3D Systems Names Kevin McAlea as Executive VP, COO Healthcare Biz

ROCK HILL, SC, Nov 8, 2014 - 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) announced that it named Kevin McAlea Executive Vice-President & Chief Operating Officer for its healthcare business. In this new role, McAlea will be responsible for developing and executing 3DS’ healthcare growth strategy, integrating recent acquisitions into a cohesive and synergistic suite of products and services, and scaling the company’s rapidly developing healthcare category.

“I am delighted that Kevin McAlea is at the helm of our healthcare business,” said Avi Reichental, President and Chief Executive Officer, 3DS. “With more than two decades of 3D global business and technology experience, Kevin is uniquely qualified to lead our fast growing healthcare business.”

Since joining the company in 2001, as part of the DTM acquisition, McAlea has held several senior leadership roles at 3D Systems. Most recently, he served as 3DS’ Chief Impact Officer and oversaw the successful acquisition, integration and commercialization of 3D Systems’ direct metals printer line, following the company’s acquisition of Phenix Systems and Layerwise. Before that, McAlea led the development and sales of 3DS’ entire portfolio of production printers.

“Kevin takes the reins of our healthcare operations at an opportune moment,” continued Reichental. “I have full confidence that he will be able to leverage our recent acquisitions of Medical Modeling, Simbionix and Layerwise, as well as our self-developed medical and dental services, to extend our leadership position and first mover advantage in this open-ended vertical.”

About 3D Systems

3D Systems is pioneering 3D printing for everyone. 3DS provides the most advanced and comprehensive 3D design-to-manufacturing solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced custom parts. Its powerful digital thread empowers professionals and consumers everywhere to bring their ideas to life in material choices including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. 3DS' leading healthcare solutions include end-to-end simulation, training and integrated 3D planning and printing for personalized surgery and patient specific medical and dental devices. Its democratized 3D design and inspection products embody the latest perceptual, capture and touch technology. Its products and services replace and complement traditional methods with improved results and reduced time to outcomes. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, plan, guide, prototype or produce functional parts, devices and assemblies, empowering customers to manufacture the future. For more information, visit http://www.3dsystems.com.

3D Systems Names Ted Hull as CFO

ROCK HILL, SC, Nov 8, 2014 - 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) announced that it plans to name Ted Hull as its Chief Financial Officer, effective November 11, 2014, succeeding Damon Gregoire, who will transition to the role of Executive Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions. Hull joins 3D Systems in the interim as Executive Vice President, Finance before assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer.

"We are privileged to welcome a person of Ted Hull’s impressive financial and business leadership experience to 3D Systems," said Avi Reichental, President and Chief Executive Officer, 3DS. "Ted's proven track record in integrating, scaling and fine-tuning high-growth tech companies is a tremendous asset to our company as we execute the next phase of our profitable growth strategy."

Hull's career spans more than three decades of progressing financial leadership roles in high-tech companies and sector leaders including Cisco, Maxtor and IBM. Most recently Ted served as Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Fusion-io, a provider of advanced flash storage solutions until its purchase by SanDisk Corporation. Before that, Hull spent six years at Cisco as its Vice President, Finance. Amongst his other roles, Hull served as Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Maxtor and had a distinguished seventeen-year career at IBM.

Upon assuming the role of CFO, Hull will succeed 3DS' incumbent CFO, Damon Gregoire, who will immediately transition to the position of Executive Vice-President, Mergers and Acquisitions.

"We are deeply grateful to Damon for his eight years of outstanding financial and operations leadership during a period of rapid growth and expansion," continued Reichental. "We are fortunate Damon is able to continue to contribute as a senior executive, while he attends to family healthcare needs."

About 3D Systems

3D Systems is pioneering 3D printing for everyone. 3DS provides the most advanced and comprehensive 3D design-to-manufacturing solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced custom parts. Its powerful digital thread empowers professionals and consumers everywhere to bring their ideas to life in material choices including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. 3DS' leading healthcare solutions include end-to-end simulation, training and integrated 3D planning and printing for personalized surgery and patient specific medical and dental devices. Its democratized 3D design and inspection products embody the latest perceptual, capture and touch technology. Its products and services replace and complement traditional methods with improved results and reduced time to outcomes. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, plan, guide, prototype or produce functional parts, devices and assemblies, empowering customers to manufacture the future. For more information, visit http://www.3dsystems.com.

