Per Clock (IPC) than 11th Gen Intel Core processors, the ThinkPad P16 should also deliver a significant uplift in Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) software, in applications including Solidworks, Inventor, AutoCAD and Revit.

Optimised cooling, optimised performance The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 features an advanced thermal design to help it run cool and quiet and maintain exceptionally high levels of performance over extended periods.

The system is built around a dual vapour chamber cooling solution that balances the thermal load between the CPU and GPU. So, if you have a workflow that

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stresses the CPU, such as ray trace rendering, but hardly uses the GPU, the system can automatically borrow some of the GPU’s thermal budget so more power can be delivered to the CPU. In the ThinkPad P16, each processor has its own fan and vapour chamber, which are connected to one another by a copper plate and a shared heat

pipe. This effectively creates one very large cooling assembly which can spread heat very quickly.

According to Lenovo, using this vapour chamber design can increase the total Thermal Design Power (TDP) capability of the system by 10W to 20W, leading to a 6% to 12% improvement in thermal performance.

In other words, it can pump more

power into the CPU and GPU as and when required, to increase frequencies for faster processing.

In fact, it can deliver up to 55 watts to the Intel Core HX processor and up to 125 watts to the GPU, the kind of power traditionally associated with a larger 17-inch mobile workstation and way above that of a typical 15-inch mobile workstation.

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INTERVIEW

Q&A 3D PRINTING AT EPSON » Fresh from the announcement of an industrial 3D printing system, we had an exclusive chat with Epson head of manufacturing solutions Volker Spanier about the origins of the company’s technology in this area and how it intends to position its brand in the expanding world of additive manufacturing

Q A

: Can you give us an idea of the background behind the new 3D printer’s development?

: At the 2017 CeBIT exhibition, Epson Group’s president at the time, Minoru Usui, explained that Epson would first observe the developments of the 3D printing landscape to better understand whether Epson could offer value in this area. The competitive advantages of Epson’s technology portfolio derive from leveraging its own precision and digital technologies, and it was important for Epson to focus on this at the early stages of its new product development for 3D printing.

Q A

: Why has Epson chosen FDM as the technology to embrace? Is it purely from the materials perspective?

: Epson’s flat screw method is based on the same principle as FDM, but our technology is more advanced. The flat screw (F/S) method of material extrusion is superior to inline screw (I/S) and filamentbased methods in terms of material versatility, strength and precision on/off control.

Q A

: What does Epson see as the key issues in this sector, and how is it looking to fix these?

: The top three challenges of 3D printing are a limited number of materials available for each method, needing a better balance between lot size and cost, and producing end products that are both highquality and cost-effective, which Epson’s 3D printers improve on.

Epson’s aim is to innovate in the area of manufacturing innovation by creating highly productive and flexible production systems with a low environmental impact. In this context, Epson 3D printers will contribute to mass

customisation, providing customised products with the same quality, cost and delivery as mass production, using eco-friendly and environmentally friendly materials and digital technology to create mass production quality.

The combination of Epson’s own precision injection control technology based on Techforum’s technology (flat screw) ensures the use of versatile materials. Injection is possible even for super engineering plastics such as PEEK (polyetheretherketone).

Epson’s proprietary technology ensures: • Constant injection rate technology (constant pressure control technology using a pressure sensor to feed back to the flat screw speed); • Precise flow control technology (control of resin flow by means of a valve adapted to the build trajectory speed) ON/OFF mechanism; • High-strength layering technology (temperature control of the build surface using heaters and temperature sensors) to produce parts with the precision and strength required for industrial use).

Q A

: Is there a particular spot in the market that Epson is targeting?

: We will consider the appropriate price based on the specifications and the market price, which is expected to be between ¥20-30 million per unit (roughly £120k to 180k). In general, the unit purchase price of general-purpose pellet materials is about one-tenth of that of dedicated filament materials and dedicated powder materials. Other companies’ filament 3D printers are limited in the materials they can use, which makes it difficult to produce high-content materials such as cellulose, wood filler and carbon fibre, but Epson 3D printers are able to meet this challenge. www.epson.com DEVELOP3D.COM JUNE / JULY 2022 47

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INTERVIEW

BETA MAXX With a role that falls somewhere between a detective, uncovering clues as to where big opportunities for innovation might be found, and a horse whisperer, convincing stakeholders that it’s worth risking their careers to take a leap into the unknown, Jude Pullen has worked with many big-name companies, including RS Components and LEGO. Here, the creative technologist gives an insight into that work, helping clients to imagine what the future might look like and understand better the role of beta testing in modern product development

1

Q A

: So, Jude, how does your ‘detective work’ with a client typically begin?

Q A

: Can you tell us what beta testing looks like? Why should companies beta test?

Q A

: Does this mean companies should jettison their secretive R&D labs?

: In my work, my ‘special move’ with many companies is that I uncover the rogue geniuses or potential products already within their midst, with the challenge for me being to polish the rough diamond, such that everybody sees its potential and can take it further.

A curious thing about big companies is that, despite having truly world-leading talent, often things under their noses are not understood, or even noticed, by the majority in the company. I love the thrill of discovering something ‘hidden’ with what is often a reframing of the people and opportunity. The company does not then have to search for a ‘magic bullet’, and the relief that ‘it was in us all along’ is palpable. That is ‘Part One’ of the journey, so to speak.

: Once the internals of the company are refreshed, realigned and focused, Part Two begins. This is where beta testing can add value to companies looking to innovate more in a ‘dialogue’ with their consumers. I have worked on covert R&D projects, often lasting two or three years, and some costing millions. In truth, part of me loves deeply focused and somewhat obsessive work like this.

