IBM and Dassault Systemes Announce General Availability of CATIA Version 4 Release 2.2
Focused Enhancements Boost Advanced Industry Processes Productivity
PARIS (October 12, 1999) – Customers in the automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding and construction industries are among the major beneficiaries of the 15 enhanced products in CATIA-CADAM Solutions Version 4 Release 2.2. Delivered seven months after Release 2.1, this new release demonstrates IBM and Dassault Systemes commitment for continued improvement of the CATIA Version 4 competitiveness across industry processes. CATIA Version 4 release 2.2 fully integrates with applications from the recently announced ENOVIA Portfolio. General availability is October 15.
All end-to-end processes will benefit from the significant acceleration of a factor of 2 to 5 delivered across all CATIA manufacturing products. 2 1/2 axis toolpath definition and quality are enhanced with the support of high speed pocketing, removal of excess material after roughing and enhanced local cavity roughing with new ramping approach. Design manufacturing iterations are speed up with new capabilities to analyze missing features after design changes. Accelerated global flank contouring definition in 5 axis, and a new ramping strategy in lathe machining is also delivered.
“Maintaining competitiveness in the development and manufacturing of machined parts is of increasing importance for cost effective airframe development at Saab. Smooth and soft toolpath can be produced which is the cornerstone for High Speed Milling, increasing the quality of the finished part and decreasing the lifecycle cost of the machine. Also, all manufacturing steps are integrated into one smooth operation. These key-factors introduced by CATIA Version 4 Release 2.2 permit cost-effective manufacturing, and contribute to the creation of toolpath with higher quality and in shorter time”, says Johan Lofling, Methodology CAD Applications, Integrated Product Development from Saab(a).
For industrial processes requiring creation of complex shapes, such as in automotive panels, die faces, engine design and even ship hulls, CATIA now offers new functionality to accelerate design. The expanded wireframe and surface feature set and improved associativity mechanisms within the CATIA Generative shape Modeling product increase the capacity to capture design intent and accelerate design productivity. In addition, concurrent design of complex solid parts is significantly accelerated. CATIA Version 4 Release 2.2 also helps to promote best design practices based on 3D tolerances, with qualitative and quantitative control over design quality, through the enhanced spectrum of 3D tolerancing features.
For the aerospace and automotive industries, the CATIA composite product provides an integrated and dedicated environment to address all steps from design to manufacturing for complex parts made with fabrics and/or tapes. Powerful tools are delivered in CATIA Version 4 Release 2.2 including “dart” feature for quick modification of the geometry of the plies. The “insert creation and management” has been improved with the integration of the “generative honeycomb” feature. Increased productivity in preparation for composite manufacturing is delivered through full support of the part thickness in flattening and fiber analysis operations, as well as manufacturability checking.
Improving design and lifecycle management, CATIA Version 4 Release 2.2 further optimizes customer shipbuilding & plant design processes. It provides an evolution from hull conceptual design to detail design, using the advanced capabilities from CATIA Generative Shape Modeling. In addition, it extends end user productivity through accelerated access to catalogs, enhanced structural sections, twisted profile and cutout improvements, and enhanced drawing production capabilities.
In parallel to the rapid development of the CATIA Version 5 portfolio and platform architecture, this release continues to deliver enhanced productivity for integrated product development processes expanding industries competitiveness in advanced modeling, digital manufacturing, and plant design domains. More than ever, new and existing CATIA customers can leverage the breadth and power of CATIA Version 4 as well as the benefits of the next generation architecture and functions of CATIA Version 5. Complementary implementation of the two CATIA versions lets customers manage a smooth transition from CATIA Version 4 to CATIA Version 5.
Dassault Systemes S.A. is the premier global software developer for the CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM II market, providing companies with e-business solutions to implement their digital enterprise, thus creating and simulating the entire product life cycle from initial concept to product in service. CATIA, ENOVIA and DENEB solutions support industry-specific business processes to help unleash creativity and innovation, reduce development cycle time, improve quality, competitiveness and shareholder value: CATIA supports the digital product definition and simulation, DENEB provides solutions to define and simulate digital manufacturing processes and ENOVIA delivers enterprise solutions that manage a comprehensive, collaborative and distributed model of the digital product, processes and resources. The combined integration creates the Digital Product life cycle Pipeline, supporting re-use of corporate knowledge. SolidWorks and Smart Solutions, as Dassault Systemes companies, offer respectively 3D design-centric and TeamPDM software solutions based on Windows.
Source: IBM