IndustryIndustrial design

Business challengesAchieve excellence from the startNo restrictions in creating new shapesInteroperability with file exchange standards; ability to re-use and adapt files import-ed from other CAD tools

Keys to successThe combination of design and technical expertise with the added value of NXEasy NX implementationAbility to import and easily change product data regard-less of the formatSynchronous technology for fast changes to existing designsEarly predictions of perfor-mance using NX Nastran

ResultsDevelopment times cut in halfOutstanding collaboration with customers

Design and modeling are complementary processes at KeyOx, where NX provides a complete solution that optimizes creativity – from the definition of specifications to the documentation needed for manufacturing

Design-engineering partnership Before founding KeyOx, Mathias Allély, an industrial designer who graduated from the ENSAAMA (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Arts) and Paul Laurens, an INSA engineer (Mechanical Engineering Construction) with an advanced diploma in materials engineering, had worked together in product development since 1998. They made the following observation from their first collaboration as customer and supplier: “Too many innovation projects do not attain the goals assigned to them in terms of sales, profits, market share, or brand recognition.” Their analysis was that the problems encountered during product development are usually related to a lack of shared vision between the specialists at the beginning of the innovation process.

The two entrepreneurs formulated a new product design approach and started their company, KeyOx, with the goal of providing their customers with a method aimed at offering different and high-performance products more rapidly. “An innovative product determines the rules of

NX

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KeyOxNX ensures innovation

the game for the competition,” says Mathias Allély, KeyOx partner.

Their method, a balance between technological pragmatism, maintaining values, and a culture of well-being, is based on a preliminary study done with their customers’ teams about uses, sales objectives, and technology to be implemented. The end product of this study (led by the industrial designer, who is an expert in form and use, and the engineer who ensures the manufactur-ability) is a shared and dynamic vision of what the future product will be. This shared vision is divided into objectives and actions, and the integrity of the whole is ensured during the entire project by reviewing and updating the intent illustrated by the designer. According to the partners, “During the continuous

process, which is what innovation is, our company’s mission is to provide our customers with strategic, creative, and development expertise which is indispens-able to the project’s planning and success.”

Selecting a suitable toolBeing design and modeling experts, the two partners know the computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) market very well. They therefore decided to make the rounds of the main solution providers, testing at the same time. Their basic specification was a complete design and manufacturing solution, sufficiently robust and industrial to adapt to all their needs and all phases of the process, from the designer’s creative spark to defining the product’s details.

“We were really looking for a ‘magic’ toolkit that would allow us not only to implement our own methods, but also to adapt to all our customers’ requirements, and to all phases of product development,” explains Allély, the team’s industrial designer. “We needed to be present from start to finish, in a project manager role if necessary, providing the customer with all our know-

“ NX, a top-of-the-line soft-ware, provides us with more credibility in our process. With NX and its tools, we have the means to present our ideas to our customers, share them, and see them evolve.”

Paul Laurens Partner KeyOx

how while transparently and rapidly integrating into his teams. We were also looking for a tool capable of simultane-ously managing simple and complex forms as well as all the various manufacturing techniques, which themselves can be complicated.” Their search led to the selection of NX™ software from Siemens PLM Software.

The NX solution proved its value during the first project awarded to KeyOx by Raisonance, a company in Grenoble, France that specializes in software tools for onboard systems. Using the NX solution enabled the team to build on its knowledge and create in 15 days: the 3D model of the Rlink microcontroller debug-ger and programmer, the synthesis image validated by Raisonance, the model for the toolmaker, and the documentation for the mass production manufacturing lines.

To benefit even more from the competitive edge of reducing time to market, KeyOx wanted to provide its customers with advanced digital prototyping tools. Using NX Nastran® software, KeyOx can validate and communicate the performance of its designs using digital simulation (finite element analysis). KeyOx’s customers are therefore sure of the yield on their investments.

Product development, R&D support, design servicesToday KeyOx works with companies in a variety of ways. For example, KeyOx works with companies that do not have an engineering and design department (Raisonance, STMicroelectronics, Eliot) to study their expectations, propose a design that takes their use cases and brand image into consideration, realize the develop-ment and follow it down the line, and verify the tooling. With other companies, such as Waterslim, KeyOx leads the development of their products based on market goals, from R&D phases to industri-alization including the identification of product differentiators and technology.

Results (continued)Simplified project managementPitfalls avoided during the design processProductivity gains of about 20 percent

KeyOx can also provide services on demand, such as product design or tech-nology consulting, for customers who have mechanical engineering resources, such as Coval and Parker Pneumatic. “Finally, we assist companies like Salomon or Baccarat in introducing NX into their product development process while adapt-ing it to the techniques of their sector,” Allély adds.

One tool from industrial design to industrializationThe NX CAD solution is an integral part of KeyOx’s operations. NX, a powerful and integrated continuous digital chain, covers and documents all aspects of industrial development, from exploring concepts to their validation (analysis of surface and form quality, and digital simulation using NX Nastran), including decision-making documentation and unequivocal data for manufacturing.

“ As an industrial designer, I needed a tool that would let me model what I wanted, including advanced shapes and forms, in the easiest way and with a minimum of technical checks in order to design products which can be manufactured. NX is the only software that meets these requirements.”

Mathias Allély Partner KeyOx

“ NX is robust enough and industrial enough to enable us to effect all changes very quickly, no matter what the design phase.”

Paul Laurens Partner KeyOx

“NX allows us to ensure the finest details of the design,” explains Paul Laurens, KeyOx partner. “The effectiveness of NX is such that it is possible to optimize the product definition at any time during the collaborative process.”

Project management is even more effec-tive with NX because the teams, internal and external, collaborate completely using a base file that is continually updated. This collaboration process for innovation therefore benefits from each person’s expertise within the scope of the defined objectives. As Laurens explains, “In this way NX enables us to increase our produc-tivity in the range of 20 percent.”

This comes down to a 50 percent savings in product development time and its corollary, time-to-market, without having to sacrifice either design quality or product cost. A number of elements enable these savings. One is the very powerful, user-friendly and robust NX modeler, which allows working without any restrictions linked to the software. “There are no limits as to shape, which is essential for a designer. We do not have to adapt our design to the tool,” remarks Allély.

Another time-saving factor is the use of the same data during the entire design process. The designer and engineer work with the same NX software, taking the design intent and technical limitations into consideration. “It is the mark of the quality and robustness of the process,” explains

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Solutions/ServicesNX NX Nastran www.siemens.com/nx

Customer’s primary businessKeyOx provides industrial design expertise and a unique approach to the innovation process, focusing on the consumer products, high-tech and electronics, and special-ized machinery sectors. www.keyox.com

Customer locationGillonnay France

Laurens. In addition, NX allows certain tasks to be done in parallel through strict structuring and management of the data using NX Wave functionality.

Digital prototypes created with NX save time by making it possible to evaluate the relevance of various technical solutions very early in the process. Simulations using NX Nastran allow mechanical, thermal, and fluid validation. NX with synchronous technology, as well as the effectiveness of the dual surface/volume modeling capability in NX, reduce re-design iterat-ions to a minimum. Strong modeling functionality gives the designer or

engineer the ability to intervene in the development even during the late phases of the process. Finally, NX design data is re-used throughout the project to document, support, speed up, and ensure the reliability of the product’s implement-ation phases: industrialization (NX models document the designer’s intent), manu-facturing (NX data documents the control, assembly, and test phases), and pre-sales and sales (NX data is used for product documentation such as synthesis images, operational diagrams, and maintenance diagrams even before finishing the tooling).

“ Our clients choose us for our methods and our exper-tise. And we have chosen NX as the backbone of our company.”

Paul Laurens Partner KeyOx