Conversely, when you have ‘a vision’ or ‘a mission’, as many start-up founders do, but not necessarily the certainty that the ‘innovation’ is right, or that people will ‘get it’, this is when beta testing can outpace secretive R&D. We see this in the digital world, where A/B tests are rapidly iterated, to hone in on what is a good product/market fit. Moreover, if the market is fashionable and/or fast moving, a three-year R&D cycle can be risky. If a year before launch, the market shifts from where you thought it was going, you have potentially wasted two years.

: To be clear, I am not saying R&D is dead, and agile is king. Many companies, in fact, have a hybrid approach, but the trick is to know when you are developing a core capability, technology or platform, and when you are creating interactions with the customer on top of this.

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XXED At Dyson, I saw this with the motor, battery and airflow technology as the core capabilities that not only produced powerful vacuum cleaners, but subsequently yielded advances in fans, hairdryers, and to an extent electric cars, as these core technologies were transferred to places beyond cleaning floors.

If you’ve purchased a car, you are likely purchasing a chassis of which only a few variations exist, but with a fancy outer shell and interior. This production line efficiency is now being applied through sustainable design and is called ‘pace layering’.

LEGO makes a lot of sets with a core selection of bricks and as few special, theme-specific pieces as possible.

This is not just about profit, but it is good for the planet too, as the core elements can be used in more sets and are more flexible for the end user.

German company Festo is another hybrid innovator that challenges its engineers to create wildly ambitious solutions, such as recreating the flight of a bird, using lightweight materials and pneumatics, or to replicate the ‘energy recovery’ of a kangaroo’s leg muscles mechanically.

This is not simply about team building, but fundamental research and creative application of biomimicry. When the teams perfect their kangaroo leg, the designs are abstracted such that they can be applied to industrial applications like automotive suspension systems. These ground-breaking advances are not trivial and are commercialised with the business acumen you’d expected from a German powerhouse of innovation.

The quirky kangaroo project serves its purpose in the media, but their clients appreciate that something core will be progressed in further R&D and explored in myriad industries that require storage of mechanical energy. What potentially starts in automotive might evolve to aerospace or medicine. With the intellectual property defined, the fun of beta testing can begin.

Nike, where footwear R&D will see years of investment, develops iterations through engaging star athletes to test, review and demand the future. What is encouraging about Nike’s story, according to co-founder Phil Knight’s book, Shoe Dog, is that even though their blunders sometimes risked injury to athletes, the spirit of constantly moving forwards is one that transcends the trial and error of their process – all in the pursuit of besting the best-in-class.

The commitment to involve the end users in beta testing and ideation is part of what gives Nike the edge.

Insight from the real world helps avoid R&D that is

Inventor Jude Pullen answers our questions on his distinctive approach to innovation

outdated at launch, but also a mix of dogged persistence to uncover new ground is vital for creating a paradigm shift in the market. Nike fostered a collaborative connection with athletes, so the highs and lows were shared, making a powerful synergy between company and consumer.

Q A

: Given the amount of data that products ‘in the wild’ generate, how is this affecting beta testing?

: Increasingly, companies are releasing ‘combinations’ of beta tests within a crowd-pleasing campaign message. Think of it like Russian dolls: on the outside, Apple AirPods are overtly a compelling offering of a compact audio experience. However, if you consider the inner layers, Apple will likely be able to pair your physiological response to what you are listening to. If it knows your posture, it can infer how engaged or alert you are, likely even if you smiled or not. Have you noticed your ears move when you smile? These are all potential data points to collect and innovate with.

If this sounds a little too creepy to sell as a product today, you’re likely not alone. It’s better to create a loved experience – in this case, spatial headphones – but beta test the biometric data of entertainment until the mass market is ready for it.

This is not to imply any nefarious wrongdoing by Apple, but it is also plausible that the primary offering of many products in the modern age may well have a broader long-term agenda beyond the user’s interaction – Alexa being another well-documented example.

Although it is impossible to say what is the perfect mix is between R&D and beta testing in the wild is for any given company, one thing is clear: doing only one and none of the other is likely to create a critical weakness in any company, that will be exploited by the competition, be it large or small.

By embracing a mix of the two and taking time to work out the right balance, a company will innovate smarter and faster, and its innovations will arguably be more enduring in the future.

Winner of the 2020 IMechE Alastair Graham-Bryce Award, Jude Pullen is one of eight featured inventors in BBC Two’s ‘Big Life Fix’ documentary series, which helps people with disabilities through technology and design. Jude blends 1 Festo’s ‘kangaroo artistic provocation with novel application of technology in ● leg’ design could go products and strategy. www.judepullen.com | @Jude_Pullen

on to be used in a variety of industrial applications

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PROFILE

WIND OF CHAN » Vestas Wind Systems, the Danish wind turbine company, keeps these vast installations spinning longer using a digital repository for faster, more accurate part production, as Stephen Holmes reports

E 1

2

legant and hypnotic, the whirling blades of wind turbines are one of the most common sustainable energygeneration technologies seen in the world today. But even the producers of such green tech – companies such as Vestas Wind Systems, for example – are looking to make their engineering and manufacturing processes more ecologically sound.

Having completed its first commercial design in 1979, Denmark-based Vestas has focused exclusively on turbine production since 1989. It has designed, manufactured, installed and serviced more wind turbines across the globe than any other company.

