Not only has Autodesk helped Airbus to produce components for the aircraft as I have previously reported, but now they have used the same technology - generative design - to contribute to the development of a new sports shoe.

With the help of Autodesk software, American sportswear company Under Armour has created a shoe using 3D printing and generative design technology. The shoe, called Archi Tech, is a high-performance sports shoe that is the company's first commercially available 3D-printed shoe.

The design team wanted to develop a lightweight, highly stable and shock-absorbing shoe to support athletes during intense workouts. Autodesk software “Within” was used in the design of the midsole for stable heel structure with damping characteristics for strength training.

Generative design is a computer algorithm that creates structures based on criteria such as durability, flexibility and weight. This results in complex, high-performance structures that human designers themselves would likely never come up with, and which can often only be manufactured using 3D printing.

Software including Fusion360 and 3Ds Max also played a role in the development of the shoe.

It should be noted that Under Armour also uses PLM from Dassault Systèmes, in the form of the product data management backbone, ENOVIA.

Vestas, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines, has chosen to implement the Sustainable Wind Turbines industry solution from Dassault Systèmes for the management of its manufacturing operations.

The solution is a part of Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and incorporates technology from its Delmia Apriso manufacturing operations management (MOM) software. 

This solution will allow Vestas to standardize its manufacturing systems and supply chain processes across sites worldwide, as well as support future expansion plans.

Currently, the company has 19 manufacturing facilities globally, and more than 56,800 wind turbines installed in 75 countries across six continents. Vestas’ goal is to be able to produce any product at any plant as it expands to new locations, as well as ensuring that its outsourcing strategy achieves cost and quality goals throughout a wind turbine’s 20-year design lifecycle.

This required a single, unified digital solution for real-time visibility and control over enterprise-wide manufacturing operations that can be securely integrated with its existing ERP system. The company is also able to coordinate and synchronize people, processes, equipment, tooling and materials, as well as processes beyond the wind turbine plant floor such as quality, warehouse, maintenance, labor and supply chain.

“Manufacturers like Vestas aim to grow revenue and expand into emerging markets, yet must achieve these objectives while improving efficiency and quality, eliminating waste, reducing cost and keeping sustainability top-of-mind,” said Monica Menghini, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Dassault Systèmes. “The ‘Sustainable Wind Turbines’ industry solution experience provides a digital foundation for enterprise quality, continuous improvement and regulatory compliance for the lowest total cost.”

A nuclear reactor built by Doosan ready to be installed. The company which is based in Korea also manufactures and constructs thermal power plants, turbines and generators, desalination plants, castings, and forgings.

PLM developer Aras announced that Korean engineering firm Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction has selected the Aras Innovator PLM platform to support the complex engineering processes and data involved in the design and construction of thermal and nuclear plants, as well as desalination plants for customers around the world.

Aras will drive process improvements in engineering data management, plant CAD integration and workflow management, and will also be used as an engineering portal for data distribution.

Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction based its decision on Aras’ ability to provide secure web-based management of engineering data and documents, as well as its flexible workflow capabilities for engineering business processes. The possibility of openly integrating with 3D plant design software like SP3D, Revit and Tekla also played an important part.

With the help of implementation partner Zionex, Doosan will combine PLM from Aras with the existing Supply Chain Management (SCM) system, leveraging the flexibility of Aras Innovator’s Program Management application to help Doosan better track its large, multi-phase global projects.

“Effectively managing engineering, procurement and construction on a global level for such a comprehensive project portfolio is challenging, especially in terms of managing risk and quality,” said Peter Schroer, CEO of Aras. “We are proud to be selected together with Zionex as the PLM technology partner by Doosan’s engineering teams and stakeholders around the world to help them better manage the huge volume of interdependent projects, documents and data.”

Cloud PLM developer Arena Solutions has partnered up with Oracle consultancy firm Triniti to release an integration between Arena PLM and Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS).

The new adapter will enable changes to product data to propagate from the bill of materials (BoM) in Arena PLM to Oracle EBS. This automation is designed to eliminate manual entry errors and ensure that the data in the ERP solution is up-to-date.

When a product is released from Arena, the adapter is configured to capture the data automatically without the need for user intervention. This eliminates lags in data synchronization between Arena and Oracle. Based on business requirements, the adapter can be configured to create and change the product data at the right places in the ERP system with the right attributes.

“With this adapter, product companies can reduce manual data transfer from the BOM to Oracle, improving accuracy and speeding time to market,” said Steve Chalgren, executive vice president of product management and chief strategy officer at Arena. “As a result, engineers can spend more time developing new products and far less inputting data into the ERP.”

Customers can also enable Oracle’s workflow technology to send notifications to different teams, such as product planners and cost managers, in order to capture planning, costing and other ERP-specific data for the items released from Arena.