GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
P&WC scheme based on company-wide upgrade to latest Catia V5 design software
Pratt & Whitney Canada is rolling out its Digital Engine initiative, which will enable designers to collaborate with partners and suppliers in a virtual environment. The multi-year project is based on an IBM and Dassault Systems product life-cycle management solution, including the latest Catia V5 three-dimensional design software.
The Digital Engine initiative is founded on a company-wide upgrade to Catia V5, and about 200 workstations have been implemented in engineering, manufacturing, engine assembly and test, says P&WC. The roll-out will continue throughout 2003 and will include the Montreal-based company's remote design offices in Poland and Russia.
The design system represents the engine as a collection of three-dimensional solid models. A virtual product manager, Enovia VPM, associates product data with each model and makes it available during the manufacturing process.
P&WC first implemented VPM at the end of 2001, upgrading it in 2002 to prepare for Catia V5. In the next step, called "design-in-context", each engineer will be able to view the other sections of the engine that are impacted by the design they are working on. "This will allow a step change in collaboration between designers as well as with our customers," says P&WC.
A third element is the Enovia portal. This will provide web access to Catia and VPM data, and will allow Catia and non-Catia users to view solid models in a web browser format. P&WC says the portal "will facilitate collaboration among customers, suppliers and off-site operations".
In manufacturing, P&WC has initiated a project to provide process planners with tools to bridge the flow of information from engineering to production. This involves automating tasks related to the creation and maintenance of manufacturing operation sheets. An integrated tool data management system, now up and running, helps process planners to choose cutting tools and provides suppliers with access to tooling-related data.
A fourth project covers machine-tool simulation, and allows process planners to perform initial validation of machining programs online, before conducting tests on the production machine. A pilot roll-out has begun on the last project, the manufacturing information system, which will make work instructions available online and collect and distribute real-time process results.
Source: Flight International