The scale and expense of wind turbines make it imperative they function reliably with minimal downtime, in order to be as effective as possible.

And there’s no room for error when it comes to their production and installation, so Vestas depends on numerous inspection gauges at its manufacturing facilities and installation sites.

One example is the ‘top centre’ (TC) marking tool, used by Vestas to mark the root end of turbine blades to align pitch. Typically, this tool might take as much as five weeks to create and deliver using CNC machining.

And, due to limits on machined designs, the Vestas team would have to order multiple versions of the marking tool, in order to fit a range of different blades.

Similar issues are found with the lightning tip receptors that are added to each wind turbine, to help reduce lightning-strike damage. These receptors are machined from aluminium and as a result might take up to 12 weeks to be delivered.

DIRECT AND DIGITAL

3

Vestas made the move to shorten this workflow in 2021, launching its direct digital manufacturing programme.

This is designed to shift the company’s manufacturing processes away from a reliance on outside suppliers and to help build a knowledge base for better collaboration.

The programme includes over 2,000 Vestas parts, all of which are stored in a Markforged Eiger cloud-based digital repository.

From there, employees at any Vestas location – some with little to no additive manufacturing expertise – can quickly search for and then print out any number of fibre-reinforced composite parts on a local X7 printer and composite parts on Onyx One 3D printers.

Jeremy Haight, principal engineer for additive manufacturing and advanced concepts at Vestas,

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ANGE describes the new approach as “end-to-end”, enabling the company’s global sites and partners to 3D-print parts while maintaining central control over 3D models.

“We provide the physical article in near real time to a variety of places. It’s the closest thing to teleportation I think you can get!” he says.

Using the repository, teams at Vestas know they can get consistent, up-to-spec parts, at short notice, without the need for specialists at each of the company’s global facilities. This is helping to dramatically reduce shipping and freight costs, as well as manufacturing lead times.

The TC marking tool that previously took weeks to produce is now made in just a few days. And because the tool is printed using fibre-reinforced nylon Onyx, it now weighs 85% less than before.

For the lightning tip receptors, teams will be able to produce these in 3D-printed copper at the point of need.

Company estimates suggest that it will take about two days to produce these receptors and get them directly into the hands of the assembly teams that need them.

Executives at Vestas see the company’s direct digital manufacturing plans as critical for new product development, as well as tool and end-use part availability.

In 2022, they hope to introduce on-demand gauge production at all manufacturing locations. The company has also partnered with Würth to build an additive ecosystem and manage an inventory of spare parts made with the Markforged Digital Forge platform to support maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) for local field support and other suppliers.

The company is making it easier for staff with the right permissions to scan a part code or search for a part in its EAM and ERP systems, and have it automatically sent to the required 3D printer. It is hoped that this centralised control, managed using its Blacksmith and Eiger Fleet, will produce high-quality, high-performing tools and end-use parts, keeping Vestas turbines turning and green energy flowing. www.vestas.com

1 Vestas has installed more than 145 GW of wind turbines in 85 ●

countries worldwide

2 3D models of parts are kept, ready for 3D printing, in the ●

Markforged Eiger cloud-based repository

3 Vestas has a fleet of Markforged X7 and Onyx One 3D printers at its ●

disposal, based at various manufacturing plants worldwide

4 The ability to 3D print vital parts using internal resources has ●

4

shortened manufacturing times and reduced reliance on third parties

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PROFILE

‘‘

We wanted to show the huge variety of cover materials we have in stock on our website and to show how they actually behave

’’

A visualisation of Thought Whiskey bottle, designed

by D8 using digital replicas of Foilco’s stamping foils, realised by Where Giants Roam using Chaos technology

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BOXING CLEVER

» Simply using recycled materials is not enough to produce packaging that is truly sustainable. What it actually takes is consistent effort to reduce waste and rethink processes, starting right back at the design phase, as sector experts tell Claudia Schergna

I

f you think you’re not the kind of person who judges a book by its cover, try to focus on what makes you buy a specific bottle of shampoo or can of beer next time you’re at the grocery store.

It’s no secret that customer experience goes way beyond what a certain wine tastes like, the scent of a particular perfume, or how much your cat seems to be enjoying that specific brand of canned food.

The end-to-end experience associated with packaging begins with a customer forced to choose between 10 different brands of very similar products, and ends in a trash bin.

Now more than ever, packaging is way more than just a pretty face. Customers are after sustainable alternatives to plastic. Regulators are imposing more restrictions to limit the use of single-use plastic. Retailers are making bold choices to rethink the way they use and produce packaging.

Trivium Packaging is a US company, with 60 locations around the globe, that provides food and cosmetics brands with a sustainable alternative to single-use plastic.

Its aluminium packaging is available in a wide variety of shapes, making it almost as versatile as plastic packaging, with the advantage of being recyclable forever.

“Trivium’s metal packaging offers a unique combination of strength, sustainability and print possibilities that creates an exciting canvas for brands,” says the company’s director of R&D and innovation, Nicole Gailey.

SUSTAINABLE FROM DAY ONE As Gailey explains, employing the right kind of material is just one small step in making sure that the production is sustainable: “Trivium partners with its suppliers and understands that the lifecycle of the products begins with them,” she explains.

Sustainable production can be achieved with simple steps, such as monitoring energy consumption and emissions, maximising recycling rates, optimising the use of secondary packaging materials, managing waste appropriately or focusing on limiting water usage.

Trivium teams’ efforts were recognised with a 2021

EcoVadis sustainability platinum rating, the highest on a scale of recognition levels, based upon a company’s sustainability management system.

