News & events

TOULOUSE, France, January 24, 2006: Kineo C.A.M. today announced that a Major North American Automotive Manufacturer deploys a new serviceability methodology for all part removal virtual simulations. This methodology is based on Kineo Path PlannerTM and takes full advantage of the advanced Dynamic Collision Checking capabilities offered by Kineo CAM’s technology.

“With our former methodology, serviceability studies could not be conducted optimally when collision detection processes were involved”, explains Sethupathy Kathiresan, Knowledge Based Engineering Analyst.
“The part removal simulations took several hours (approx. 2-3 hours or even more) of manual transformation for an experienced analyst time, which represents about 20–25% of the total time to complete serviceability assessment studies. This, in turns, limited the number of assessments which could be scheduled and completed in support of serviceability.
Today, Serviceability studies that require part disassembly path simulations are fed into Kineo Path PlannerTM in order to find a feasible and quick extraction path.
Finding an extraction path controlled by the dynamic collision checker now takes an average of 5-6 minutes, which means about 2 hours or 76% computation time reduction on each part removal assessment compared to the former methodology. The generated paths and the corresponding swept volumes are the starting points for future data re-use within the vehicle program buck.”

“Beyond the significant productivity gain on virtual maintenance checks, it is interesting to note that the whole virtual product development chain is positively influenced by Kineo dynamic collision checking technology”, says Mickael Reux, Business Development Manager, Kineo CAM. “Indeed, with Kineo Path PlannerTM, it is now easy and fast to take into account all assembly, disassembly, maintenance, and part interchangeability constraints directly on the Digital Mockup and to precisely document those. This valuable design information, putting forward accurate and relevant design modifications and considerations, can be made available at very early stages of the virtual product conception, thus avoiding to be confronted to Serviceability or Manufacturability issues detected too late”.

• Generated optimal extraction path within 5-6 minutes (cycle time reduction)
• Average reduction in computation time for path extraction = 76%
• Average time saved on part removal assessments per study is approximately 2 hours
• Generated paths and swept volumes are the starting points for future data re-use

Using its advanced Dynamic Collision checking, Kineo Path Planner™ “KPP” is specialized in automatically finding and generating collision-free trajectories within your 3D Digital Mock-up and therefore serves industrial needs such as mounting and dismounting component parts, feasibility studies of human or robotic tasks in constrained virtual environments.
More information on Kineo Path Planner™

Kineo CAM, granted 2005 IEEE/IFR Innovation Award, is the independent software developer of the worldwide leading technology for Automatic Motion and Path Planning, KineoWorks™. Being focused on the development of unmatched efficient Software Solutions dedicated to Dynamic Collision Checking, Kineo CAM is widely recognized by large organizations in such industrial markets as automotive, aerospace, nuclear and ship building.
For more information, visit www.kineocam.com.