Complex designs can be developed
quickly and more easily
with Delcam’s CADCAM software |
Delcam’s software helps packaging designers and manufacturers
meet their customers’ growing demands for innovative designs by
automating routine operations and so leaving more time for creative work.
In addition, full integration between product design, tooling design and
manufacturing modules of the software ensures that the designer’s
initial concept can be captured faithfully in the finished pack.
Delcam’s unique Total Modelling approach to design allows logos,
textures and other decorations to be incorporated into standard pack designs
more readily to help reinforce branding of products. Modification of complex
designs is much easier and quicker, making it possible to create a greater
selection of alternatives when presenting proposals for new designs.
The company’s PowerSHAPE hybrid modelling software also enables
parts of the design process to be automated, including fill line calculation
and volume adjustment when producing a range of sizes. This means that
the designer can concentrate on the form of the product and leave the
system to undertake routine calculations of the physical properties, such
as the volume or mass of the packaging and contents.
Furthermore, standard parts and sections, such as closures, necks or
thread forms, may be stored in the system and added into new models as
required. Automation of these routine operations increases accuracy, for
example, by ensuring a perfect fit between a bottle and its cap, and reduces
the possibility of mistakes.
Once the basic design has been established, a range of alternatives can
be compared quickly on screen in different materials and with a variety
of decorations. Computer generated images can then be used to test the
reaction from clients and consumers, or even to develop advertising, before
any products are produced. The computer models from PowerSHAPE can also
be used to generate data for rapid prototyping equipment or passed to
Delcam’s PowerMILL CAM package to generate machining programs for
the production of samples.
Once the design has been approved, PowerSHAPE enables tooling designs
for the full range of processes – blow moulds for plastic or glass,
injection moulds for closures, and punches for cans – to be generated
rapidly from the product designs. Again, a high degree of automation is
built into the software, for example when calculating the optimum mould
split lines. Allowances can be made for effects of material shrinkage
during processing so ensuring that the finished container volume remains
accurate. To complete the move into full-scale manufacturing, PowerMILL
can be used to generate reliable, repeatable manufacturing data for NC
machining of tooling.
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