A recent independent study reports best-in-class companies are twice as likely to use fluid-flow simulation as their counterparts. However, until recently, high costs and difficult-to-use programs kept computational fluid dynamics (CFD) mostly in the hands of research, academia, and large OEMs. Fortunately, a newer approach called engineering fluid dynamics (EFD) now places CFD on the desktop of the everyday engineer. Application examples might include building a better shield for laser optics, curbing constriction in a flow valve, and improving the thermodynamic efficiency of huge heat exchangers.

The manufacturing industry has faced many challenges over the past decade. Increased global competition, fickle consumers, increased product complexity, and a volatile economy have made a manufacturer's ability to quickly respond to changing market conditions vital. As a result, the ability to quickly and effectively share design data with a growing number of design participants has become crucial.

You are probably already familiar with 3D
scanning-to-printing as a way to build
scaled, facsimile models of real-world
products. But suppose you are, say, a bottle
manufacturer that needs to reverse-engineer
large handleware complete with little ribs in
the grips. Or a Tier One aftermarket supplier
needing to capture a difficult shape in an
automobile interior, such as the area between
the windshield and instrument panel. Or even
a natural history museum needing a replica of
a huge dinosaur bone for an educational exhibit.
Whatever the industry -- whether manufacturing,
health care, cultural heritage, or
even arts and entertainment -- a significant
barrier to 3D scanning has been the expense,
bulkiness, and inconvenience of traditional
equipment.

At the beginning of the 1990's a preeminent aircraft manufacturer embarked upon the first "paperless" design of a passenger jet. In keeping with this paradigm they sought a new "flexible" tooling technology that reduced the need for fixed or "hard" tooling and its attendant storage racks full of fixtures and monuments. The idea was to make use of computer-generated data sets to reconfigure a holding fixture into any form needed, eliminating the need to fabricate many different single purpose holding tools.