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Archive for September 19th, 2008

While this has been an extremely interesting week in Barcelona, I’m certainly glad it is now time to go back home to my family in California. I miss my husband and kids terribly, and, to tell the truth, I don’t think I am as extrovert and/or as intensely social as the rest of the bloggers. Unlike me, those guys seem to thrive on social interaction, cool gadgets, blogging and twittering… and sometimes beer. It was all great for me during the presentations and the hands-on session, but the times for mingling and social interaction, well…  I guess my natural shyness kicked in even worse than the jet-lag, and, if not for those moments when Richard Doyle would show up to pull me out of my shell a little bit, I found myself hiding away from the rest of the world most of the time, quietly observing from my corner, or simply feeling like the odd girl out. Anyway, I still managed to meet quite a few interesting people (my dream of shaking hands with Marie Planchard finally came truth!), I learned a lot, and, all things considered, it was a great experience, and one that I’m infinitely grateful for also.

Since by now many bloggers and journalists have probably already posted very detailed information on what was discussed during the press event, I think I’ll just go ahead and tell you about what really caught my fancy.

To begin with, a few things I kept hearing over and over, out of the mouth of SW people and their clients alike. First, how using SolidWorks allows them to focus on their design and not the tool (CAD) because SolidWorks is intuitive and easy to learn, plus, since it can be customized to meet their specific needs, they can become productive right away, even if they haven’t been using SW for such a long time, like in the case of the students at IQS, the school of industrial engineering that we visited today for the hands-on session. 

Second, how thanks to SolidWorks, they can get the job done faster and save money, thanks to the simulation tools integrated with SolidWorks (what used to be known as COSMOSWorks, COSMOSFloWorks, etc.). An impressive example of this was given by Mr. Domingo Ochoa, from GTA Motor, who explained how his team of designers has been using SolidWorks simulation tools to “test” virtual prototypes of the (very cool) sports car they’re designing. SolidWorks simulation allows them to perform a wind tunnel test without really having one, he said. Of course, I know what you may be thinking, because I thought about that myself: isn’t this dangerous?  I mean, all this relying on simulation tools, instead of some good old-fashion calculations and testing… and building a second prototype… and testing again… and more calculations… and another prototype… oops, more testing…  OK, you get the idea. Well, the really important thing to keep in mind here, apparently, is that simulation is not to substitute tried and true methods for validating designs, but to save the designer a few steps (and a few bucks along the way), by starting the process with a much better design. With this in mind, it makes perfect sense, don’t you think?

Third, it was also mentioned again and again how SolidWorks improves the communication with suppliers, manufacturers, clients, and even between employees working at the same company. This is specially true for big companies, such as Martifer, that have a large variety of projects going on all over the world, but it’s also valid for the smaller companies that simply need a way to better communicate with their clients on any changes done to their design . SolidWorks then becomes like a new universal language, one that everyone understands. Particularly helpful for the communication with clients and other designers in the team was PDM Enterprise, as well as the rendering and simulation tools, that allow users to get a feeling of how their product will behave in real life, before even building a prototype. Interestingly, Bernard Charles had talked about how one of the trends or goals for the future was to provide the user with an even more lifelike experience, making it as real as possible, and then some, so that the user can “play” with the product and make sure that what they are designing can also be made in real life. An also important goal was the search for new platforms that release the users from the limitations of laptops and desktops and provide new ways for sharing and collaborating online.

And speaking of better communication of ideas,  I’m not sure what I thought 3DVIA was, that kept me from taking a better look at it, but I’m certainly glad I got to see it in action during this event. What a clever tool for creating product documentation with next to zero effort! An “anonymous” voice, probably coming from among the bloggers in the back row of the room even suggested it could be used to create SolidWorks documentation… The idea was received with much joy and enthusiasm by the rest of the group.

Anyway, I guess the only other thing I want to mention really quickly is how impressed I am by the examples of what others have done or are doing in SolidWorks, more particularly students, such as David Flores, winner of the design challenge, who, in his own words, found in SolidWorks “a bridge between dreams and reality”. He also found himself with a brand new car and, most likely, an awesome cool job. Wow!

OK, so this is it for now. I have an early flight to catch tomorrow, and it’s almost 1:00 am here in Barcelona.  Time to finish packing my things and try to sleep for a couple of hours.