Autodesk Vault 2015 SP1 Available

Nov 8, 2014 - Autodesk has released Autodesk Vault 2015 Service Pack 1 (Client) and Autodesk Vault 2015 Service Pack 1 (Server) for Autodesk Vault Basic 2015, Autodesk Vault Workgroup 2015, and Autodesk Vault Professional 2015. 

This Service Pack fixes variety of issues pertaining to those releases. It also contains all the previously released hotfixes.

For further information and to download, click here.

Delcam Indonesia to Celebrate 15th Anniversary at Manufacturing Expo

BIRMINGHAM, UK, Nov 8, 2014 - Delcam Indonesia will continue the celebrations of its fifteenth anniversary at the Manufacturing Indonesia exhibition to be held in Jakarta from 3rd to 6th December. The company, which was founded formally in 1999, has already marked the anniversary with a successful user meeting earlier this year and a seminar on five-axis machining at the DMG-Mori Seiki showroom in Jakarta in October.

As well as joining the celebrations, visitors to the Delcam booth, 228 in Hall A, will also be able to see the latest releases from Delcam’s development team, the largest in the CAM industry. The new releases on show will include the 2015 versions of the PowerMILL CAM system for high-speed and five-axis machining, the FeatureCAM feature-based programming software and the Delcam Electrode software for the design, machining and inspection of electrodes.

The new release of PowerMILL includes improvements to the Vortex high-efficiency area-clearance strategy, expanded collision checking to also cover near misses, and more efficient raster finishing.

Vortex produces safe toolpaths with a much deeper cut by using a controlled engagement angle that maintains the optimum cutting conditions for the whole toolpath. As a result, higher feed rates and material-removal rates are possible, making the cutting time shorter by as much as 70%. Enhancements in PowerMILL 2015 will give even greater reductions in machining time with Vortex compared to conventional roughing.

Companies using four- or five-axis machines with trunnions or similar tilting tables will benefit from new options are now available to distribute PowerMILL’s toolpath points so that the machine’s gimbal-lock position is avoided and a smoother motion results.

As well as including the latest developments in the Vortex strategy, the 2015 version of FeatureCAM incorporates a range of enhancements in three-axis milling, two-axis and five-axis drilling, turning and turn-mill, and wire EDM to make the software even more powerful and easier to use.

FeatureCAM was the world’s first feature-based programming software when it was launched in 1995. Constant development since then has ensured that the system has retained its leadership in programming speed and ease of use, while an increased range of strategies has been added to provide more efficient toolpaths that give greater productivity on a wider range of machinery, including mill-turn machines, five-axis mills and wire EDM equipment.

Delcam Electrode combines the PowerSHAPE CAD software, PowerMILL and the PowerINSPECT inspection software to give a completely integrated solution for the design, machining and inspection of electrodes. At the heart of the Delcam solution is a novel file format – the .Trode file. This contains all the information for each electrode project, including not only the electrode design but also the machining and inspection information, plus the set-up sheets for its manufacture and use. Having all the required information in a single file simplifies data management as well as increasing overall efficiency.

In the latest release, Delcam Electrode can provide scripts for Exeron and JDMA EPX equipment as well as the previously supported AgieCharmilles (Agievision and CT Millennium controls), Makino EDM, Mitsubishi Electric, ONA EDM, OPS-Ingersoll, Sodick and Zimmer & Kreim.

Scripts are the EDM equivalent of CAM programs for machine tools. They provide an automated process for the programming of the machine, instead of users having to program manually from a set-up sheet. The automated process is much easier and quicker, especially when a number of electrodes are being used on the same component. Furthermore, the direct link removes the human error that could always be possible with manual programming. For more information, visit http://www.delcam.com.

Delcam to Hold Webinars on Vortex Roughing

BIRMINGHAM, UK, Nov 8, 2014 - Delcam is to present a series of webinars on its Vortex high-efficiency roughing strategy, which has been shown to achieve savings of up to 90% in the time needed for area clearance. The webinars, which will run under the headline New Tools, New Rules, will cover the use of Vortex in each of Delcam’s CAM products as follows:

• 20th November – Vortex in PowerMILL
• 27th November – Vortex in FeatureCAM
• 9th December – Vortex in FeatureCAM
• 11th December – Vortex in PartMaker
• 18th December – Vortex in Delcam for SolidWorks

For full details and to register, visit www.vortexmachining.com/events/index.asp

The Vortex strategy gives the fastest safe metal removal from solid carbide tooling, in particular designs that give deeper cuts by using the full flute length as the cutting surface. It can be used for two- and three-axis roughing, three-plus-two-axis area clearance and for rest machining. It gives benefits when machining all types of materials, including titanium, tool steel and alloys such as Inconel.