The development process at Trivium usually starts by listening to consumers’ needs, wishes and pain points, and by coming up with a creative solution for them.

“Once we have the new idea, that’s where the fun really begins,” says Gailey, as she explains the design process.

“As a team, we start moving from ideation to the formal design and scope of the project. Part of this includes the use of various design and simulation software, where initial concepts are developed and shared.”

ZERO-WASTE DESIGN PROCESS Gailey says 3D printing and rendering software have significantly changed the game at Trivium, as they have broadened the possibilities for the design team in terms of creative freedom and communication.

“This is from a look, form, fit, and even function perspective. For example, we were able to recently use the 3D prototype to print preliminary tooling that was then used to validate the design before moving into the actual manufacturing of the tooling.”

Once testing and evaluation are done, and the team has received acceptance from all stakeholders, the design process moves into the actual realisation of the project.

“Using Solidworks as our key design software, our innovation design engineers develop both 3D models and prints that can then be sent to our internal machine shop for manufacturing,” explains Gailey.

“These 3D models are then also saved and shared with our graphics team for the development of 3D renders for distortion testing, lap line evaluation, and die line preparation for final artwork.”

For the mechanical testing phase, the Trivium design team uses Ansys, which allows it to perform advanced simulations, while Solidworks PDM was selected by the team for managing data.

“The various design and simulation software products are a key part of the design process,” explains Gailey. “Not only

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The ‘‘ customer

typically likes to see a concept in a physical way. If we didn’t use 3D printing, the turnaround time and investment would be significant

’’

do they help to ensure that we can successfully execute the project, but they help to minimise risks, costs and time.”

3D printing is also key to the design process, and it’s used in two different ways, says Gailey: “The first thing that it is used for is concept development and confirmation of fitment for new pumps and caps. The customer typically likes to see the concept in a physical way, where they can hold it in their hands. If we didn’t use this, the turnaround time and investment would be significant.”

The second, Gailey adds, is that often the 3D prototypes are used for initial lab testing of new innovative tool designs. This can be for full tools or just components, to understand fitment or even potential preliminary testing.

1

FROM PHYSICAL TO DIGITAL Being able to visualise the design and share it with customers before going into the prototyping phase makes the whole workflow even more sustainable, as it saves massive quantities of material and allows designers to share the project digitally worldwide, instead of having to present prototypes to clients.

Despite the wide range of software available on the market, however, visualising a design in its true appearance is not always a piece of cake.

The Warrington, UK-based stamping foil company Foilco, which supplies hot stamping foil to packaging businesses, had been looking for a solution to visualise its offer for years. But photographing the reflective, transparent, holographic foil that the company produces seemed impossible.

“When Jamie, our marketing director, started thinking about digitalising our foil collection, I answered, ‘I’ve been doing this job for 22 years and it can’t be done,” says Foilco sales director Matt Hornby.

Recalling numerous attempts to photograph the materials, Hornby adds: “Unlike other materials, where you’ve got textures, like in cloth and fabrics, foil is usually metallic or holographic, so the lights are just pinging off all over the place. We were getting white spots, and black spots, different perceptions of colour, different fractions of light. And that was a massive, massive problem.”

Foilco approached the award-winning graphics and CGI studio Where Giants Roam about producing digital assets to replicate its complete foil range. The Scottish design firm decided to take it on, despite all the intricacies of the case.

1 ● 2 Digital replicas ●

of the stamping foils used for the Thought Whiskey Bottle 3 Solidworks is used ●

to develop the form of aluminium canisters 4 Trivium produces ●

packaging using recycled aluminium

4

2

3 “I vividly remember that Jamie phoned me up and said: ‘We want to digitise our foils. We’ve got 270 foils we need to recreate’,” says Blair Porter, creative director of Where Giants Roam.

When he heard more about the challenges that Foilco faced in digitalising holographic and metallic materials, Porter immediately thought of Chaos. The 3D rendering and simulation specialist, mostly famous for V-Ray, developed a technology to obtain photorealistic digitalisation of the different kinds of foils.

The process of digitising the foil was anything but easy: “It’s a constant tweaking process,” explains Porter. “If we’ve got the base colour slightly wrong, then we need to compensate for the reflection colour. And we need to consider if it is glossy or if it is matte. We could spend a day trying to create a material and, on the next day, come back to the start all over again.”

One thing that is very easy, however, is the process by which designers can use that asset once it’s scanned and recreated digitally.

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PROFILE

5 “It’s literally drag and drop,” says Porter. “You can just download it from the Chaos site, and you can spend hours playing with them and of course, it is perfectly accurate.

It’s 10,000 photographs that go into a scan. This makes our job much more fun.”

Foilco was not the only company that adopted this Chaos technology to digitise its materials library. Winter and Company, a Swiss materials business that specialises in packaging design for luxury brands and editorial projects, also approached the software company.

Nicolai Winter, a member of the board of directors and representative of the fourth generation of the Winter family business, wanted to digitalise the company’s heritage on its 130th anniversary.

“We wanted to show the huge variety of cover materials that we have in stock on our web, and to show how they actually behave,” explains Winter.

“Now we know exactly what they look like. Five or 10 years ago, when it was just a normal website, the best thing was a good flat plane. But from a flat plane, you

cannot see the exact embossing, you cannot see behaviour in light, you cannot see whether it’s glossy or dull.”

With this technology, customers can now access the Winter website, download any material, and visualise it appearing on the object they are designing, for free.

The collaboration between Chaos, Winter and Co, Foilco and Where Giants Roam, was presented during a launch event in London, where representatives from each company had a chance to explain how being able to visualise materials in their true appearance can hugely contribute to a smoother and more sustainable production process.

Technologies able to bridge between the physical and digital world hold the potential to transform the production process of packaging, from food to luxury cases for jewellery or even books – exactly those books you should very much judge by their covers.

5 Foilco’s stamping ●

foil is widely used in packaging and editorial projects

www.triviumpackaging.com | www.foilco.com www.wheregiantsroam.co.uk | www.chaos.com www.winter-company.com

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PROFILE

THE GREAT OUTDOORS Hard-wearing enamel has found a new home in a range of designer garden furniture that adds even more colour to the summer months. Stephen Holmes speaks to the team at AJ Wells & Sons about the company’s bright new direction

W

ith its extensive knowledge of the vitreous enamel process, AJ Wells & Sons has been designing and manufacturing beautifully finished products for over 50 years.

It has made signage that guides millions of passengers each year on the Paris Metro and the London Underground, including the newly opened Elizabeth Line. It also works on large architectural cladding and interiors projects for designers such as Thomas Heatherwick and Tom Dixon.

The company continues to explore new directions for its enamel finishes and extensive metalworking skills to introduce new products. Vitreous enamel is an incredibly durable, weatherproof and unique finish, and with that in mind, the team looked into developing a range of outdoor home products.

Following market research, the team focused on developing mobile kitchen units, perfect for entertaining guests, preparing meals and lending gardens an amazing pop of colour.

After initial discussions, the development team began to sketch out concepts for its Vlaze Adapt range. “It’s a quick way to explore alternative build methods and refine the overall concepts,” says Vlaze creative director Cedric Wells.

“Once the basic ideas are formed, then block models are developed in Solidworks and renders using Keyshot.

These ideas are then presented to the directors of the company to discuss the alternative ways the products can be progressed to the prototype stage.”

One Adapt design uses a reverse angle on the outer panels, nicknamed the ‘shark nose’ by Wells, to make the appearance lighter and more interesting, combining with the pop of bright-coloured enamel, giving it more character and a more unique form.

Further detail modelling was then carried out and parts developed. Designing products that would need to operate on uneven ground proved to be a challenge. The

solution was a range that can be fitted with a choice of feet or castors to aid movement around different surfaces and gradients of an outdoor space.

With the 3D design finalised, the process moved back into 2D using Bystronic Bysoft CAD/CAM software to draw and nest the panels for cutting on AJ Wells & Sons’ laser system and folded on its programmable press brakes for prototyping.

Wells says that the first physical prototypes generally highlight opportunities to improve the design both in production and also introduce improvements for the end user. Through the process, the dimensions of the structure and strength of the finished product was refined, while also allowing the different processes such as welding and folding to be finetuned for volume manufacturing.

While the interior structure is made from a corrosionresistant grade of stainless steel that can weather the elements and is easy to keep clean, the exterior panels are coated with the vitreous enamel finish for which AJ Wells & Sons is famous.

The enamel coating provides a hard-wearing surface that can stand up to the elements and won’t fade in bright sunlight. Being heatproof and hygienic, it’s perfect for cooking and preparing food.

The nature of applying the enamel means the surfaces can be decorated with a textured or printed finish, and each piece can be customised to a different user’s taste or to complement their existing outdoor furniture.

The first Vlaze prototype was built in late 2019. Since then, demand for home improvement has rapidly increased following the pandemic and the Vlaze range has expanded to take advantage of that shift.

A range of different sizes is now available, while the fitting of various grills, sinks and fridges has resulted in the introduction of multiple options and offshoots.

With the outdoor range now stretching to planters and fire pits, the company has its feet well and truly under the table. www.ajwells.co.uk

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‘‘

Sketching is a quick way to explore alternative build methods and refine the overall concepts. Once the basic ideas are formed, we then move on to modelling in Solidworks

’’

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LOST IN TRA CAD data is a valuable resource, but sharing it between suppliers and manufacturers often results in expensive translation work.

James Kirkman of CIMPA UK looks at the hidden costs associated with moving CAD data from one system to another

F

or OEMs and suppliers, the process of sharing CAD files without error, and translating it fron one system to another, remains an expensive business. Many of the associated costs are hidden, making it hard to identify, understand and reduce them. Let’s start by highlighting where many of those costs are found.

First, there are PDQ checks. Here, data quality is checked to ensure that geometry is clean for downstream use and manufacturability. Any data received that has errors may cause downstream problems, so it needs to be checked immediately, at the point of entry, and any errors should be flagged. This can be manually intensive and may involve the purchase of additional CAD licences.

If you are receiving data from multiple sources, then each of those will require equivalent licenses. And if that software isn’t part of your core product development workflow, then this is an overhead you could happily live without.

Second, there’s data translation. This is the process of actually translating the data into a format that you use.

Again, it can be manually intensive and prone to errors.

As we all know, CAD systems all have their differences.

To move a CAD model from one software package to another, you need the requisite expertise in both systems.

Gaining this expertise isn’t just expensive and timeconsuming. It can also mean your most experienced people are spending their time converting data, rather than working on your core business. They need to remain highly trained in the latest versions of multiple systems to handle the task without adding further errors to the data.

