Process Customization
Software Tool Integration, and Engineering Methods Development
Are you thinking about streamlining your engineering and business processes? Simplify tasks? Tie organizations together using common tools you may already have? Increase functionality?
The answer may invoke a mix of customization and integration solutions through a proven approach developed by Rite Tech Resources (RTR) called Requirements Definition and Assessment (RDA). We start by identifying the “as-is-state” and then detailing the “to-be-state or desired state”: Phase 0.
Critical success factors in Phase 0 include the following activities:
- Identify all key participants and establish functional relationships, engineering data architecture and engineering data flow in the customer’s process. See Figure 1 for example functional relationships for a typical major aerospace OEM or Tier 1 supplier
- Create process flow diagrams that depict important interactions and dependencies for all functional relationships identified in step 1) above.
- Present data flow within the “As-Is” process captured during Phase 0 and steps 1) and 2) above.
- Identify all important inefficiencies and bottlenecks uncovered during Phase 0 and steps 1) , 2) and 3) above
- Provide specific recommendations for process improvement and Return-On-Investment (ROI) for each specific recommendation
One example of Phase 0 is the engineering process assessment at a major commercial aircraft manufacturer to identify, examine and propose corrective action for inefficiencies and process bottlenecks in twelve major engineering disciplines, methods and data:
- Aeroelastic finite element analysis
- Wind tunnel pressure test data reduction
- Structural test data library – static
- Structural test data library – dynamic
- Automated airplane sizing
- Engineering toolbox for analysis-resize-analysis
- Design stress methods for analysis-resize-analysis
- Mechanism design analysis and simulation
- Stress analysis repository
- Flight test data library
- Product information retrieval
- Materials design data.
RTR offers customization, software tool integration, and methods development services that include improving the engineering simulation and analysis process by moving simulation and analysis up-front in the design-to-manufacturing process. RTR tools enable commercial-off-the shelf products easier to use, include automated error-checking; establish comprehensive, bi-directional, data transfer between detailed design geometry in CAD databases and idealized geometry in CAE databases; and overall improving overall CAD-to-CAE interoperability.
RTR software engineers follow ASTM-E1340-90, Rapid Prototyping Development Approach for customized engineering software. Automated regression tests are performed daily on software builds to assure quality and customer-defined acceptance tests are used as criteria for delivery.
Key personnel at RTR have conducted large-scale customization, integration, and engineering methods development including:
Design, development, testing, delivery and support of engineering analysis software system used in the classification of ship structures – SafeHull Express.
System automates all repetitive and repeatable engineering analysis calculations for tankers, bulk cargo and container vessels and calculates stresses, displacements, natural frequencies and normal modes, and predicts fatigue life due to wave loading and fuel-sloshing taking into account steel strength degradation due to corrosion
Design, development, testing, delivery and support of the Predictive Tire Modeling System (PTMS) which automates tire nonlinear analyses for design engineers and includes prediction of failure modes and field separation failures, thermo-mechanical fatigue life of rolling tires, crack propagation, and well as other tire science.
Design, development, testing, delivery and support of large off-road vehicle Hydraulic Cylinder Design environment (HCDE) – an engineering software system which predicts the fatigue life of hydraulic cylinders through an intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI)