AutoForm News

 
October 10, 2006:
AutoForm at EuroBLECH 2006: New Software for Planning Departments

AutoForm Engineering GmbH, the leading provider of software solutions for the die-making and sheet metal forming industries, presents the first commercial planning software specialized for press shop planning departments at automotive manufacturers – at EuroBLECH 2006 in Hannover (Hall 11, Booth F40).

Dr. Markus Thomma, Director of Marketing at AutoForm, explains: “Our focus over the last 10 years has been on the development of vertical solutions for the planning and manufacturing of stamped parts and sheet metal forming tools. In cooperation with industrial development partners, AutoForm has developed a new module which is now being launched. It allows planning departments to calculate rapidly and transparently the tooling costs associated with the production of automotive body parts.”

The automatic identification of part details (yellow) is the basis for determining the required manufacturing processes (shown in different colors) and for calculating costs.

Until today, the calculation of tooling costs has been done mostly using personally or commercially developed Microsoft Excel-based worksheets. This approach requires that the user describes the sheet metal part with a lot of data which have to be input manually. Firstly, this leads to a lack of transparency and reproducibility in determining costs. Secondly, the cost calculation for a complete tool set is very time-consuming and cumbersome to do.

AutoForm’s approach for calculating tooling costs is completely new: it starts from the product geometry, automatically identifies part details, and then determines the required manufacturing processes and tooling costs with a minimum of user inputs. Its tremendous speed not only allows one to perform cost calculations much faster, but it also allows one for the first time to systematically evaluate multiple, alternative manufacturing concepts and to determine a cost-optimized manufacturing process.

The new module is fully integrated into the AutoForm software environment, ensuring maximum user productivity. It interacts with other AutoForm modules, for example those for the determination of blank outline, material costs and stamping feasibility of deep drawn parts. As a result, one obtains a planning solution which enables process planners and cost calculators to quickly determine complete, reproducible, and usable planning data.

Furthermore, with this integrated solution, it is possible to standardize processes and to transparently and reproducibly create planning data and determine costs. “We are very happy to have as development partners for our new solution DaimlerChrysler AG (as OEM) and ThyssenKrupp Drauz Nothelfer-Gruppe (as supplier). At both of these companies, our software solution is already implemented in the pilot stage”, summarized Dr. Markus Thomma.

Press Release [pdf - 71 KB], Image

Contact:
Dr. Markus Thomma
Director of Marketing
AutoForm Engineering GmbH
Technoparkstrasse 1
CH-8005 Zurich
Switzerland