Finally, there’s process control and reporting. What is the process for reporting back to a data supplier that

you’ve found errors and asking for new data? How do you ensure that the report has been received by the supplier and the errors have been fixed? What internal processes are in place to prevent error-filled data being used at your organisation? How many errors are you receiving and of what type? How much of your company’s time is all this taking, if you are regularly translating data only to end up sending it back to its supplier? That’s a lot of questions to answer and a lot more tasks to be assigned.

MARKET RESPONSES Fortunately, the marketplace offers multiple solutions that deliver data exchange capabilities to suit a range of budgets.

Many PLM [product lifecycle management] systems have the ability to route data as part of the engineering process. While these capabilities might help with quality control and with monitoring routing processes, they will not necessarily cope with external suppliers, nor with receiving and/or passing data outside of your company.

Likewise, ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems can also route data, but these are typically created to cope with manufacturing, rather than the more flexible process of engineering design. Changing an existing PLM or ERP system might actually introduce costs rather than reducing them – but for challenging and potentially long-term workflows, it’s worth considering.

There are also companies and services that will perform your CAD data exchange as a direct translation service (either in bulk or as individual projects). That said, this approach does not guarantee the quality of the data or help with reporting and routing costs. There may also be data security considerations to weigh up when it comes to some ‘freelance’ web-based services.

1 Original CAD ●

data is frequently exported as an STP file from systems such as Catia 2 This can leave ●

users with the problem of data that needs fixing before it will work well in a second, target CAD system 3 Getting a good ●

end result from data transferred from one CAD to another often takes time, money and expertise

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FEATURE

RANSLATION 1

‘‘ There are more options now than ever

before, and these can work wonders for reducing overheads and getting designs to market faster

’’Managed complete data translation services, capable

of all the above processes do exist, however. At CIMPA, this is what we offer. A service like this will route back individual errors to both you and the customer, or forwards internally to your team.

It can be set up to dip into a data repository at both the customer and your own systems, translate the data and populate the correct areas, possibly even fixing the errors at the same time. This approach typically suits larger companies, given the upfront costs involved, and it’s up to the user to choose the services required.

However, some of our clients with smaller engineering staff numbers find it beneficial for freeing up their staff to create CAD, rather than waste hours of their experience each week solving problems with it.

It’s all about finding the solution that works for you and your budget. There are more options now than ever before, and these can work wonders for both reducing overheads and getting designs to market faster.

James Kirkman is UK sales account manager for CIMPA UK, which has expertise spanning all the facets of PLM services, from creating or refreshing a PLM strategy, to deploying tools, processes and methods, and educating and assisting users www.cimpa.com

2

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FEATURE

1

HOT STUFF

» Having been chosen from thousands of global classic cars and hot rods, a UK car became the first international winner of the 2021 Hot Wheels Legends Tour.

Stephen Holmes gets up to speed on this diminutive die-cast design process

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1 Ain’t No Saint is ●

put through its paces on the quarter-mile asphalt 2 Early 3D-printed ●

form prototypes of the Hot Wheels model 3 3D printing plays ●

an important role throughout the design process

4 The Hot Wheels ●

3

4

design team tests models on its famous loop 5 A late-stage ●

prototype (left), alongside the final product (right) 6 The British-born ●

gasser proudly joins the Hot Wheels Legends line-up

5

A

lready a legend on the track, Lee Johnstone’s 1969 Volvo P1800 Gasser is on course to reach wider fame with its form immortalised as a 1:64 Hot Wheels toy.

The racing green dragstrip firecracker, nicknamed ‘Ain’t No Saint’, is raced by Somerset, UKbased Johnstone with his wife and three daughters.

Originally purchased as a stripped shell, too far gone to restore as a road car, the Gasser now boasts a 600bhp big-block, supercharged 454 Chevrolet V8 engine, which has powered it to run a quarter-mile drag race in 10.01 seconds and reach a top speed of 133mph.

But perhaps the biggest prize it has won to date is arguably Hot Wheels’ inaugural international search for a legendary custom car to be scaled down to become a permanent fixture in Hot Wheels history.

6

Examples of factors include being able to perform a full loop-the-loop, pass through a tunnel and take advantage of features such as the track’s acceleration boosters and rear striking panels.

Modelling the key details involves using reference images of the car to capture as much detail as possible at 1/64 scale. In this case, it included the Volvo P1800’s iconic front profile and swooping rear roofline, as well as the track car’s enormous protruding engine block and air intake.

A RACE TO THE FINISH

Aside from Geomagic Freeform, the designers often lean on other software including PTC Creo as the design moves towards production and the team creates the tooling model necessary for the diecast manufacturing process.

“We are limited to certain material thicknesses and tolerances,” explains Benedict. “The trick is to work RECREATION FROM SCRATCH with and around those parameters and get the best The process to downscale the car began at a much more representation of the vehicle we are making.” sedate pace away from the track, as the team at Hot The design process also incorporates several rounds Wheels, owned by toy giant Mattel, recreated the car from of physical prototyping, including 3D printing, first scratch from its US design studio. tooled samples and pre-production samples. Quick SLA “For this project, we started with a few sketches and 3D-printed prototypes produced on a desktop Elegoo Mars measurements and images of the car,” says Hot Wheels 2 Mono help guide the concepts, while a Stratasys J750 3D design director Bryan Benedict. “We then begin work printer is used to produce multiple variants for assessment on what could be described as a ‘digital ball of clay’ to while maintaining the detail levels and adding colour. sculpt from.”

