Use Cases for Shape-based Search & Analytics

Shape-Search Use Cases Fall into Four Categories

1. Part Reuse

The ability to reuse an existing part in a new application

• avoids part design, prototyping and testing costs,
• improves consistency and
• speeds time to market. 

2. Knowledge Reuse

When part reuse isn't possible there are still many ways that the data and information of existing designs can be used to accelerate the new part development process or make a task more efficient: 

• Design reuse (modification of a similar design)
• Cost estimation
• Quotation
• Supplier selection
• Supplier cost validation
• Testing plan reuse
• Manufacturing plan reuse
• Tool path reuse
• Fixture design reuse
• Warranty rate estimation
• Part life estimation
• and more

3. Shape Analytics

Part shape is correlated with engineering and business metrics such as cost and manufacturing process.  Shape analytics analyzes an entire database to identify,

• Duplication
• Standardization opportunities
• Unwarranted cost variances
• Unwarranted performances variances such as part life or warranty
• Opportunities for volume discounts across departments
• Inventory overlap for mergers and acquisitions
• Data migration and out of compliance attribute repair

4. Supply Chain Optimization

A form of knowledge reuse is accessing supplier information of similar parts to shorten the supplier selection process.  iSEEKGlobal optimizes supply chain sourcing by allowing purchasing agents to search supplier parts as easily as their own.  

Part Reuse

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

• Part reuse opportunities are often missed due to unreliable attributes.  
• In many cases, designers won't bother to search for a reuse candidate due to previous search frustration.  
• CADSEEK eliminates abandoned searches by providing accurate results that are both comprehensive and clutter-free.  
• Even when a designer may not want to take the time to perform a search, CADSEEK Adviser watches a CAD design session and early in the design process (minutes) alerts the user to existing designs that should be considered for reuse.  

Example of ROI Potential from Part Reuse 

• Design Reuse:  when an existing design can't be reused as is, often an existing similar CAD file can be modified to save a tremendous amount of tedious, repetitive design time, allowing designers to focus on high-value modifications.  
• 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 design is to consider the cost of a highly similar design. This use case not only adds efficiency but also eliminates tedious work.   
• Reuse of Testing Plans
• Manufacturing Plan Reuse

• Duplication:  A study by Engineering.com found that duplication rates are commonly above 20%.  Many organizations want to consolidate duplicate designs, but projects are rarely implemented due to the tremendous amount of skilled labor needed.  CADSEEK Analytics is a fully automated analysis of shape similarity across large databases, providing a road map to where duplication exists.  Cost and volume data can be included to prioritize the highest impact situations. 
• 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. Filters can be used to control for material, finish and tolerance.  The image below shows two highly similar vendor parts with a cost variance of $3.49, leading to $78,197 in unwarranted expense annually.