Ongoing Data Collection and Exchange Are Critical
        Among other products, CONCORD manufactures three different child seats in various models. The seats accommodate children from birth up to the age of twelve and provide for the use of seat belts. Some models have a modular structure and practically grow with the child.
        To meet the high safety standards and push them even higher, engineering overhead is increasing all the time. Side-impact protection is also becoming more and more important in modern child car seats. CONCORD therefore collects important data in crash tests conducted with prototypes developed in close cooperation with rapid-prototyping contractors as well as tool and mold makers.
        “Because we often exchange CAD data with other companies, we need good interfaces. That was one of the reasons why we introduced new software in the design department,” says Walter König, head of science at CONCORD. “We also wanted to make our design processes more efficient and adjust them to modern technologies,” he added.
        CONCORD products are highly complex, so König saw the need for a powerful 3D CAD system. “The increasingly complex parts could no longer be adequately represented in the 2D CAD system. We needed new software we could use on PCs and which wouldn’t exceed our budget. We had a choice of two systems and chose VX because of its convincing functionality, performance and price.”
        An equally important factor in the choice was data exchange, which is made possible by saving the files as VDA-FS or IGES files. In addition, an STL interface is available for rapid modeling. The decision was made within a week and VX replaced the 2D software at three CONCORD worksites. The design staff was trained in the VX design process and supported by VX’s German office.
        The CONCORD designers now do all the component and product designing in VX, before forwarding the data to tool and mold makers for CAM.

Start in 3D
        Apart from the first sketches on paper, CONCORD creates a child seat directly on the PC with VX. Designer Uwe Schobert starts the design in 3D and generates surfaces and solids. “The great advantage of VX is that the software is a hybrid surface and solid modeler, which means that solids can be generated from individual surfaces,” he explains. This makes it much easier to implement difficult and complex components.
        The VX history tree, which records the sequence of the individual commands, also simplifies use of the software. “All processing commands can be traced. With the history, there’s no problem going back one or more steps in the design of a component.         The required depth can be defined in the system by the individual users,” adds Schobert. Every change made to a component is saved in VX or in Windows Explorer as an individual file and can be retrieved if needed.
        It’s also possible to generate drawings with exact dimensions directly from the geometries. These are directly linked to the corresponding data record. “Not all systems offer this link,” says Schobert. “It makes the design work much easier and clearer.”
CONCORD also makes use of the excellent assembly functions in VX.         This is an important aspect as components become more and more complex and extensive—a complete child car seat is made up of 30 to 40 parts with a data volume of up to 300 MB. With VX, handling a large number of components is no longer a problem.

Sending Data Around the World
        CONCORD has prototypes, tools, molds and plastic parts made by both local companies and global suppliers. “This is no longer a problem with modern technology,” explains Georg Kunz, managing director at CONCORD. “Depending on their size, we send files via ISDN or in e-mails. This is definitely helped by the VX interface. We send the complete files in VDA-FS or IGES format with all the component data to our suppliers, who can open and process them even if they use other CAD systems.”
        These interfaces are essential for exchanging files because the different formats often cause problems. After slight initial difficulties, the data exchange between CONCORD and its suppliers now works perfectly smoothly.
        Once the design is complete, CONCORD requires models for initial tests before further developing and optimizing new child seats. “Model building and rapid prototyping are two different levels. For example, polyurethane foam models with sufficient density are suitable for our purposes. They are easy to work manually and to mill,” says Kunz.
        The manufacturer sends a VX IGES file to the model-building company, which uses the data to cut a product into sections that are worked on one by one and later assembled. CONCORD uses the models for modifications which the developers first make on the model itself and later enter in the CAD system. This also keeps costs predictable.
        At CONCORD there are typically three modification phases between the pilot run for a child seat and the start of production. The changes are made using the models.

Taking Stock
        Georg Kunz is enthusiastic: “The VX system is very precise and works perfectly in our firm. Since we introduced VX we have cut development times by almost half. The big advantage is clearly the data exchange via IGES or VDA-FS. This allows us to provide our consulting engineers with the data directly, in most cases avoiding errors. We also get our prototypes faster, which saves enormous amounts of time in our work processes.”

About CONCORD
        CONCORD Kinderautositze GmbH & Co. KG of Stadtsteinach, Germany, has been developing and manufacturing innovative restraining systems for children in cars for 25 years. The company is one of the leading manufacturers in Europe and offers three different product lines with several variants and numerous accessories. The most important aspect of the development is the safety of the child, which must be protected as well as possible in the event of an accident. The developers at CONCORD pay special attention to side-impact protection. The children’s car seats, which come in a variety of fun patterns and designs, comply with the current ECE R 44/03 standard and have won top honors in a number of independent tests. At the Stadtsteinach site the company, a subsidiary of Triumph Adler AG, has more than 100 employees, and about 500 worldwide.

About VX CAD/CAM
        VX CAD/CAM software offers premium-performance capabilities typically available only in expensive enterprise-level products. VX is the only value-priced, premium-performance CAD/CAM software that integrates design and manufacturing to eliminate the traditional gap between CAD and CAM. Manufacturing planning and CNC machining routines are integral parts of the VX engine and provide synchronization between design and manufacturing. In addition, VX provides sophisticated functionality such as advanced Class A surfacing, intelligent sketching, photo-realistic rendering, and history editing.

About VX Corporation
        VX Corporation is a pioneering developer of advanced, integrated CAD/CAM solutions for engineers and industrial designers. Using VX’s design-through-manufacturing solutions, companies can speed time-to-market, increase profitability and gain a sustainable competitive advantage – made possible by new breakthroughs in technology, price and performance. Unlike conventional CAD/CAM systems, VX technology is built on an exclusive, high-performance VX engine that delivers sophisticated 3D hybrid modeling capabilities and provides interoperability with emerging process management and engineering tools. Some of the world’s leading manufacturers rely on VX software to power the design, engineering and manufacturing of innovative products.

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VX Corporation
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