It’s important to test the designs for use, including Hot Wheels has a team of around 60 designers and materials, for fatigue, performance and safety, all engineers for its diecast toys, with most of the team using performed by the team’s engineers. While a digital model Geomagic Freeform Plus, developed by Oqton, for sub-d test is important, most of the validation is done using modelling of the vehicles. physical pre-production samples, with drop-testing for Usually, a quick sketch is used to figure out how the car durability and safety checks to test for choking hazards, will be divided into three parts: its undercarriage, interior as well as multiple runs on those famed orange tracks. and outer shell.

With its exaggerated engine profile, drag-racer “We have a strict set of dimensions we must design suspension angle, and wheels that look huge in against, to make sure each new model can fit within proportion to the vintage Volvo shell, people have always the various track sets we offer,” explains Benedict. “The told Lee Johnstone that his car looks just like a Hot Volvo has to have enough ground clearance, including Wheels model. Today, as it navigates the iconic loop, it approach and departure angles, to perform on our indisputably is just that. iconic orange track.” www.hotwheels.com

‘‘ We’re limited

to certain material thicknesses and tolerances, but the trick is to work with and around those parameters, to get the best representation of the vehicle we are making

’’

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PROFILE

HIVE MIND » Hiive is an innovative human-animal-centred design, created by a German start-up, which aims to provide beekeepers with an alternative to outdated and unsustainable traditional beehives.

Claudia Schergna met the team behind the hive

A

sked to help a friend with his beekeeping, German industrial designer Philip Potthast could not believe his eyes when he saw how antiquated the equipment was. And it didn’t take him long to realise this was not an isolated case.

“For many people, a beehive is just a box with bees inside, and that includes many beekeepers,” says Potthast, stressing the fact that, since artificial beehives were introduced over two centuries ago, this kind of equipment has barely changed.

Aware that bees, among the most important pollinators of plants - including our food crops - are facing extinction, he started thinking about how he could employ his knowledge to tackle this issue. To help him in his mission, he partnered with Fabian Wischmann, who he met at the Startup Centre of the University of Applied Sciences, Berlin.

The main issue with traditional beehives, Potthast explains, is that the climate inside those boxes is nothing near the one that bees find in their natural habitats among tree hollows.

This is what inspired the design at the heart of Hiive, the company that Potthast and Wischmann co-founded to help beekeepers tend their honeybees in a natural, sustainable way, by reproducing the microclimate of a tree.

“Most of the time, [beehives] are handcrafted by some companies who work with wood,” says Potthast, highlighting how the usual shape of bee boxes – a cube – is totally inadequate for the purpose.

“There are no cubes in nature,” he points out, explaining that the use of this shape directly affects life within the hive, including the inside temperature, moisture levels and the space available for bees.

The cylindrical structure used by Hiive mimics the natural geometry of a tree hollow. Using plant-based hemp to produce the cover provides natural insulation, keeping the inside temperature cool in the summer and warm in the winter, while helping regulate moisture.

This way, the bees can expend less of their energy heating the hive in winter, which they do by gathering and vibrating, and they always experience the right humidity level.

ANIMAL MAGIC Potthast describes Hiive as being an ‘animal-centred’ design, as opposed to traditional boxes, which only consider the needs of beekeepers.

By providing bees with something closer to their natural habitat, the new hive helps support bees’ natural behaviour and increases their resilience. This doesn’t mean that beekeepers have not been taken into consideration, however. Quite the opposite, says Potthast: “We have a lot of features in there for making it usable for the humans, like usability and ergonomics. If we designed it just for the bees, it would have been much easier and cheaper.”

To help beekeepers monitor swarms, Hiive is fitted with low-energy sensors installed all over the hive. Via an app, they get notified on when to expect a swarm and the conditions within.

Hiive is designed in two separate compartments, a honey chamber and a brood chamber, and the honey section can be opened separately for collection without disturbing the brooding room.

The structure is fully modular, with easily exchangeable components that allow for single parts to be replaced in case of damage.

The construction is based on sustainable materials including hemp, wool and clay, as well as polymers. As its designer explains, the project received some criticisms about the use of plastic because of a common misconception. “A lot of people think that polymers are not good. But plastic is not the enemy.

The enemy is the human behind the plastic. Plastic is gold, actually, as long as it’s clean plastic and you can make a long-lasting product with it.”

The use of plastic is limited to the outer structure, while the surface that bees are in contact with is made of the natural fibres.

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2

BUSY BEES Over the past two years, Potthast and Wischmann worked on countless sketches using Adobe Photoshop and Autodesk Fusion 360, where they developed the 3D CAD models and carried out stress simulation tests.

The process then moved into Simplify 3D to prepare the model for 3D printing using their Flow XL CraftBot 3D printer, which was used to create physical mock-ups.

“The first prototype we did was like a spaceship – really ridiculous,” jokes Potthast, thinking about how much the project has evolved over the past two years.

“But that’s when we realised it was too small, and we came up with this really narrow tube design, that is narrower and therefore much longer, as we needed more volume. Now the volume is 45 litres.”

Potthast says 3D printing using the CraftBot turned out to be essential for the development of Hiive as it allowed them to produce prototypes at a reduced price and consumption of materials, giving them the opportunity to test the design multiple times while it was still in development: “You can sketch as much and as well as you want, but there’s nothing comparable to having in real life and holding it and trying it out with real bees, in nature, with the influence of rainstorms.”

An early prototype was knocked down by a storm, leading them to realise that Hiive needed to have a sturdier support structure, which they then developed.

3D printing was also key as it allowed them to produce prototypes to be presented to investors during the product’s Kickstarter campaign.

