The use of 3D printing in bridge production has grown by 70% in just two years. Within this period, the automotive, transport and heavy equipment industries were the most frequent users of the technology. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is currently leading the way in Industry 4.0’s digital development. It is one of the purest digital technologies as it does not involve tooling and fixturing, thus removing or reducing the cost of moving a file between different locations and printers.

Thanks to the development of 3D printing and product supply chains – major industries such as healthcare, automotive, aerospace and defense have undergone significant developments and market transitions in key areas of their business.  For example, interior parts of aircrafts including ducting, vents and airflow systems are designed and engineered to reduce weight, minimize the number of components in assemblies, and adhere to the compact interiors of the cabin. In summary, 3D printing offers freedom so manufacturers are able to be more flexible to effectively and innovatively experiment the designs with ultimately minimal cost of failure.

Generative design is a process of exploring the optimum designs. Engineers or designers input the design objectives into sophisticated software, along with the parameters such as performance or spatial specifications, materials, production methods, and cost constraints. The software then explores all of a solution’s possible permutations, thus quickly generating hundreds or even thousands of design alternatives. From each of the iterations, it checks and learns what works and what does not.

In a case study – Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, used generative design to re-imagine the interior partition of its A320 aircrafts and developed an intricate design that effectively trimmed 45 per cent (30 kg) of the weight of the part. This weight reduction resulted in a massive elimination of jet fuel consumption and even a reduction of hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide released when applied across its aircraft fleets — equivalent to 96,000 passenger vehicles off the road for a year.

“Digital Twin as is a digital model that accurately represents a product, production process or the performance of a product or production system in operation.” – Tom Maurer, Senior Strategy Director, Siemens PLM Software.

By using sensors to gather real-time data about a tangible item, Digital Twins serve as a bridge between physical and digital worlds. Then this data is used to produce a digital copy of the object or process, so that it can be interpreted, analyzed, manipulated or optimized. A research by Gartner shows that 50% of large manufacturers will at least have one digital twin initiative launched in 2020, and the number of organizations is predicted to triple by 2022. In other words, digital twins are worth exploring for improving productivity, enhancing processes, recognizing problems before they emerge, and further innovating in the future as they offer real-time information to design and engineering teams on how anything we create can operate under a variety of circumstances.

Robotics has revolutionized the technology trends in manufacturing. Robotic automation is a technology that develops rapidly. Industrial robots have become ubiquitous in factory settings around the globe in just a few decades and are only continuing to gain popularity for their reliability and profitability. On the factory floor for instance, robots are the key source of information. Yet data collection is just one piece of the puzzle. To act on it, manufacturers will need to implement systems to coordinate and evaluate all of this information through advanced software.

The need for open automation architectures is growing as robotic automation gains widespread adoption. Large players in the industry are collaborating with industry organizations to develop standards and open documentation that promote robotic integration while enhancing product compatibility. In essence, robotic automation will soon replace most, if not all, manufacturing jobs on the factory floor and thus, a definitive trend to look out this 2020!

SOLIDWORKS 2020 offers sophisticated and enhanced upgrades, functionalities and integrations that empower more than six million SOLIDWORKS users to accelerate and optimize product development, from conceptual design to manufactured products, and create value for their organizations. SOLIDWORKS 2020 is the latest release of Dassault Systèmes’ portfolio of 3D design and engineering applications. It is a comprehensive result of researches and developments in response to thousands of enhancement requests made by SOLIDWORKS community worldwide.

SOLIDWORKS 2020 further tackles these new emerging technology trends as emphasized above and other business needs in the global marketplace by fully immersing to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform allowing competitive companies to seek new levels of collaboration and innovation to deliver new forms of experiences to their consumers quicker and more cost-effectively. With hundreds of new enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2020, users can enjoy the benefits of a variety of choices and opportunities to improve system performance in their daily operations, streamline workflows and extend their design to manufacturing ecosystems from the desktop to the cloud with smooth integration to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The SOLIDWORKS Connector offers a “bridge” to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform from your SOLIDWORKS desktop.

Solutions such as 3D Sculptor, which incorporates the xShape (sub division modeling) program, 3D Creator encompassing the xDesign (parametric modeling) program, 3D Component Designer (data management), Project Planner, and Structural Professional Engineer (advanced simulation), allow users to significantly and effectively minimize friction in their design to manufacturing process. Some of other hundreds of SOLIDWORKS 2020 enhancements that adapt and cater to these new trends are as follows;

• New Detailing mode and graphics acceleration for drawings: The new Detailing mode allows users to quickly open their drawing while maintaining the ability to add and edit annotations in the drawing. Detailing mode is particularly useful when users need to make minor changes to large assembly drawings or drawings with many sheets configurations, or resource-intensive views.

• Make Part Flexible is a new feature that enables users to display the same part in the same assembly under different conditions. For instance, in the same assembly, the same spring may exist twice, but under two different conditions – compressed and not compressed. Make Part Flexible is versatile and effective in a multitude of design applications including springs, bellows, hinges, o-rings and just about any part that can flex or change condition.

• Enhancements to SOLIDWORKS PDM, SOLIDWORKS Electrical connector and a redesigned SOLIDWORKS PCB connector enable complete electronic design and data management – including secure storage, indexing and versioning of all user data, thus supporting stronger collaboration between ECAD and MCAD teams.

• For a more extensive list on the top user-requested features, new capabilities and enhancements in the SOLIDWORKS 2020 portfolio, click here!

According to Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, SOLIDWORKS, Dassault Systèmes, –  “We are not just bringing powerful new capabilities to the SOLIDWORKS portfolio everybody knows and loves, but also extending it to the cloud through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the only holistic digital experience platform in the world. We have built a bridge to our platform-based portfolio, empowering our users to take advantage of 3DEXPERIENCE.WORKS offerings”. He further added, “this gives organizations the environment and the applications to truly embrace the Industry Renaissance and its spirit of discovery for new ways of inventing, innovating, collaborating and producing.”

Through SOLIDWORKS 2020, sharing, collaborating, and adapting with latest of technology trends with your SOLIDWORKS designs as a team has never been easier and more efficient!