SolidWorks Innovation Day in Singapore

If more people are asking “What if” when facing engineering and manufacturing challenges, then the industry will see more innovations. This view was presented by Isaac Chong, managing director of Advanced Technology Enterprise (ATE) and co-organizer of the recent SolidWorks Innovation Day in Singapore. He said that innovation is not merely a concept, not a product, not just technology but a process of constantly asking “What if”.

Isaac Chong gave the example of the traditional way of interacting with computers and machines through the use of keyboards. Someone asked “What if” and came up with the technology for direct neural interface with computers and machines. It is the direct communication between the brain and external devices.

Speaking to CEA, ATE's managing director said that this was the second time the company was organizing the event. He said that the event serves as a platform for the exchange of ideas, where experts can share their knowledge with the industry. Regarding his ambition for ATE, he said he hopes to build up a customer base in Singapore before expanding into the region as Singapore has strong infrastructure and industry support.

During the event, ATE showcased SolidWorks 2011 software. SolidWorks is a complete 3D CAD solution for designing products. It is used for designing, validating, communicating and managing 3D CAD models. For the design stage, useful features allow creating and editing complex solid and surface geometry; designing from scratch or convert 3D part to sheet metal and flatten the design for manufacturing; designing molded parts and the tooling to make them including core and cavity, draft, parting surfaces and mold base components.

Other useful features include Photoview 360 to create photo-like images and animation and the ability to demonstrate operation by applying motion, gravity and component contact. The design can also be tested and validated by the use of motion simulation and structural validation. The software is able to convert CAD data into any required format for sharing and collaborating. One safeguard is the defeature ability. It allows the user to specify what to show and to remove internal details from the CAD modeling. This is important for protecting intellectual property rights.

To keep up with the trend of going green and making sustainable products, SolidWorks has a sustainability module. This module measures four environmental indicators over the life cycle of the product: carbon footprint, total energy consumed, air and water impacts. It also allows the selection of the right materials for a particular job. It can compare similar materials to the chosen original in terms of environmental impacts. This is on top of the standard engineering criteria like thermal conductivity and yield strength.

Sharon Toh, general manager of South Asia for Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, gave the keynote speech entitled “Sustainability = Innovation”. She mentioned that in the list of top 50 most innovative companies featured by Bloomberg Business Week, 35 use SolidWorks. She also said that consumers are getting more environmentally-conscious and thus, companies must leverage on innovation to design sustainable products.

During the event, a team from ATE performed a skit highlighting the collaboration with a SolidWorks customer. ATE also took the audience through a live demonstration of the SolidWorks 2011 software. The event closed with a panel discussion with experts, chaired by Sng Eng Sim, general manager ATE. The experts included Dr Fatida Rugrungruang, SIMTech; Andrew Foo, ST Electronics; Yee Keng Yip, Y Enabling Solutions; Alvin Ho, Aeromobiles and Jimmy Yip, ITE. On the sideline, there were demonstrations from ATE partners HP, Nvidia, Dell, Fuji Xerox and Stratasys.

Speaking to Control Engineering Asia after the event, Shirley Lim, assistant marketing manager, ATE, said: the event attracted more than 150 participants, half of whom were new prospects. "We’ve received lots of positive feedback on the event. Many who came to the event remarked that ATE’s SolidWorks Innovation Day is different and refreshing, unlike most other seminars."