3D Parts Management

ShapeSpace – 3D CAD Shape Search for Design Engineers

The 3D search technology of ShapeSpace reduces search time of CAD data to seconds, by locating any part based on its shape and attributes, rather than only its part number.

All company CAD files (any format) are indexed and stored in a centralised information server to be searched quickly and easily. The original CAD file remains intact in the CAD system.

The search results are returned to give a view of multiple exact or near exact parts. It is from here that the searcher can select and drill into the search results or group a selection together for categorization, for example, or for review at a later date.

Searches can identify exact duplicates, which opens the way to archive or de-duplicate the unnecessary files, cleaning and improving the quality of the CAD vault. This in itself will increase search success, and is a necessary step before upgrade or migration of CAD /PDM/PLM.

ShapeSpace Search information is instantly presented collectively in a 3D visual format for easy identification, comparison and selection

Before a commencing new design, a Design Engineer can search by an existing or a draft shape and identify a duplicate or near duplicate of the fresh requirement, thus avoiding wasted time starting from scratch and creating a design already in the Vault. This is very much a waste of company time and money.

If a design is found which is close to the requirement the existing design can be enhanced, saving design time powerful solution, a process called part re-use. In fact, some users begin by creating a ShapeSpace and realise that they don’t need to go for full-blown PLM solutions – ShapeSpace offers such efficiencies, that it could be all that an organisation requires.

We are confident that ShapeSpace’s functionality, analytical results and visualization will impress you.

What customers say about ShapeSpace

FMB Oxford Ltd: Manufacturers and suppliers of instrumentation to the scientific community

“We had time to trial the solution and use it in anger. The 3D visualisation provided by the ShapeSpace solution makes it easy to search and browse for geometrically similar parts without opening CAD files, so searches are quick and easy. We found that by searching for and reusing existing components we could reduce the number of parts we designed by around 5% – providing a significant saving on the costs of new part introductions. This is a very useful tool which was easily installed and from which we can already see very good business benefits.”

Devro (Scotland) Ltd: Producers of manufactured casings for the food industry

“The fast and easy way to find the part you created and just cannot remember its file number. When our production line is out of action, time is of the essence, and urgent identification of a replacement part is essential.”

And from Al Dean, Editor, Develop 3D: A magazine and website from X3DMedia which tracks all the essential technologies used throughout the entire product development process

“This is one of the most impressive bits of technology I’ve seen in ages … the potential for saving of time, effort and inventory, means that the adoption is going to be very easy to justify.”