The two plan to cross-sell their 3D products in the US as instant synergy for the PLM gaps customers find in design review and supply chain management workflows.
March 5, 2010–Lattice Technology and Kubotek USA have entered into a business partnership to jointly market their 3D products for design-to-manufacturing. The two remain independent companies, but will jointly present their technology to new customers.
Kubotek’s Validation Tool has been finding success among manufacturers for precise geometric CAD model comparison, and to document and validate intended and unintended changes in CAD and PMI data. Kubotek KeyCreator introduced the first-ever capabilities for real-time feature inference in 2005 and direct dimension-driven editing in 2007.
Various Lattice products are becoming more widely used for digital mock-up, design review, assembly simulation, and technical documentation. Lattice’s
products are based on XVL (eXtensible Virtual world description Language), a technology noted for secure, highly accurate and compressed 3D files that can be used, shared and easily supported by partners, suppliers, and internal departments in a lightweight browser-based solution. Dassault
Systemes uses a version of XVL as its foundational 3D display technology.
Products from both companies have been described to this newsletter, in off-the-record conversations, as the “secret sauce” that fills in gaps between engineering and manufacturing, CAD and PLM, and the OEM and its supply chain. Lattice, in particular, suffers from not being able to mention by name its largest and most satisfied customers.
Both companies have been pitching their software as tools for leveraging the use of 3D data through the design-to-manufacture chain. The agreement
makes perfect sense, says Bob Bean, executive vice president of Kubotek USA. “While Kubotek provides world-class 3D Direct Modeling and PLM solution tools such as CAD file validation and comparison, Lattice Technology Solutions deliver seamless use of that 3D data for highly accurate process design, simulation, assembly design, and creation of documents for use across the manufacturing operation.”
The Final Analysis
This deal is announced as being for the USA, but we believe if you look deep enough, you’ll see Made in Japan stamped on it. Both companies are US divisions of a Japanese owner. This kind of partnership is more common in Japan than it is here.
Lattice Technology’s XVL 3D display technology, once known only for reading-in all CAD file formats and saving them compactly, has become
wicked fast. It can spin around a 3D model of an airframe assembly on a ordinary laptop much faster than any CAD program on that same computer.
Kubotek has moved from being ‘just another CAD vendor’ to a provider of tools that fill specific gaps in the existing digital workflow. Separately, they have
given relief to stressful engineering and manufacturing situations. Together, they should be able to make significant headway against the inertia that comes
from relying on one single technology vendor and the inevitable workarounds that accompany such situations. §
