Digital Factories
Digital Factories Simulate Real World Product Manufacturing
aPriori Digital Factories
World Class Factory Simulations Deliver Benefits From Design Through Manufacturing
aPriori Digital Factories give both design firms and manufacturing firms valuable information upon which to base their design and manufacturing decisions.
Improve Manufacturability Early in the Design Phase
Use Digital Factories for directional costing and give design teams and engineers an incentive to design for manufacturability (DFM), reduce engineering change orders (ECOs), and launch products on schedule.
Real-World Manufacturing Simulation
Compare production environments across an extensive range of manufacturing criteria to evaluate fully burdened manufacturing costs and inform site selection. For a given product design, use Digital Factories to identify and select cheaper raw materials, cheaper manufacturing processes offering faster cycle times, and alternative finishing options.
Data-Driven Factory Site Selection
Choose factory locations and configurations that offer the lowest manufacturing costs to manufacture parts and assemblies.
Inform Strategic Decision Making
Expedite make-vs-buy decisions with detailed cost estimates generated for different manufacturing environments represented by Digital Factories.
Real World Factory Configurations Simulate Real World Manufacturing Environments
Design firms and contract manufacturers can configure a Digital Factory for every production site available to the firm. The Digital Factory Process Logic uses Geometric Cost Drivers (such as part features, size, weight, tolerances, and surface finish) and Non-Geometric Cost Drivers (such as material, process group, factory, and production volumes) to compute physical costs. Physical costs are utilized by the Cost Model Logic to calculate the financial cost of producing the part or assembly.
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Manufacturing Process Groups, Processes and Routings
Manufacturing processes, and sub-processes that can be performed at the factory, and the allowable sequences of these processes.
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Manufacturing Feasibility Rules
Rules that determine whether a given process, machine, or entire routing is applicable to a certain part or assembly.
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Materials
Material compositions available to the factory (e.g. 1020 cold-rolled steel, ABS 30% glass, etc.), their forms (e.g. bar, sheet, billet, etc.), sizes (e.g. 2000mm x 1000mm sheet), and costs (e.g. $1.30/kg).
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Machines, Machine Capabilities, and Constraints
Machine specifications such as speeds, feeds, yields, material utilization, and maximum stock dimensions.
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Machine Time Standard Information
Machine setup time, operator utilization ratios and other time standards enable the aPriori Process Engine to compute labor time.
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Machine and Tooling Accounting Rates
Accounting rates such as labor rates, overhead rates, and tool component costs for each machine or tool shop. These rates are used by the Cost Model Logic to calculate fully burdened costs.
Simulate Manufacturing Environments Across the World
Regional Data Libraries for Geographically-Dispersed Factories
Utilize aPriori’s Regional Data Libraries to evaluate manufacturability and estimate fully burdened product manufacturing costs in up to 79 different regions around the world.
Faster Time to Value with Out-of-the-Box Digital Factories
Modify aPriori’s out-of-the-box Digital Factories to fit regional manufacturing criteria like material types, labor rates, shop floor skill sets, fixed and variable costs, among others.
Advanced Customization
Use the aPriori Cost Model Workbench to build and edit cost models and Digital Factory logic such as routings, tooling, material, and cost calculations.
Product Cost Estimation in Global Currencies
Estimate product costs in location-specific currencies for individual factory sites.
Benefit from Production and Supply Chain Efficiencies
Determine production efficiencies with the use of overlay VPEs configured with costing logic, materials, machines, and tool shops from other VPEs.
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