Kaman Helicopters has entered into an agreement to license VISTAGY, Inc.’s FiberSIM composites engineering software. The software will be used to streamline the design-to-manufacturing process for large composite helicopter blades by providing early visibility into challenges and facilitating a smooth hand-off of composite manufacturing data to the shop floor. Kaman estimates that FiberSIM will enable the firm to reduce ply development time from 180 to 40 hours, a savings of 78 percent, and average part layup time from 32 to 20 hours, a savings of 38 percent. Kaman Helicopters is using FiberSIM within its Siemens NX computer-aided-design (CAD) system. FiberSIM is integrated into 3D commercial CAD systems to provide functionality for developing products made of advanced composite materials. "Working with composites is extremely time-consuming and tedious," says Tim Bates, general manager of Kaman Helicopters' Blade Center of Excellence and Subcontract Product Group. "By adopting FiberSIM, we expect to be able to automate non-value added tasks to achieve significant productivity gains, improve overall part quality and repeatability, and increase our throughput." For more information, visit VISTAGY. Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.
|
