EasyBlank Inventor – Analysis of Stamped Parts Embedded within Autodesk Inventor Software

AutoForm Engineering, a supplier of software solutions for the sheet metal forming industry, has announced the worldwide market introduction of EasyBlank Inventor. This add-on module for Autodesk Inventor software is specially designed for sheet metal part designers, tool and die designers, and tool cost calculators.

The latest AutoForm software product, EasyBlank Inventor, is embedded within the Autodesk Inventor mechanical design and engineering software environment. Autodesk Inventor software takes engineers beyond 3D to Digital Prototyping by enabling them to design, visualize, and simulate products before they are ever built.

Using the well known AutoForm simulation technology, it rapidly calculates the developed blank outline from CAD part geometry. EasyBlank Inventor is also specialized for determining the optimal nesting layout while taking into account several important parameters such as coil width, pitch or required bridge span. Several types of nesting layouts are available to users. The material data base, which includes additional important parameters for the most commonly used materials in stamping, is already incorporated in EasyBlank Inventor. In addition to these innovative features, EasyBlank Inventor also enables users to assess product feasibility for the first time. Since cost reduction is ultimately required at every stage of product development, early feasibility assessment eliminates costly, late changes to part design and thereby enables the early optimization of material cost.

The analysis results are summarized in an HTML-based report which contains detailed information on blank outline, optimal nesting layout, material consumption and cost, thinning distribution of the part, feasibility plot and the associated FLD diagram. EasyBlank Inventor enables the easy and rapid creation of such reports, which facilitate internal communication and are useful for quotation purposes. The benefits for users are early cost and manufacturability analyses, optimal material usage and minimization of scrap and costs.

Chris Douglass, Senior Business Unit Manager, Autodesk Manufacturing Industry Group, stated: “EasyBlank Inventor is available to customers through our reseller network. The benefits of AutoForm simulation technology incorporated within EasyBlank Inventor are certainly attractive to our customers and we are glad that we can expand our technology in tool and die shops as well as in the stamping fields.”

“Due to its ease-of-use, EasyBlank Inventor fits perfectly into the Autodesk portfolio. The analysis of stamped parts is now embedded within the Autodesk Inventor environment, making it easily available to the broader audience”, added Dr. Markus Thomma, Corporate Marketing Director at AutoForm.