The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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S DESIGN SEMINAR BOAT SHOW TO HOST olidWorks 3D CAD software is helping marine industry manufacturers to continually innovate and gain a competitive advantage by providing a 3D CAD platform for efficient design. Innovative thinking and a practical approach to design has led Ace Engineering's Director Jason Elvines to ongoing success in the marine manufacturing industry. New Zealand based Ace Engineering specialises in the design and fabrication of aluminium and stainless steel components, as well as the design and build of DNA boats. Jason has been using SolidWorks 3D CAD since it was first launched around five years ago. Ease of use for sheet metal design: Ace Engineering's business involves a great deal of sheet metal fabrication. "The ease of use for sheet metal design within SolidWorks is excellent," Jason explains. SolidWorks ensures that mistakes and re-work are minimised as much as possible, giving you tools and the control to handle the unique challenges of sheet metal design. You can design from scratch or convert your 3D model to sheet metal. Designs can be automatically flattened and documented for manufacturing, with export to CNC and manufacturing equipment. Photo-realistic renderings: With PhotoView 360, a SolidWorks add-in, a completed model can be rendered to a photo-realistic image to aid in the visualisation of the new product. "I really like the renderings you can get out of SolidWorks. They've helped immensely and have contributed to large savings in the cost of product development. We can effectively replace a prototype with a render, and we have made sales straight from a presentation of a rendered design which more than provides a return on investment in the software. SolidWorks has been invaluable. The key aspects for us are definitely the sheet metal and renderings functionality, but it also helps immensely with CNC fabrication and cutting. I believe SolidWorks gives us a competitive edge in the marine market." Solidtec provides support to marine industry partners across Australia and New Zealand including Melbourne-based sailboat hardware provider Ronstan. It is recognised in over 40 countries worldwide as one of the top three sailboat hardware brands. Derek Johns, Senior Product Development Engineer for Ronstan attributes part of that success to SolidWorks. "Ronstan has experienced the full migration from manual drawings to AutoCAD 2D, and have used SolidWorks 3D since 1998." Focus on design: "My favourite aspect of SolidWorks is its ease-of-use. Not all engineers or designers have the drawing skills to make something look spectacular by hand," he explains. "SolidWorks takes that limitation away and lets you focus on designing. It helps immensely to convey a concept in 3D when trying to get management support." "We've roughly halved the time spent on our front end; meaning pre-tooling, concept development, prototyping and detail design. We've also saved time on drawings, and reading into CAM for manufacture, which in turn saves time by eliminating design misinterpretations on the floor. We can save two to three weeks on a design project and due to reduced chances of tool modifications needed, we can translate that into eight to ten weeks in manufacturing time. It's a huge saving," said Derek. Rapid prototyping and simulation: Ronstan utilises rapid prototyping to physically test and validate concepts in the design stage. "With SolidWorks we can send a model without a requiring a detailed 2D drawing and get back a rapid NC model that we can put together and test very quickly, even on the water," Derek explains. Moreover, SolidWorks Simulation helps marine industry companies improve their product quality and time to market. "SolidWorks Simulation helps quite a bit with regard to our custom designs. It saves a lot of time in getting the design as close to right before we sign-off the design with physical testing. It also aids in the reduction of scrap as SolidWorks and SolidWorks Simulation can be used to get much more of the expected outputs correct on the first design." In 2011 Ronstan won the Red Dot Design Award for their range of keelboat pulley blocks, 'Core Blocks'. "It's a great feeling to see our hard work and design innovation being rewarded, and Solidtec has supported us with SolidWorks 3D CAD," Derek concludes. If you are interested in hearing more about what Ronstan are achieving then come to the NZ Marine Design Seminar on September 27, which has Ronstan is a guest speaker. To register email info@solidtec.co.nz or call 0800 765 438. All attendees to this seminar will also receive a free day pass into the Auckland on the Water Boat Show. September/October 2012 Professional Skipper 37 VIP.S89