aPriori Summer ’24 Cloud Release Update

aPriori’s summer 2024 cloud release is filled with new features that add speed and precision across product design and manufacturing operations. aPriori 2024 R1 SP1 provides more automated insights that enable users to reduce cost, carbon, and risk quickly and confidently amid increasingly complex. We’ve categorized our new Manufacturing Insights Platform updates into four areas:

1. Productivity Enhancements

• aP Design: Product Costing without 3D CAD
• aP Pro: Usability Enhancements

2. Data and Modeling Enhancements: aP Generate Provides Enhanced Support for Windchill PLM WTPart Custom Attributes

3. Sustainability Enhancements: Expanded CO₂e Analysis for Assembly Processes and Subcomponents

4. Platform Enhancements

• Improve Costing for Two-model Machining
• Accelerate Draw Direction Analysis for Manufacturing

1. Productivity Enhancements

aP Design: Product Costing without 3D CAD

aP Design users can now enter actual costs for parts and components that are already procured or priced. This feature to increase the accuracy of rolled-up product costs was previously only available in aP Pro.

This is especially beneficial for product design teams that use the same set of parts and components across multiple products to minimize the number of SKUs used. You can also address cost during the early concept design phase by assigning cost to parts and assemblies not yet added to 3D CAD models.

The aP Design Cost Model option now includes a Manual Mode with fields to add known cost and metadata details. The aPriori Mode uses AI analysis to calculate cost and carbon, and analyze for manufacturability. In each mode, costs are automatically included in assembly roll-ups.

aP Pro Usability Enhancements

aPriori Pro 2024 R1 SP1 includes quoted cost in Comparison views to make analysis easier for sourcing and procurement teams.

aP Pro can now perform Deep Costing on SolidWorks assemblies that reference specific configurations of sub-components. This release includes two improvements to the product manufacturing information (PMI) import from SolidWorks: aPriori now imports the lowest (tightest) tolerance value listed in a composite frame. In addition, aPriori now also imports tolerances referencing only another tolerance for additional context.

2. Data and Modeling Enhancements

aP Generate:  Enhanced Support for Windchill PLM WTPart Custom Attributes

This update enhances aP Generate’s capability to manage complex Windchill PLM product data and to support custom business needs. Specifically, the aP Connect Agent now supports reading and writing custom attributes defined in the WTPart soft types feature. This enhancement allows users to leverage custom attributes specific to different WTPart product variations.

Benefits:

• Manage Product Variations: Efficiently manage custom attributes for different product variations without duplication.
• Ensure Data Consistency: Maintain consistent attribution data across WTParts and its soft types.
• Enhance reporting: Expand the depth of reporting and analysis by accessing additional WTPart data.

Features:

• Attribute precedence: The WTPart value takes precedence over any custom attributes or soft types.
• Configuration options: You now have the flexibility to query and write back either WTPart soft types or attributes.
• Workflow automation: Ensure a seamless flow of data by configuring workflows to update all custom WTPart attribute changes made in Windchill or connected applications (e.g., PTC Creo, aPriori, etc.)

3. Sustainability Enhancements

Expanded CO₂e Analysis for Assembly Processes and Subcomponents

aPriori continues to increase the precision of its CO₂e estimations, and now includes carbon emissions estimates for all assembly process groups. The aP Pro and aP Design Assembly feature includes a new Sustainability tab, which shows the carbon estimates for assembly processes and associated subcomponents. The new release also:

• Expands energy consumption calculations to include auxiliary power requirements for the Machining process group.
• Features three new energy consumption variables for its Geometry Analysis tool (“heat map”).

4. Platform Enhancements

Improve Costing for Two-model Machining

You can now cost parts more accurately when using two separate design files for two-model machining. Product manufacturing teams typically use one 3D CAD model for an initial manufacturing process, such as casting or forging, and a second 3D CAD model to produce the finished machined part.

The new release now easily aligns the two CAD models. And by comparing the two models, aPriori automatically identifies the machined features and the amount of material removed to provide a highly accurate determination of the machining operations and cycle times required.

The  Figure 1 “before” image shows that design files previously didn’t overlap in 3D space. Figure 2 shows how the parts align in aPriori 2024 R1 SP1.

Figure 1: Previous alignment of 2 CAD models based on the coordinate system

Figure 2: New alignment results using intelligent geometry-based alignment

Accelerate Draw Direction Analysis for Manufacturing

Get your results up to 20% faster when using aPriori to analyze manufacturing processes that use draw direction for shape control. The new aPriori feature applies to: additive manufacturing, casting (die, investment, and sand casting), forging, molding (plastic, assembly, and assembly plastic molding), sheet plastic, power metal, and roto & blow molding.

Driving Value with AI-Powered Design & Sourcing Insights

Our updates are designed to help manufacturers increase profitability, accelerate time to market, boost sustainable manufacturing, and reduce risk. In addition to the new capabilities detailed here, please visit our What’s New Blog section for information about other recent aPriori cloud manufacturing software release enhancements.