• As of aPriori 2019 R2 SP1, a new bending process Profile 3 Roll Bend is available in the Bar & Tube Fabrication process group. The Profile 3 Roll Bend process is used for bending both standard bar and tube stock forms and custom extrusion profiles. (Note - the previously existing 3 Roll Bending process is intended for bending sheet metal stock and involves a different class of machines than those included with the Profile 3 Roll Bend process).

• aPriori has improved geometry analysis for parts made from custom extrusion profiles which include small features such as forms and tabs. Previously such features might incorrectly be identified as a Cutout GCD and assigned to machining. Now many of these features will be identified as NotSupported GCDs. This lays the groundwork for better automated recognition and operation assignment in a future release. Additionally, customers can develop a configured operation which can be manually assigned to these features as needed in order to estimate their cost.

• aPriori continues to improve cross-section recognition for custom extrusion parts. Some parts with cross-sections that were not recognized correctly in aPriori 2019 R2 now are handled correctly. For example, in specific parts aPriori previously neglected some hollow portions of the cross-section and incorrectly extracted those hollows as Cutout GCDs, resulting in excessive machining time and cost. Now these are recognized as part of the extrusion cross-section and incur no additional machining operations or cost. aPriori plans to make additional improvements to cross-section recognition in future releases.

• Machine-selection logic was updated for the Extrusion process in order to more accurately select an extrusion press and billet size which results in the lowest cost per part. Previously, machine-selection logic preferred larger-billet machines which produced a higher mass of extrusions in a given amount of time. But while these larger machines are cheaper overall when producing a high volume of parts, they typically have higher overhead rates so process costs and setup costs may be more expensive (per part) when producing a low volume of parts. The result of this change is that for a given custom extrusion part, a different machine may be selected, and Batch Setup and Overhead costs may be different (typically lower) when cost in aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 compared to aPriori 2019 R2.

• In aPriori 2019 R2 SP1, the process setup option Punching Strategy for Generic Extrusions has been extended to provide a more complete set of options for specifying when material removal should be performed by Punching or by Machining.

• Multi-Step Hole GCDs (a set of co-axial holes of varying diameters) on custom extrusion parts now will be assigned a drilling operation and will cost successfully. In the previous release, these GCDs failed to cost.

• Changing the value of the process setup option Number of Cavities in Die now will result in aPriori re-evaluating machine selection. Previously, aPriori used the same machine that was chosen when the number of cavities was computed automatically, even if this machine could not produce the desired number of extrudates at recommended exit speeds when using that number of cavities. If your intent is to specify a given number of cavities but use the same size billet and machine as was selected previously, you should explicitly select the desired machine. You may have to override machine feasibility rules to do so.