VMAP project: Simcon is developing a software standard to boost efficiency in product development

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2020-07-14 12:32:00

The best products and parts are those created with holistically designed development and production processes. In the best of cases, all the data on the material properties and material behavior will be available for the entire workflow.  So far, however, a large number of different interfaces has hampered the flow of data between all those involved. Different file formats frequently require extensive (and hence costly) manual adjustments for data transfer and are thus slowing down the current progress towards industry 4.0. Simcon – a leading supplier of simulation software for the injection molding of plastic parts – has now teamed up with some 30 international partners in the VMAP project – Virtual Material Modelling in Manufacturing. The partners aim to draw up a uniform, manufacturer-independent standard for the optimal exchange of information in development and production employing Computer Aided Engineering, or CAE for short. Simcon’s Cadmould simulation software constitutes a key development tool for manufacturing industry in the plastics sector.

Greater added value in the design of injection molded parts

Under the project management of the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing SCAI, the participants are setting out to improve the entire value chain in industrial production with their new standard. Smooth, automated communication will significantly simplify the design process and shorten cycle times in design optimization. Apart from Simcon, further eminent industrial companies are participating in this ambitious project, including Audi, Bosch and Philips, software manufacturers from various industries and a number of universities.

“I am already assuming that the new interface language will considerably boost our customers' efficiency in product and process development”, says Dr.-Ing. Paul F. Filz, founder and co-managing director of Simcon. “We will thus be contributing to even better and more sustainable value creation in the design of injection molded parts and molds.”

Manufacturer-neutral community

The VMAP project partners will be jointly compiling the standard in the period up to 2020. Afterwards, the open and manufacturer-independent community “Material Data Exchange Interface Standard” will monitor compliance with the standard and proceed with its further development Funding for the project is coming from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), together with other national institutions in Austria, the Netherlands and Canada.

About simcon

Simcon kunststofftechnische Software GmbH, headquartered in Würselen, Germany, has been one of the most successful providers of software products and services in the field of injection moulding simulation since 1988. The owner-managed company is successful worldwide with more than 6000 software customers and more than 12,000 services and has a unique, wide-ranging know-how in the field of plastic injection moulding.

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