Although Aerosport Modeling & Design, Inc.’s product development, prototyping, and manufacturing services has deep roots in aviation, Aerosport has worked with thousands of satisfied clients in the automotive, medical, electronic, military, aviation, toy, and consumer products industries. The firm produces high-quality prototypes, appearance models, working models, and machined parts, and also serves as an extension to its clients’ design and engineering teams. & F7 R8 {9 \4 V. n- Q& `+ O8 X8 qAerosport owner Geoff Coombs cities ongoing investments in research and the latest design, prototyping, and manufacturing technologies as critical to the company’s growth, competitiveness, and success. While Aerosport began as a prototype model shop working primarily in the custom model airplane industry, its business soon grew into design, prototyping, and manufacturing services for a range of other industries, operations for which it needed a robust 3D CAD solution. $ V0 J! _* f2 ~9 Y" T5 o简单介绍新西兰AerosportAviation公司,多用途超短起降轻型飞机制造商,公司需要一个完全的3DCAD解决方案。9 i6 Z. @+ t1 Z% ` 6 t. j/ [6 R7 D0 V& | When we started handling work that went far beyond model airplanes—such as medical devices and automotive fixtures—we needed to add an effective design and engineering capability,” Combs recalls. “I asked around and decided to evaluate the Pro/ENGINEER® and SOLIDWORKS® 3D CAD packages. Once I started working with demo copies of the software, it became obvious that SOLIDWORKS had a better interface, was more intuitive, and was easier to use. & X' X2 ~) ^4 Q公司对pro/e和solidworks都做了评估,显然,SOLIDWORKS有一个更好的界面,更直观,更容易使用。& p" e: W! k( m& }
5 L C! Y. b% h3 x) W& H' }“AcquiringSOLIDWORKS Professionaldesign software turned out to be the right decision because more and more of our customers use SOLIDWORKS, which makes collaboration much more efficient,” Combs adds. “We recently added theSOLIDWORKS Composer? package to automate the development of instruction manuals.” 7 ~( x5 W/ u* T, e3 M% ~/ F' _显然,购买solidworks专业设计软件被证明是个正确的决定。最近公司又增加了solidworks composer用于改进产品说明书的策划。4 u9 v; T6 a& G: |1 C8 R 1 g( j6 y. d E5 @ While Aerosport realized significant productivity gains by implementing SOLIDWORKS design software, allowing the company to take advantage of a range of new business opportunities, there was one area of its traditional business that required an additional solution: providing upholstery services for aircraft and automotive seats, including both prototypes and final products.7 _4 F4 j/ U! z 虽然Aerosport公司通过实施SOLIDWORKS设计软件,使公司获得了一系列新的商业机会的优势,显著提高生产力,但其传统业务有一个区域,需要一个额外的解决方案:飞机和汽车座椅内饰设计。, k+ f3 P9 A! E
. e! [/ F7 q/ @! V2 N$ m8 F1 e“Once we began working on the interiors of cars and planes, we needed to upholster seats,” Combs explains. “Upholstering a seat began as a completely manual process for us. To create patterns, we would draw sew lines on the foam seat bun with black magic marker, pin a sheet of cotton over the bun under a piece of drafting mylar, and follow the black marker lines to notch the pattern, adding salvage before sewing it up on our sewing machine. That was a time-consuming process for which we needed a better solution.”" q" v& k7 g+ b9 o6 Z0 Y 设计座椅内饰的过程 $ @( e& P: N2 T5 J / V I! g/ ]* J, W, e1 S% lCombs was researching upholstery-related applications when a supplier suggested the ExactFlat® Design Studio 3D-to-2D flattening application, for use on composites, industrial fabrics, leathers, and other types of technical textiles, from SOLIDWORKS Gold Solution Partner Tri-D Technologies, Inc. % i( @9 n( T2 g( X供应商建议使用ExactFlat® Design Studio的从3D到2D的展开应用,这个插件是solidworks的黄金合作伙伴。 ' I- ~% q) M, }( H0 Y; Q7 r ! l) Y; h( P+ k; p4 a* W/ `DIGITAL AUTOMATION REPLACES MANUAL EFFORT " w2 I: |+ N; S5 O' y: v2 r; xUsing the combination of SOLIDWORKS and ExactFlat software, Aerosport has replaced its manual seat-pattern-making upholstery process with an automated digital approach. The process begins with scanning the seat foam bun, or acquiring a model of it from the manufacturer, to create a 3D solid model in SOLIDWORKS software. Combs then creates the pattern for the seat upholstery using Exact Flat from inside SOLIDWORKS software. 2 e4 d( G* N( c% ~“The new digital approach is much better than doing it by hand,” Combs stresses. “Creating a seat pattern used to take a week or longer, depending on the complexity of the seat. With SOLIDWORKS and ExactFlat, we can finish a pattern in an hour. This solution is saving time and money, as well as enabling us to increase throughput.” , v( Y" e: Z: G2 f/ V2 r这个插件实现了由手工劳动到数字自动化,通过solidworks和Exactfalt的结合,Aerosport公司已经用自动数字方法取代它的座椅手工制版内饰工艺。先是扫描座椅的泡沫块,或者从制造商取得模型,然后用solidworks建模,最后用exactfalt插件得到座椅蒙皮的展开平面图。 % \0 e$ p8 A4 @. H# p/ Q$ B“新的数字方法比用手工做的要好得多“,以前要花费需要一周或更长的时间,这取决于座椅的复杂的座椅图案。而使用SolidWorks和ExactFlat,我们可以在一个小时来完成。这个解决方案是节省时间和金钱,以及使我们能够增加吞吐量。“ - l! a4 v& }& Q9 i$ m - V4 m4 d/ R4 v4 b: z1 @; LFASTER TIME-TO-MARKET, IMPROVED QUALITY, AND REDUCED COSTS) h6 Y5 k& W, A8 f, {& j Because SOLIDWORKS and Exact Flat automate the creation of upholstery patterns, Aerosport has cut its time-to-market by 50 percent and reduced upholstery production costs by 30 percent. The combined solution has also enabled the company to increase its seat pattern accuracy, resulting in material savings through ExactFlat nesting capabilities and an improved finish, particularly when working with the latest generation of seat designs.6 h+ |# N0 _9 O& P- T “With newer, more complex seats, we used to add a layer of foam along the sides to make the upholstery fit,” Combs notes. “SOLIDWORKS and ExactFlat have improved our pattern accuracy to the extent that we no longer have to add any foam. I’m amazed at how well our patterns now sew together. SOLIDWORKS and ExactFlat have really helped us to streamline the process.” ! ^9 a# k | e; F9 w3 f6 J F4 ?! n更快地将产品推向市场,提高质量,并降低成本 ( @5 V( V( M5 M& T/ }由于SolidWorks和精确平自动创建的内饰格局,Aerosport削减它的时间到市场50%和30%降低室内装潢的生产成本。该联合解决方案还使该公司增加其座椅图案精度,从而通过ExactFlat嵌套功能,节省材料和改进的完成,特别是设计最新一代的座椅时。7 h- G: y9 E) u' V9 E9 @) ]% D SolidWorks和ExactFlat提高我们的模式精度,我们再也不用添加任何泡沫的程度。我很惊讶于我们现在的模式如何缝在一起。 SolidWorks和ExactFlat确实帮助我们简化了这个过程。“0 b- C; v8 k9 f6 z
0 x! Q( m) Y, R9 OIn addition to automating seat upholstery operations, the combination of SOLIDWORKS design and Exact Flat flattening solutions supports other projects requiring patterns or coatings. For example, Aerosport used the solution to develop the pattern for a de-icing sheet used to prevent ice buildup on high-flying drone aircraft.# V1 b) a: h2 j3 J3 @ “Using SOLIDWORKS and Exact Flat on the drone de-icing sheet project helped us enhance accuracy,” Combs points out. “Even though we mainly use the combined solution for seat upholstery, we expect it to come in handy for any designs that require a flat pattern, such as applying composite or fiberglass lay-ups in a model.”8 G% @/ U- B$ ] 除了自动座椅装饰业务,SOLIDWORKS设计和精确扁变平的解决方案组合支持需要的图案或涂层等项目。例如,Aerosport所用的溶液开发模式为用于防止冰堆积在高空飞行的无人驾驶飞机除冰片。. Q' D# G% J- g& u “对无人机除冰板项目中使用SolidWorks和精确扁平帮助我们提高精度,”梳子指出。 “虽然我们主要使用的座椅装饰的组合解决方案,我们希望它派上用场的要求展开模式的任何设计,如应用复合材料或玻璃纤维上篮中的典范。”e' S" d7 t7 j# l& R) u
|