• The new Manual Paint process which was introduced in aPriori 2019 R2 has been moved to appear under the Paint node, so that it is grouped logically with other Paint processes such as Wet Coat Line and Powder Coat Cart. This makes it easier for users to find and select the Manual Paint process if desired. Previously it was located as a peer of the Paint node, at the end of the Surface Treatment routing choices.

• In the Sheet Metal process groups, all two-dimensional cutting operations (Waterjet, Laser Cut, Laser Punch, OxyFuel Cut, Plasma Cut, Plasma Punch, and Turret Press) now include an additional feasibility check, which prevents them from being assigned to holes which are located on side walls of the part rather than through the main blank surface. Previously, a hole which was located on the side wall of a part made from plate stock may have been assigned to one of these 2D cutting operations. In aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 these holes now will be assigned a machining operation, typically increasing the cost estimate for the part.

• The Turret press process now includes an additional feasibility check and provides Design to Cost feedback which alerts users if a hole diameter is smaller than recommended best practice guidelines.

• In aPriori 2019 R2 SP1, the calculation of required press force for the Stage Tooling routing has been updated. Specifically, the computed value previously was too high because the force required to perform Scoring operations on Bend and Form GCDs was overestimated. Because of this correction, you may observe a change in the press machine which is selected and therefore the cost to make a given part, compared to previous releases of aPriori. For a set of test parts, the total required press force estimate was reduced by 31% on average, and fully burdened cost was reduced by 4.75%. For some parts, machine selection and cost estimates were unchanged because the reduction in press force was not sufficient to drive selection of a lower-force, lower-overhead machine.

• aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 includes minor updates to the logic in the Progressive Die, Transfer Die, Stage Tooling, and Tandem Die routings which determines the type of stamping operation which is needed to make certain types of bend geometry as well as which press station or cycle on which it occurs.  For Transfer Die, Bends which intersect other bends no longer will be assigned simple “Pad and Wipe” type operations and instead will be assigned a “Bending” operation.  In rare cases, for all four stamping routings, aPriori may determine an additional die station is needed to perform the bending operation than was estimated previously, although this was observed only once in a test set of over 400 parts. 

• aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 resolves an issue affecting the calculation of core volume, cycle times, and costs in the Casting – Sand process group. Starting in aPriori 2019 R2, the volume of cores incorrectly always was calculated as 0, which in turn resulted in incorrect estimates for both expendable tooling costs and coring operation cycle times. This issue has been resolved and will result in an increase in core tooling and process costs compared to estimates from aPriori 2019 R2. Note that this issue existed only in aPriori 2019 R2 and did not affect earlier releases.

• aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 addresses a number of issues which occurred when Perimeter Milling with Dropoff is specified as the roughing strategy for a Stock Machining part.

• Bulk Milling cycle time erroneously increased when stock length or width dimensions were increased; due to the use of perimeter milling bulk milling time should remain unchanged and now does.

• Perimeter Milling cycle times erroneously remained unchanged when stock height was modified; now it is sensitive to stock thickness. If the thickness changes enough to increase or decrease the number of cutting passes required, cycle time now will increase or decrease accordingly.

• The Number of Cavities process setup option has been updated in both the Casting – Sand and Casting – Die process groups. Previously either the default value or the user-entered value could be set to a value that would result in an uneven or unbalanced cavity configuration that would not be used in actual manufacturing practice. Now, default and user-entered values are constrained to a set of even, balanced values (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16…) which are specified in the lookup table layoutNumCav table. Based on this change, for parts cost in the Casting – Sand and Casting – Die process groups, the default number of cavities calculated by aPriori may be different than in a previous release, and costs will differ accordingly. In a set of test parts, on average the Fully Burdened Cost increased somewhat (by less than 10%).

• In the Casting – Die process group, the Opening Stroke field has been updated with appropriate values for all the High Pressure Die Casting machines and the Gravity Die Casting machines in the 2020-01 aPriori Regional Data Libraries. Previously this field incorrectly was set to 0 for all machines. The Opening Stroke value now is used in casting machine selection logic; only a machine which can open a sufficient distance to allow the part to be ejected will be selected. As a result of this update, larger parts may have a different machine selected than when cost in a previous release or may fail to cost if they are too large for any available machines. Additionally, some parts which previously were determined incorrectly to require the use of hydraulic slides now will be determined to use standard mechanical slides and have a corresponding reduction in ejection time. Cycle times, labor, and overhead costs all may change somewhat due to these corrections.

• aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 corrects an issue in which the Gun Drilling operation would fail when applied to a large-diameter hole, due to using an overly-restrictive limit on the available tool diameters. Gun Drilling now is feasible for holes with diameters up to 152.4 mm (6 inches).

• aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 addresses a Known Issue documented in the aPriori 2019 R2 release notes, related to the new External AxiGroove Broaching operation. Previously, If the AxiGroove geometry had edge breaks (rounds) on the edges of the disk, the isStraightExtrude property incorrectly was set to false and the broaching operation would fail to cost, even though in practice the slot/valley geometry is in fact feasible for broaching. Now the property value is set to true and External AxiGroove Broaching is assigned successfully.

• The External AxiGroove Broaching operation now includes a feasibility rule which will prevent the operation from being assigned if there is any part geometry on either side of the AxiGroove which would obstruct the motion of the broach.

• The aPriori 2020-01 Regional Data Libraries corrects an error in two specific machines in the 4-Mill and Stock Prep Mill processes. The Giddings & Lewis H60F and H70F mills previously specified an incorrect table length value of 25.4 meters; now the correct table length of 2.286 meters is specified. As a result of this change, these machines no longer will be selected for parts longer than 2.286 meters

• aPriori 2019 R2 SP1 corrects several issues that occurred when using Bulk Costing in conjunction with an input spreadsheet: