Improve accuracy
Founded in 1973, Li Chi Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. is a professional R&D and design company for bicycle parts in Taiwan. Our main products include disc brakes, clamp handles, seat risers, flower drums, and handlebars, providing mid to high priced spare parts for well-known European and American brands such as Giant and Merida, including their PROMAX product line. 80% of the revenue comes from export business.

With 40 years of experience in developing spare parts, Litchi introduced CAD systems as early as 1986 to enhance development capabilities and shorten development time. However, as the number of clients increases, the company faces a new challenge - there is no internal design system that can directly handle all client design files.

To address the challenges, the company is seeking to integrate CAD and CAM technologies. General Manager Lin Yuxin explained, 'We had to purchase various design software to meet the needs of different clients, which led to the phenomenon of' CAD United Nations'. '. This complex management issue was not actually improved until the introduction of Solid Edge and CAM Express software provided by Siemens PLM Software. ”

Solid Edge and CAM Express not only improve the efficiency of graphic communication and design change management processes, but also significantly enhance the precision of subsequent machining, reducing the time and resource waste caused by errors. ”

Adopting a single system yields significant benefits
Mr. Lin discovered that several major companies in the mold industry have coincidentally adopted Siemens PLM Software's design software, which has sparked a desire for inquiry. After listening to the briefing from agent Kaide Technology, I became interested in Solid Edge ® The software supports the function of importing data from multiple competing CAD systems and also appreciates the additional Insight feature ™ The feature of designing a data management solution that can manage both 2D and 3D files simultaneously has led to the decision to first configure Solid Edge at Research Institute 3 and launch a pilot application project.

The use of Solid Edge has improved the efficiency of communication between Litchi and customers in terms of graphic design. Due to the fact that most of Litchi's clients are bicycle assembly plants, the solutions often involve hundreds of different types of vehicles, and the parts are mostly custom designed. Most of the design drawings are created by clients, and the provided materials are usually in non Solid Edge format.

Whether the data files imported from competing CAD systems are simple or complex (such as surface modeling), it is very easy to modify them using Solid Edge. ”Yu Anfu, Deputy Director of Research Division 3, said, "The synchronous modeling of Solid Edge has greatly improved our graphic communication and design change managementmoreGood practice. ”

Lai Jinhong, a high-quality engineer with rich experience in solid modeling and surface modeling, further gave an example that in the past, when clients were unable to provide original design drawings and needed to make modifications, engineers often resorted to destroying the model structure (breaking the surface), but it was time-consuming.

After using Solid Edge for synchronous modeling, not only does it shorten the time to modify feature regularized models, but it can also directly output 2D surfaces without the need to transfer to other software for processing. In addition, Litchi has also started using Solid Edge and Insight to manage graphic files, hoping to execute everything from development and design to file management in a logically structured system.

Intuitive design
The design pattern of Solid Edge adopts synchronous rather than traditional parametric approach, coupled with the ability to perform design modifications, graphic output, and document management through a single system, eliminating the hassle of using different software to handle each action in the past, "said Lai Jinhong. Combining synchronous modeling with Insight data management in a single system makes the entire workflow smoother and more efficient. ”

In addition, Litchi also found that Solid Edge is extremely time-saving when dealing with workpieces that use many similar parts and have similar features. If their original coordinate coefficients are the same, engineers only need to set replacement parts to complete the process, and 2D drawings only need to be checked without re labeling. Engineer Litchi discovered that the first workpiece takes about a day, while the second approximate workpiece can be completed in just two hours.

Another benefit of using Solid Edge is improving CAD/CAM integration. Due to Litchi's one-stop service of "from scratch", it has synchronous product design and process design capabilities. In terms of process design, the main focus is on the design of inspection tools, fixtures, and machine tools.

Originally, Litchi's process design business only used 3D systems for mold design, but after importing Solid Edge, the visualized 3D drawings made the review of inspection/fixture drawings more convenient. Previously, the supervisor in charge of reviewing drawings did not have sufficient experience in mechanical backgrounds or engineering drawing viewing, making it difficult to immediately understand the substantive meaning of dimensions and lines when reviewing 2D drawings. However, Solid Edge's 3D design can concretely present the appearance of the inspection/fixture, making it clear to the reviewing supervisor, "said Yu Anfu.

In addition, when communicating with gauge users on the manufacturing site, this intuitive diagram can also be of great use, allowing users to understand clearly and react immediately when there are problems, improving accuracy.