SWEET VICTORY Incorporating 3D printing in the process and keeping up with the schedule they’d planned wasn’t exactly a piece of

1 The narrow tube ● cake. Potthast recalls sleepless nights during lockdown when he could hear his 3D printer on for hours, terrified design boasts an internal volume of something would go wrong and they would have to start 45 litres all over again.

2 Sketches show ● the thought process They were, in fact, working on a very tight schedule: that went into Hiive’s “The whole timing is set by nature, not by you,” says design Potthast. “We were almost late with the prototyping process, because bees start a new colony in May, and we needed to be ready to go outside with the beehive so we could give new housing to the new colony.”

Without 3D printing, developing the project over lockdown and on a limited budget would have been virtually impossible, says Potthast: “If we were to injection-mould all the prototypes, it would have cost us somewhere around €200,000 and, even assuming we had the money, we would have had to produce a whole range of tooling as well.”

Potthast and Wischmann don’t rule out 3D printing playing a part in manufacturing the end product, depending on the outcome of their Kickstarter campaign.

Something they are sure of is that the design process is far from over: “It is a new product and it’s a good product so far. But there’s always something that you could do a little bit better, and we are not stopping until we really get the best out of it.”

The pair’s work was recognised at the Dyson Awards 2021, where the project was awarded second prize.

Potthast and Wischmann are determined to revolutionise an industry that has seen little innovation for centuries. By offering beekeepers a sustainable and convenient solution, they hope to help tackle the threat of extinction that honeybees are facing and the consequences that would have on the environment.

www.hiive.eu

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LAST WORD

The proposed UK reintroduction of imperial measurements has been welcomed in some quarters. Designers, engineers and manufacturers must speak out before British industry gets burnt, writes Stephen Holmes

T

hings are hotting up here in the UK as we get our own fleeting glimpse of summer.

Temperatures above 30C can inflict undue stress on our infrastructure, hampering not just roads and water supplies (even in a country where rain is the default setting), but also our ability to think straight.

For example, we’re already seeing newspaper headlines about ‘scorching heatwaves’, for which most front covers will employ a classic bit of trickery. In summer, they splash the temperatures in Fahrenheit, rather than Celsius, swapping an uncomfortably hot 32C day for a more serious-sounding 90F inferno.

Our tabloids, of course, are well-known for adding a bit of spice. And, in the winter months, they’re always happy to fall back on Celsius, preparing readers for an ‘Arctic blast’ heading their way. After all, negative temperatures always sound more dramatic.

For many, this annual back-and-forth between Celsius and Fahrenheit is reflective of the weird duality of British measurement. As a nation, we suffer from a collective hangover relating to the imperial system, which governed much of life and industry in the last century.

Today, the use of these measurements continues to be accepted, often running side-by-side with metric measurements.

Should it be pints or litres? A 100-metre sprint or a 24-mile marathon? A 15-stone man eating a 35-gram bar of chocolate?

There’s no doubt about it. The struggle is real — and confusing.

THE ART OF DISTRACTION The Metrication Board in the UK started swapping industry over to the metric system way back in the 1970s. By the 1980s, few bothered with imperial anymore. By the time the UK joined the EU, only the most jingoistic were truly up in arms about not being able to buy tomatoes by the pound.

However, the UK is no longer in the EU. And in an effort to distract people from… well, quite a lot of things actually, the current government says it is ‘giving the British people what they want’. And what they want, it insists, is a return to the imperial system of units.

For some people of a certain age, this is a joy to behold. But for many in our industry, it is a cause of great consternation.

For our last issue, I visited British car maker Alvis, a company that still has all its original engineering drawings, many dating back to the 1920s. Scribbled across some were metric measurements alongside imperial.

The story was that some machinery had been bought in second-hand from Germany in the 1960s, and all parts to be machined on it would have to be recalculated into metric by hand across hundreds of documents.

Some of you reading this may have a similar story, either from this period, or from working with US companies. (I doubt many of you are doing business in Liberia or Myanmar, the only other countries still officially using imperial.)

But after nearly 40 years of normalising metric, there’s a chance of this upheaval returning. At a bare minimum, a reintroduction of imperial measurements would see extra costs associated with

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As a nation, we suffer from a collective hangover relating to the imperial system, which governed much of life and industry in the last century

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new packaging for international markets, reassessment of quality assurance guidelines, issues around recruitment and training, and reams of documentation needing to be rewritten.

As a worst case scenario, you’d better start preparing to get your team fully up to speed on British Standard Whitworth.

The UK government insists that the British people want to see a return to the imperial system of units — but do they really?

IMMINENT UPHEAVAL It all sounds ridiculous, yet these ideas are already being considered as part of the formal planning stages now underway in central government circles.

For my part, I reckon that if you want to consider how you shop for carrots as a form of national identity, it suggests that you’re probably struggling on that front to begin with. But what the hell, go for it.

However, if all this comes to pass and starts creeping into British industry standards, then it has the potential to create all manner of issues.

The big ones will take more than a visit to WolframAlpha to fix, and British manufacturing could be heading towards another cold winter, regardless of whether you write it in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

GET IN TOUCH: Stephen’s off on holiday to Turkey shortly, where the tabloids would almost certainly describe the weather as ‘scorching’.

He intends to spend this time shuffling around a pool in the manner of Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast. Enjoy that image. On Twitter, he’s @swearstoomuch

DEVELOP3DSERVICES TO ADVERTISE YOUR SERVICES HERE CONTACT STEVE KING STEVE@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 20 3355 7314 | +44 (0)7850 507362

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