Rule-based Design in CAD

Continually increasing costs force companies to standardize and automate processes more and more. These requirements naturally affect the design department as well. Becausse design in end effect defines the costs for the product, optimizing the design process is an important challenge.

Smap3D rises to this challenge. QuickSelect and QuickPlace provide two basis technologies for standardizing and automating the design process. The potential for saving is enormous.

• QuickSelect:
  The knowledge, which components and methods can be used with each other, is, in most instances, fixed in the mind of the engineer. This means that if a worker leaves the company, his know-how is lost forever. QuickSelect manages the knowledge of relationships between components, standard parts, features, etc and preserves thereby the engineering know-how for the company. The engineer receives from QuickSelect various suggestions, depending on the situation, as to which components and methods can be used. The decision as to whether to accept these suggestions remains with the user. After all, the QuickSelect technology should not limit the engineer's creativity.



• QuickPlace:
  Standardised components, recurring parts and standard features demand repetitive manual work from the engineer when placing parts. This activity is time-consuming and reduces the efficiency of the design department. QuickPlace automates the placing of standards. Each component is told how it should behave when placed. The inputs are in the process restricted to logically-required values. The time-consuming creation of geometric relationships is thus dispensed with. QuickPlace does this for you automatically.

The QuickSelect and QuickPlace technologies greatly simplify the use of a 3D CAD system. These technologies mean that even people outside the design department can use Solid Edge. For instance a member of the sales team with technical knowledge can carry out preliminary planning of a project with a customer directly on the CAD workstation.

The know-how of what fits together how is stored in the QuickSelect and QuickPlace technologies. Your customer very quickly receives an idea of the construction or the product that you wish to offer.

Your efforts for your sales team are greatly reduced because the specialist know-how is stored in the software and does not first of all have to be transformed via time-consuming communication between sales and design.

The resulting data can also be used as the calculation basis for the offer and as a template for the detailed design.