Recently, Capvidia partnered with KOTEM, a leading software company for the industrial inspection and quality control space. KOTEM’s strength is in implementing Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing, and they asked Capvidia to collaborate on CAD Bridge for a CAD-to-stand-alone GD&T authoring and proofing tool with the ability to make real-time changes to the CAD model.

The new CAD Bridge allows KOTEM’s EVOLVE Design tool to directly interact with and change the GD&T in a PTC Creo CAD model via Capvidia’s powerful MBDVidia software.

Our teams demonstrated this technology in May at Control 2019, the world’s largest metrology  conference, held in Stuttgart, Germany.

Capvidia’s Part

We specialize in software solutions for Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Model-Based Enterprises (MBE), and interoperability. We provide software plugins for CAD, standalone applications, and components for CAD. We also develop software applications for product lifecycle management, computer-aided engineering, and quality processes.

It was that last point that drew KOTEM to us. One of our leading products is MBDVidia, an application enabling and leveraging semantic Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI) for Model-Based Definition (MBD). KOTEM approached us to combine MBDVidia technology with KOTEM’s new EVOLVE Suite, a software package that provides enterprise with a consistent way to manage product tolerances to enable MBE and Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0, according to Forbes Magazine, is the fourth revolution occurring in manufacturing.

• 1st Revolution - Industrial Revolution, mechanization through steam and water-power.
• 2nd Revolution - Mass production and assembly lines using electricity.
• 3rd Revolution - Adoption of computers and automation, enhanced with smart and autonomous systems using data and machine learning.
• 4th Revolution - Computers connecting and communicating with one another to make decisions without human intervention, utilizing the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems to make the smart factory.

Capvidia supports Industry 4.0 by creating applications that improve and enhance software from companies like KOTEM, making the crucial connection for communication between solutions. The technology in MBDVidia enables 3D annotations on a CAD model to be used downstream for automation and establishes digital traceability of downstream data back to the master design model.

KOTEM EVOLVE and Capvidia MBDVidia

The software bridge resulting from the collaboration between Capvidia and KOTEM was created to validate and allow direct change to the CAD files from the GD&T authoring and proofing tool. Before, the model-based enterprise had an open loop in this area, making it difficult for designers and inspectors to ensure they were using the exact same GD&T (GPS) information.

Now, with an intelligent MBD workflow, that loop is closed, and GD&T can be authored in a best-in-class tool like EVOLVE, and automatically propagated back to the master model.

For example, the CAD Bridge allows KOTEM EVOLVE Design to interact directly with and change the GD&T (GPS;PMI) in a PTC Creo CAD model using Capvidia MBDVidia technology. KOTEM EVOLVE Design, based on KOTEM SmartProfile, proofs the model’s GD&T then uses a powerful system to identify errors and provide warning notifications of potential problems while updating the Creo CAD Model.

The CAD Bridge collaboration between KOTEM EVOLVE Design and Capvidia MBDVidia helps break down silos as well as develop better CAD and GD&T solutions than ever before, to make best-in-class software. At the Control 2019 Conference, the KOTEM team put the bridge on display, successfully collaborating to create the intelligent MBD workflow in front of the crowd in Stuttgart.

Creo users got to see the benefits of extending the digital thread to and from the authority CAD Model to the KOTEM EVOLVE Suite as the team demonstrated both design and validation can now use  EVOLVE tools within the context of their native Creo GD&T data.

KOTEM recognized that their products needed to be in the hands of designers, but providing that ability independently would have meant extensive research and development in the area of CAD integrations. Given Capvidia’s extensive CAD experience, KOTEM took advantage of the available technology to create a tool that removes significant effort.

Capvidia Makes Interoperability Easy

Capvidia tools are an enabling technology to power Model Based Enterprise and digital connectivity throughout your organization. As in the example above with KOTEM, Capvidia provided a software plugin to create a bridge that removed a time-wasting step and eliminated an opportunity for error, creating the ability to identify and send warnings about the fit and function of a product model, and let designers, manufacturers, and inspectors use the exact same information without question.

Interoperability is what we are all about. We provide the bridge between applications to streamline product manufacturing and MBE. We are especially proud of our semantic PMI tool, MBDVidia that made our collaboration with KOTEM possible.

Our integrated CAD plugins, standalone applications and other components for CAD, PLM, and CAE help you translate, validate, improve, reuse, and get the most out of your data. Using our products you can ensure high-quality geometric translations from any CAD format to any other. You can import complex geometry into tools like SolidWorks. You can even perform precision comparative validation between two CAD models to ensure they are identical and there are no translation or engineering-change related errors.

At Capvidia, we are poised to help you develop accurate and precise CAD models for your product manufacturing business. We are here to support the model-based enterprise and break down the silos for good.