VISTAGY Expands Portfolio of Specialized Engineering Software for Airframe Design and Assembly.

Latest offering helps engineers capture and share product design data in a single master model to reduce errors and streamline manufacture of complex airframes and assemblies

WALTHAM, Mass. -- VISTAGY, Inc., a leading global provider of specialized engineering software, today delivered an improved version of its airframe development software specifically tailored to helping aerospace manufacturers more efficiently create large, complex airframe structures and assemblies. The solution, which is integrated into commercial CAD software, supports the end-to-end airframe development process--from design to manufacturing. As a result, engineers can quickly define and capture critical design data, easily manage hundreds of design changes, and automatically share manufacturing information across the entire enterprise and supply chain to accelerate product development while reducing errors and cost.

The airframe design-to-manufacturing process generates hundreds of pieces of non-geometric information that exist in many different formats throughout an enterprise. For example, engineering annotations critical to creating fuselage assemblies are documented in notebooks, 3D models, 2D drawings, or disparate ERP systems. Engineers strive to capture and deliver this detail accurately and completely throughout multiple design revisions to ensure the product is delivered on-time and meets certification. But, to compile and document this information or make it accessible to engineers throughout the process is a labor-intensive endeavor that introduces errors which may impact time-to-part. In addition, defining thousands of items such as fasteners, joints and detailed parts or creating manufacturing documentation is also a manual, time-consuming process. All this complexity, along with the pressure to deliver products to market faster, places enormous demands on engineers and their traditional development tools.

"VISTAGY's airframe development software reduces the complexity and manual work previously required for defining aerospace assemblies by automating the processes required to meet manufacturers' strict specifications," states Bob Flory, vice president of product development at VISTAGY, Inc. "Our solution does this by enhancing traditional CAD software with tools exclusively for creating airframes. As a result, aerospace engineers can work in their existing development environment while leveraging powerful specialized tools for capturing, managing and sharing all the specific information needed to rapidly create aerospace parts that meet the original design intent."

The integrity of an airframe lies in how it is assembled--what fasteners are used, how joints are mated, what sealants are used, and how far fastener holes are located from each other and the edge of the part. Most of this information is non-geometric data critical to the manufacturing process, but not easily associated with or stored in the CAD model. But, because VISTAGY's solution is integrated into CAD software, engineers can define this data, automatically associate it with the proper CAD model surfaces, and easily update or change the design--all from one single master model. As a result, changes in product design are instantly propagated throughout the product definition, and information required to produce manufacturing documents that define conditions of supply can be instantly generated to streamline the manufacturing process.

VISTAGY's customers are currently realizing significant benefits by solving the following types of challenges using its airframe development solution:

* Avoiding errors - Ensuring the latest iteration of a product design or assembly reflects the most up-to-date information concerning materials, sealants, adhesives or fasteners to help engineers create an accurate part;

* Managing design changes and understanding their impact - Changing a fastener's diameter, for example, impacts not only the corresponding hole, but also the distance to edge, distance between other holes, and all other parts in the assembly. These changes can be evaluated, propagated and applied automatically to the entire assembly using the software;

* Creating assembly states and build-to packages - Defining manufacturing information to be consumed by suppliers that communicates exactly how to build a specific part for the appropriate stage in the assembly process, and what it should look like prior to shipping. This reduces supplier errors and costs for re-worked parts;

* Automatically generating bills of material - Populating required manufacturing documentation with engineering data and automatically generating bills of material or reports to reduce the amount of tedious, manual work required to create these forms;

* Generating OEM requirements - Publishing detailed design data directly to the CAD software specification tree to ensure engineers can work in their existing development environment while realizing the benefits of VISTAGY's specialized capabilities;

* Interfacing with manufacturing machines and systems - Seamlessly sharing manufacturing data and files with downstream systems including automated deposition machines, drills, cutters, and lasers;

* Generating output for quality planning - Enabling quality planners to consume design and manufacturing data from the master model to verify and certify that parts are manufactured, installed and assembled properly and according to the design intent. Quality professionals can also verify various assembly states.

VISTAGY's production-proven airframe development environment has helped customers in some cases deliver products in half the time it previously took. Approximately 35-40 percent of the initial cost of development is attributed to the tedious process of capturing data to document designs. VISTAGY's software automates this process to eliminate those manual tasks, reducing data entry time by 70 percent and providing up to a four-to-one total time-savings in defining and capturing non-geometric information and design changes. And of those design changes, approximately 40 percent are due to errors in authoring the initial design. Typically, at up to $20,000 per change, being able to use VISTAGY's software to avoid even half of these errors translates into several million dollars in savings.

About VISTAGY, Inc.

VISTAGY, Inc. develops engineering software that provides specialized functionality to significantly improve the value of commercial 3D CAD systems. VISTAGY's specialized engineering environments enable engineers to capture and communicate complete digital product definitions within CAD, thereby increasing productivity, improving the communication of product information throughout the product lifecycle, and allowing better-informed decision-making early in design. VISTAGY software is used throughout the world in the aerospace, automotive, marine, wind energy, medical, sporting goods, and transportation interiors industries. The company also offers training and consulting services. For more information, contact VISTAGY in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, at +1.781.250.6868 or visit www.vistagy.com.

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VISTAGY, the VISTAGY logo, and Engineer Success are registered trademarks or trademarks of VISTAGY, Inc., in the United States and in other countries. All other companies and products referenced herein have trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.