We are so excited about being featured in a premier manufacturing publication! This article focuses on the multitude of ways that EAC helps companies take advantage of manufacturing and engineering data and turn it into growth for the company. We cover all things Digital Thread – from data management and Additive Manufacturing to Augmented Reality and AI in manufacturing.
For all Windchill users, maintaining your Windchill system isn’t just about avoiding headaches—it’s about ensuring your workdays flow as smoothly as your designs. Here’s a roadmap to a healthy Windchill environment, based on vital actions you can take today.
1. A Quick Health Check-Up of Your System
Imagine your Windchill system as a hardworking heart in your organization. To keep it beating strong, regularly peek into:
- Downtime: We all hate waiting, don’t we? Minimize this as much as possible.
- Memory Usage: Red numbers are red flags.
- Servlet Response Time: More red? Time to act.
- Garbage Collection Mode: If it’s happening over 80% of the time, it’s too much.
As a site admin, keeping an eye on these metrics is key to preemptive maintenance.
2. Dive into Server Logs
If you’re up for a bit of investigative work, scan through your server logs. This may include:
- Apache & Method Server Logs: Look out for unusual patterns or errors.
- Background Server Manager: Unexpected behavior here could be a sign of trouble.
Understanding these logs is like reading the tea leaves for your system’s health.
3. Disk Space & Back-Up
Aim to keep at least 15% of your server drive-free. Think of it as keeping your workspace tidy for efficiency. And, don’t forget to monitor the storage available for backups – your safety net needs to be ready at all times.
4. Matching Users with Licenses
Are you aware of how many people access Windchill and if you have the licenses to cover them? Regularly review the following to avoid legal trouble with software manufacturers:
- Light Licenses: Perfect for those who just need to view and print.
- Heavy Licenses: For the CAD superheroes and others who dive deeper.
Aligning your user count with your license agreement is a fundamental compliance matter.
5. Clean Up Log Files
Low disk space can lead to performance issues. If your log files are growing:
- Check the date created.
- Decide whether they’re still useful.
Old log files can often be archived or deleted to free up space.
6. Clean Up Unreferenced Files
Lastly, clean up the unreferenced files in your file vaults. This process removes orphan files that consume valuable space. Refer to Windchill Help for detailed instructions, but remember:
BEWARE! Once these files are deleted, they’re gone forever.
Adopting these six steps in your regular Windchill system check-up can drastically improve your system’s health and performance. Stay proactive to keep the cogs of your Windchill system— and therefore your production—running without a glitch.
If you are looking to check in on your Windchill system, but are unsure where to get started, you can contact one of our experts to learn more.
The majority of businesses aspire to achieve sustainability but often lack clarity on where to begin. Many perceive adopting sustainable practices as a daunting task, believing it necessitates a complete overhaul of their production processes to make a significant impact. However, let me assure you that this is not the case.
So, where should you start your journey towards creating more sustainable product design and manufacturing processes?
To genuinely embrace sustainability, focus on making design decisions at the outset. Designing for repair, reducing material usage, refurbishment, remanufacturing, recovery, reuse, and recycling is crucial. It requires a holistic approach that considers a product’s environmental impact throughout its lifecycle.
Over 80% of a product’s environmental impact stems from design decisions made early on.
Here are three ways design changes can drive sustainability:
Sustainability in Design for Dematerialization
Dematerialization, or material usage reduction, emerges as a crucial strategy for sustainability, aiming to reduce material consumption and weight without sacrificing strength and durability. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies like Generative Design, engineers can optimize designs to use only the necessary amount of material, tailored to specific loads and constraints of each application.
Creo Simulation Live offers a seamless platform for quickly assessing how different materials or reduced material usage affect design performance, enabling adjustments earlier in the design process.
Moreover, with solutions like Creo AMX, designers leverage additive manufacturing capabilities to build structures in the most efficient direction, generating automated supports, and showcasing the potential of lattice structures.
These innovations not only allow for a material reduction but pave the way for lighter, more sustainable products that maintain the required level of performance. As we continue to prioritize dematerialization in manufacturing, we edge closer to a future where sustainability and efficiency are seamlessly integrated into every aspect of product development.
Sustainability in Design for Waste Reduction
Designing for manufacturability and minimizing material waste, such as through minimal stock allowance, ensures efficient use of resources from the outset. By leveraging die casting for near-net shape production throughout the manufacturing process, material waste is significantly reduced to maximize material utilization and minimize scrap generation.
Additionally, utilizing numerically controlled (NC) strategies optimized for fast machining and lower energy consumption, such as high-speed machining (HSM) roughing and finishing, contributes to waste reduction and energy efficiency.
Moreover, designing for ease of service and assembly extends product lifespan and reduces the demand for new products. While some parts of a product may wear faster than others, creating products for easy disassembly eliminates waste because you do not have to throw away the entire product to extend the lifespan.
Accurate documentation of assembly and disassembly instructions empowers users to maintain and repair products, minimizing waste and promoting a more sustainable approach to product lifecycle management.
Sustainability in Design for Energy Efficiency
Engineers globally actively address questions such as, “Can we reduce noise and unneeded energy consumption in design?” and “Can we make our design more thermally efficient?” to pave the way for eco-friendly innovation.
Their goal is to pinpoint areas where energy is wasted, but don’t have the most efficient tools to accomplish that task. Modal analysis and thermal analysis enable more streamlined and environmentally conscious designs. Additionally, tools like Creo Flow Analysis optimizes flow efficiency to ensure that products operate with maximum efficiency, minimizing energy requirements without sacrificing performance.
Furthermore, selecting materials that demand less energy to manufacture and recycle adds another layer of sustainability to the design process and reduces the overall environmental impact from production to end-of-life disposal. Through these proactive measures, energy-efficient product design becomes a tangible pathway towards a more sustainable future.
Sustainable Design Solutions
Our suite of Creo design tools supports sustainable practices:
- Generative Design and Optimization: Refine and optimize designs for dematerialization and material reduction goals.
- Simulation and Behavioral Modeling: Analyze environmental impacts and optimize designs based on real-life use cases.
- Additive Manufacturing: Support lightweighting through lattice structures, reducing material consumption and energy requirements.
- Disassembly and Remanufacturing: Design for repair, refurbishment, and remanufacture, enhancing product lifecycle and minimizing waste.
Designing for sustainability benefits both the environment and businesses. Companies can significantly reduce their environmental footprint by considering dematerialization, disassembly, and behavioral modeling.
By partnering with EAC for solution identification and utilizing PTC’s comprehensive Creo design tools, companies can pave the way for a sustainable future while improving their bottom line. Let’s talk about how EAC can help you identify solutions to help your company embrace sustainable design practices today!
