Use Cases for Shape-based Search & Analytics

Part Reuse

Reusing an existing part can save from $3,000 to $25,000 or more in design, prototyping, testing and manufacturing setup, and $500 or more each ongoing year in inventory carrying costs for the life of the part.  

• Without CADSEEK - part reuse opportunities are missed for two reasons:  

1. Search Frustration: PLM searches are reliant on attributes, but attributes are often unreliable.  Search frustration leads to abandoned searches and a start-from-scratch culture.  
2. Impatience:  Designers often want to jump directly to the design phase without first performing a search for a reusable part, leading to duplication. 

• With CADSEEK

1. No design can hide from a shape-search, making searches comprehensive and ending search frustration.     
2. CADSEEK Adviser embeds shape-search directly into the CAD environment so that designers don't have to change their workflow. Click here for more information on Adviser.    

Example of ROI Potential from Part Reuse 

• Design Reuse:  when an existing design can't be reused as is, often an existing similar design can be used as an advanced starting point and modified to save a tremendous amount of tedious, repetitive design time.  

1. CADSEEK Polaris can be used to execute attribute searches; visual browsing can be used to search for families of relevant designs; and known similar files can be imported as search targets.  
2. CADSEEK Adviser allows users to begin a new model and within a few minutes use the rough sketch they've created to find similar designs that can be modified for the new purpose.  This approach saves a tremendous amount of time and allows engineering capacity to be focused on high value work.  

• Cost Estimation: similar existing parts share manufacturing processes and therefore have similar cost and performance metrics (allowing for material type and other cost issues).  Therefore, a fast and accurate method to estimate the cost of a new part is to analyze the cost of a highly similar design, which not only adds efficiency but also eliminates tedious work.   
• Testing Plan Reuse
• Manufacturing Plan Reuse

• Duplication:  A study by Engineering.com found that duplication and functional duplication in engineering databases is commonly in the 20% range and approaches 40% in some organizations.  Many project intended to find and eliminate duplication and never executed because the tremendous skilled labor needed to even identify duplicate.  CADSEEK Analytics eliminates the tedious search by producing generating duplication reports that provide a road map for analysts.  When cost and volume data is included the reports prioritize the highest impact duplication issues. 
• Standardization Opportunities:  Just like with duplication, CADSEEK Analytics reports show pools of highly similar items where the designation of a standard part may be possible.  
• Price Variances:  Organizations often buy highly similar items at significant price variances.  CADSEEK Analytics can show precisely where such variances exist and prioritize for analysis those where the degree of similarity, price variance and volume can lead to the greatest cost lowering impact.  Filters can be used to control for material, finish and tolerance.  The image below shows two highly similar vendor parts with a cost variance that is causing $78,197 in unwarranted expense annually.   

• Performance Variances:  Similar parts can also have variances in part life, warranty performance or a technical metric such as maximum rpm, which CADSEEK Analytics can be used to identify.