Tooling Update

Forming Technologies Inc. (FTI), Burlington, Ontario, Canada, has released FormingSuite v 9.0, designed to allow metalforming and costing engineers, designers and estimators to significantly shorten time to market by enabling quick engineering and costing decision making. Enhancements to FormingSuite v 9.0, say company representatives, represent a significant advancement in the software’s simulation capabilities, coupled with continuous improvements in the software’s core strengths—cost reduction, blank development, stamping accuracy and springback prediction.

New software features include:

• Precise springback simulation with NAS and STL file export for CAD compensation;

• Five-fold speed enhancement for finite increment technology MultiStage solver;

• Optional direct 3D CAD data translators for reading NX, Catia v 5 and 6, JT, Pro/Engineer, etc.;

• Display to interactively show tooling movement prior to launching LS-Dyna solver;

• Automatic tooling generation for form- and flange-die operations, in addition to the existing draw-die operations;

• Pilot-hole constraints and accurate die-load calculation for FastIncremental; and

• Enhanced reporting functionality for Process Planner.

In addition, FTI announces a new module—FormingSuite Stripnest, designed for low-volume high-mix automotive-part production. Stripnest helps to develop nested blank layouts for optimum raw-material utilization. It produces nesting layouts for one-up, two-up, two blanks and mirrored nests on strips slit from standard sheets. Stripnest then determines yield, quantity and raw-material cost per blank for quoting and estimating.