Rikei Corporation (headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Satoru Isaka; hereinafter “Rikei”) announced that it began selling 3D Caliper, a product developed by TECHSOFT Datenverarbeitung GmbH (headquarters: Austria; CEO and General Manager : Kurt Guertler).

Major features of the product

3D Caliper is add-on software to add a new function to PTC’s Creo Parametric (hereinafter “Creo”), a tried-and-trusted CAD software. 3D Caliper has three representative functions as follows.

・WallCheck
The product is capable of checking the thickness of a part in an omnidirectional manner, something that general 3D CAD software has not been able to do.
To prevent product failure, thin (or overly thick) parts can be automatically detected and problem areas identified prior to production.
This avoids the need to use 3D CAD software to manually create a cross-section surface. It also works very effectively to reduce man-hours for a design process.

・Clearance Verification Function
This function measures whether adjacent parts collide with each other when the parts are combined into one product.
Only the area nearest between two parts is detected while no other area remains undetected. This is a common problem in manufacturing processes. 3D Caliper provides a solution to this problem by being capable of three-dimensionally checking whether all parts omnidirectionally (vertically, horizontally and diagonally) keep distances from one another. Further, the distances can be numerically checked.

・”Compare part shapes” function
The function detects and quantifies differently shaped areas between two parts, and is capable of checking changes in shape (during trial production, before mass production and at other times) in parallel with the progress of design and to compare design data with three-dimensional measurement data (STL*) for determining the shape.

* STL: Standard Triangulated Language. One of the file formats for storing data that expresses 3D shapes.

Features

• Completely integrated into and operable on Creo, and unnecessary for the introduction of dedicated tools.
• Easy to operate. You can start using it without receiving any training.
• Function of report output for inspection results enables information sharing with those without CAD software.
• When inspecting multiple models, the batch function enables to inspect them all at once. Results are saved and easy to be reviewed later.

Market Background

3D CAD software is increasingly being used in manufacturing design, and Creo in particular, is being adopted by a variety of companies. In the manufacturing industry, there are cases where parts with a high risk in the event of damage or failure, such as of engines, are designed. So it is necessary to conduct sufficient verification at the design stage, but at the same time, many man-hours were spent.
In order to reduce the burden of design work, we have decided to provide a 3D Caliper that can automatically perform high-precision verification in cooperation with Creo, which is used by many companies.

Future development

3D Caliper will be recommended to companies that have already introduced Creo. It will be presented in particular to automobile companies, their affiliates and the manufacturing industry overall.

About TECHSOFT Datenverarbeitung GmbH

Headquartered in Linz, Austria, TECHSOFT Datenverarbeitung GmbH deals in 3D Caliper operable on Creo, products for product lifecycle management, products with centralized management of information on design and other aspects to reduce costs and shorten work periods, IoT and AR products.

About Rikei Corporation

Since its establishment in 1957 as a solution vendor in the IT and electronics industries, Rikei Corporation has provided a variety of solutions ranging from systems to networks, VR/AR contents, electronic materials and electronic devices.

Rikei proposes solutions that utilize cutting-edge technologies and advanced products from Japan and overseas, and contributes to business development such as improving efficiency of operations and profits of customers.

*Product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.