Vortex produces toolpaths with a controlled engagement angle and so maintains the optimum cutting conditions for the toolpath that would normally be possible only for the straight-line moves. As a result, higher feed rates are possible so the cutting time is shorter, while cutting is undertaken at a more consistent volume-removal rate and at a constant feedrate, so protecting the machine.

The constant feedrate achieved with Vortex is a fundamental difference from other high-speed roughing techniques. Trials at Delcam have shown that this approach is more reliable as it can often be difficult to predict exactly how machine tools will react to changing feedrates.

Vortex also uses a minimum radius parameter, calculated to make sure that the machine tool can maintain the cutting feedrate in corners and, more generally, for any non-straight part of the toolpath. This makes the cutting process more predictable since the machine should run at the programmed feed rate throughout and not slow down in the way that it could on other kinds of area-clearance toolpath.

The control of the engagement angle that is possible with the Vortex strategy also makes the performance of the tool more predictable because it is operating closer to the optimum cutting conditions associated with a straight-line cut. This means that it is easier to adjust the feeds and speeds being used to machine a particular part such that a tool can be relied on to cut, for example, ten components before it needs to be changed. A tool change can then be added into the program where appropriate so that lights-out machining can be undertaken safely and consistently on a long series of parts, either overnight or across a weekend.

The extent to which time can be saved with Vortex will vary depending on a number of factors, including the material and shape being cut, and the machine tool and cutting tools being used. A series of trials run by Delcam on different machine tools within its Advanced Manufacturing Facility has shown that a time saving of at least 40% should be expected in most cases.

The exact effect on tool life from using the Vortex strategy also varies from project to project. In one example, where 2,000 stainless steel components were being produced monthly, the number of tools being used was reduced from 300 to 100 each month. The replacement tools were more expensive but the overall costs were still reduced by around 50%.

In another case, the user was able to produce a similar number of parts with a smaller cheaper tool costing around half as much, about £80 instead of £180. With almost 900 parts being produced each month and both tools able to cut 9 parts before needing replacement; the saving was almost £10,000 per month. For more information, visit http://www.delcam.com.

TraceParts Supports WebGL 3D Rendering

SAINT ROMAIN, France, Nov 4, 2014 - TraceParts, a world-leading digital engineering 3D content company, has launched support for WebGL 3D rendering across its entire library of free downloadable CAD models.

Users are now able to view and interact with live 3D models directly in any compatible web browser, without the use of plugins or other additional software, making the millions of parts on TracePartsOnline.net easier to access than ever.

Due to the dynamic updating of catalog content, the 3D renders are always up-to-date. This allows the user to be confident that the model seen in the browser will always be exactly the same after downloading it in one of the many supported CAD formats.

Other benefits of WebGL include faster loading times and improved responsiveness due to the reduced processing overhead of displaying the model. This, along with higher quality renders, means users can find parts more quickly and preview them in a greatly improved level of detail.

With an engineering community of over 9.1 million design professionals accessing the TraceParts Publishing Network, a large variety of browsers are used to select and download CAD models. Therefore, to ensure every web browser can still reliably access and view all the available models, the website is able to fall-back to other technologies such as Java.

About TraceParts

TraceParts is a world-leading digital engineering 3D content company, offering progressive business software solutions for over 20 years through powerful web based products and services such as CAD part libraries, electronic catalogs and product configurators, helping part vendors to improve marketing efficiencies by increasing the value of their existing digital product data.

The TracePartsOnline.net CAD portal is freely available to millions of CAD users worldwide, with hundreds of supplier catalogs and over 100 million CAD models and product datasheets suitable for the Design, Purchasing, Manufacturing and Maintenance processes. For more information about TraceParts, visit www.traceparts.com

AVEVA’s Digital Asset Approach Event on 7th Nov in Chennai

CHENNAI, Nov 4, 2014 - AVEVA announced the date and agenda for their upcoming event: Unlock the power of your Digital Asset. Taking place on the 7th November in Chennai, the event will be the first in a series exploring AVEVA’s philosophy that for every physical asset there must be a corresponding digital asset. AVEVA presenters and key customers will demonstrate how both Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractors (EPCs) and Owner Operators (OOs) can achieve massive increases in efficiency by putting Digital Asset integrity at the centre of everything they do.

Leading EPCs in the power industry will present on the challenges of brownfield projects and how these may be overcome. Oil & Gas giant Petrofac will present on the growing need for digital solutions in complex engineering projects and installations.

AVEVA will demonstrate how AVEVA’s Integrated Engineering & Design (IE&D) solution brings together engineering schematics and data, intelligent 3D design and helps to enable advanced visualization. Through the resulting increased efficiency and early elimination of errors, EPCs can avoid costly rework and delays, and so improve schedule assurance and project profitability.

AVEVA will further demonstrate how AVEVA’s Progressive Handover solution for EPCs ensures the accuracy and consistency of information from any source, including AVEVA’s IE&D solution, and de-risks the notoriously challenging handover process to OO clients.

At these events, AVEVA will also demonstrate how OOs can exploit the value of their Digital Asset throughout the entire life cycle of the physical asset. For example, AVEVA NET technology, combined with advanced 3D visualization, enables rapid and intuitive access to any asset information, whenever and wherever it is needed. By displaying the full context for all asset information, AVEVA’s information management solutions help operations teams to make better informed decisions, improving operational reliability and safety.

This series of events will reveal how, in the face of increasing industry pressures, AVEVA’s Digital Asset approach is the future for Engineering, Design and Operations software for EPCs and OOs. The first event will take place at the ITC Grant Chola, Chennai on the 7th November. To register, email: techday@aveva-events.co.in or call 022-61645797. For more information, visit http://www.aveva.com.

COMSOL Multiphysics v5.0 Released

BURLINGTON, MA, Nov 4, 2014 - COMSOL, Inc. redefines the engineering simulation market with the release of COMSOL Multiphysics software version 5.0, featuring extensive product updates, three new add-on products, and the new and revolutionary Application Builder. With the Application Builder, the power and accuracy of COMSOL Multiphysics is now accessible to everyone through the use of applications. COMSOL users can now build applications for use by engineering and manufacturing departments, expanding accessibility to their expertise and to cutting-edge simulation solutions.

 From simulation to application with the Application Builder desktop environment: The simulation of a three cylinder reciprocating engine (left) is turned into an application (right) where the user only needs to change design parameters and run the application to analyze the simulation results.

Introducing the Application Builder

The Application Builder empowers the design process by allowing engineers to make available an easy-to-use application based on their COMSOL Multiphysics model. Included with the Windows operating system version of COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0, the Application Builder provides all the tools needed to build and run simulation apps. Any COMSOL Multiphysics model can be turned into an application with its own interface using the tools provided with the Application Builder desktop environment. Using the Form Editor, the user interface layout can be designed, while the Methods Editor is used for implementing customized commands. Based on the project at hand, engineering experts can now easily build a specialized application to share with their colleagues and customers that includes only the parameters relevant to the design of a specific device or product.

“The Application Builder is our vision for the future of simulation,” says Svante Littmarck, CEO and President of the COMSOL Group. “It brings the expertise of engineering specialists working in research and development to a greater majority of people, revolutionizing the product design process by allowing the power of multiphysics simulation to drive productivity and innovation. This is achieved by supplying those involved in the design and manufacturing process across all engineering disciplines with apps created by simulation experts.”

Build a solution as unique as your model: Turbulent mixer application, created using the Application Builder available in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0.

Many COMSOL users have expressed their excitement about the Application Builder. “The Application Builder is the biggest innovation yet to come from COMSOL,” says Massimo Bechis, Modeling and Simulation Specialist at Prysmian. “We estimate that by building applications for our colleagues, we would save 30-40% of the time we currently spend on calculations for them. This will improve both the way we work, and the way our colleagues work as well.”

COMSOL users currently on subscription can download COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0, which includes the Application Builder in the Windows OS version, at: www.comsol.com/product-download.

Three New Add-on Products in the Product Suite

COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0 also brings three new add-on products to the extensive COMSOL product suite: the Ray Optics Module, the Design Module, and LiveLink for Revit. “The Ray Optics Module offers functionality that has long been anticipated by COMSOL users, and we are excited to offer the module with this release,” says Bjorn Sjodin, VP of Product Management at COMSOL, Inc.

Ray Optics Module: Efficiently simulate systems in which the electromagnetic wavelength is much smaller than the smallest geometric detail.

For engineers working in application areas including building science, solar energy, and interferometers, the Ray Optics Module is an industry-leading simulation tool for analyzing systems in which the electromagnetic wavelength is much smaller than the smallest geometric detail in the model. “The Ray Optics Module is not like any other simulation software available for modeling ray optics,” says Dan Smith, COMSOL software developer. “For the first time, multiphysics simulations can now be integrated into the modeling of geometrical optics, a truly cutting-edge development for the simulation industry.” Key features of the module include the ability to compute the trajectory of rays in graded and ungraded media, and the modeling of polychromatic, unpolarized and partially coherent light.

The Design Module expands the available toolset of CAD functionalities in the COMSOL product suite. The module includes the following 3D CAD operations: loft, fillet, chamfer, midsurface, and thicken, in addition to CAD import and geometry repair functionality.

Additionally, COMSOL is proud to offer LiveLink for Revit, which allows COMSOL users to interface with the building information modeling software from Autodesk. With LiveLink for Revit, users can seamlessly synchronize a geometry between LiveLink for Revit Architecture and COMSOL, allowing multiphysics simulations to be brought into the architectural design workflow.

New Features and Functionalities in COMSOL 5.0

Version 5.0 also introduces numerous enhancements to the existing functionalities of COMSOL Multiphysics. New features and updates have been added to the entire product suite, which includes over 25 application-specific modules for simulating any physics in the electrical, mechanical, fluid, and chemical disciplines.

Multiphysics – Predefined multiphysics couplings now include: Joule Heating with Thermal Expansion; Induction, Microwave, and Laser Heating; Thermal Stress; Thermoelectric and Piezoelectric Effect; Non-Isothermal Flow; Optoelectronics; Plasma Heat Source; Acoustic-Structure Interaction; Thermoacoustic-Structure and Aeroacoustic-Structure Interaction; and Acoustic-Porous and Porous-Structure Interaction.

Geometry and Mesh – Create geometry from an imported mesh and call geometry sub-sequences using a linked subsequence. Additionally, faster handling of large arrays and CAD assemblies is also included.

Optimization and Multipurpose – The Particle Tracing Module now includes accumulation of particles, erosion, and etch features. Multianalysis optimization has also been added.

Studies and Solvers – Updates include a dramatic improvement for the simulation of CAD assemblies, support for extra dimensions, and the ability to sweep over sets of materials and user-defined functions. Improved probe-while-solving, unit support for parametric sweeps, and the ability to search for eigenfrequencies within a given interval have also been added.

Materials and Functions – Materials can now be copied, pasted, duplicated, dragged, and dropped. Link to Global Materials using a Material Link when the same material is used in multiple components.

Mechanical – Model geometrically nonlinear beams, nonlinear elastic materials, and elasticity in joints using the products for modeling structural mechanics. In the Heat Transfer Module, thin layer, film, fracture, and rod as well as cryogenic damage and parallelized radiation have been added. The Acoustics Module has two new methods for modeling high frequency or geometrical acoustics: Ray Acoustics and Acoustic Diffusion.

Fluid – Create automatic pipe connections to 3D flow domains in the Pipe Flow Module. The CFD Module is expanded with two new algebraic turbulence models, as well as turbulent fans and grilles.

Electrical – The AC/DC Module, RF Module, and Wave Optics Module now contain a frequency- and material-controlled auto mesh suggestion that offers the easy, one-click meshing of infinite elements and periodic conditions. The Plasma Module now contains interfaces for modeling equilibrium discharges.

Chemical – The Chemical Reaction Engineering Module now contains a new Chemistry interface that can be used as a Material node for chemical reactions.

About COMSOL

COMSOL provides simulation software for product design and research to technical enterprises, research labs, and universities through 21 offices and a distributor network throughout the world. Its flagship product, COMSOL Multiphysics, is a software environment for modeling and simulating any physics-based system and building applications. A particular strength is its ability to account for coupled or multiphysics phenomena. Add-on products expand the simulation platform for electrical, mechanical, fluid flow, and chemical applications. Interfacing tools enable the integration of COMSOL Multiphysics simulation with all major technical computing and CAD tools on the CAE market. 

For more information, visit http://www.comsol.com.