NX

Megaforce
3D mold design enables synchronized value chain

Industry Electronics and semiconductor Business challenges Implement a design tool that operates on advanced mold surfaces with precision Facilitate better integration between mold design and manufacturing Improve drawing management efficiency Keys to success Full 3D design system that facilitates accurate mold drawing Comprehensive documentation database that eliminates errors in design and material preparation Reduction of development cycle time and delays caused by integration and management errors Results Simple and accurate drawing instructions led to better drafting efficiency Collaborative process boosted 3D mold design efficiency

Megaforce improves collaboration, operational efficiency and product quality with NX; new processes result in a tangible advantage for customers
Molds for computer/consumer/ communication (3C) products Founded in 1991, Megaforce Company Limited has grown into a major designer and manufacturer of plastic injection parts for 3C products. Its core businesses range from peripheral products, such as mouse devices, DVD players, Bluetooth enabled headsets and monitors, to large LCD TVs. Megaforce became a stock exchange listed company in 2007. Today, it has annual revenue of *NT$8 billion and 18 production facilities located in Taiwan and mainland China. Its design, product development, manufacturing and services capabilities have established the company as a powerful force in an industry where success is measured by the ability to produce high-quality parts. The 3C industry is defined by rich diversity and fast lifecycles. As an upstream mold designer and manufacturer of electronic components, Megaforce has relied on its coordinated processes to grow its business over the past 20 years. The company keeps its processes competitive by continually improving the front end of the design stage. Continuous improvements have enabled the company to reduce the time required for product development, as well

as to engage its clients in developing new processes that have enabled its customers to maximize revenues. It is Megaforces responsibility to strengthen our clients competitive advantages, says Steve Lin, executive vice president at the Megaforce IV manufacturing and operations center. It is this business culture that enables the company to regularly upgrade its design tools and management system, to shorten its design-to-mass-production cycle and to deliver these benefits to its clients. This is the main reason why our clients trust us and continue to rely on us to design and develop molds, says Lin.
*NT$ = New Taiwan Dollar.

www.siemens.com/nx

Results continued Automatically generated BOM resulted in 100 percent accurate material preparation Kinematic analysis ensured proper motion of mold structure Design and machining integration improved quality and efficiency

3D design deployed to improve quality Although Megaforces quality and efficiency in mold design is market tested, the traditional approach of deploying both 2D and 3D CAD engineering software increasingly fell short of where the company wanted to be, especially in terms of mold quality and the processes used to design and develop these molds. The problem was compounded when larger size molds were needed for products like big-screen LCD TVs. In these instances, the company particularly wanted to improve surface precision, the integration of design and production and drawing management. To advance the level of integration between its mold design and manufacturing processes, Megaforce decided to turn away from multi-brand design software and adopt Siemens PLM Softwares NX software. By deploying NX modeling, assembly and engineering drawing applications, Megaforce was able to shift its design and development processes to a full 3D environment. Megaforce assembled a task force to leverage its new, 3D mold design capabilities for the secondary development of plastic molds. The task force implemented a system-wide approach that used NX modeling and its engineering drawing capabilities to meet the working patterns and design requirements for plastic molds across Megaforce. During the introduction of NX, Megaforce was able to resolve a variety of system configuration, modeling method, drawing technique, kinematic mold analysis and secondary development issues. This success was due in large part to the technical support and prompt responses from both Siemens PLM Software and its support partner, Wisdom Engineering Service. Simple and accurate drawing instructions lead to better drafting efficiency One of first benefits that Megaforce derived from deploying NX software as its

single product development solution is the reduction of missing drawing data, which had previously inhibited the company from executing its drawing documentation more swiftly. After improving this process, the mold department was able to produce more accurate layouts in a timelier manner; this also enabled the company to provide its clients with the full 3D mold documentation. As a result, communication between the designer and the user improved and mold designs were finalized much faster. The companys full 3D environment also sped up the drafting process. In the past, when we used other CAD software, we could process and output only one drawing at a time, says Lin. It was not efficient enough. Now, by using NX and the full 3D functions compiled by Megaforce, we are able to use one single instruction to send all of our drawings to the printer queue for output. The system automatically adjusts the size of drawings for optimal output and saves a great deal of time. Collaborative process boosts 3D mold design efficiency Using the companys traditional design approach, the major tasks could only be carried out in a linear fashion. The full 3D design procedures that Megaforce developed with NX enable the company to execute these tasks simultaneously. As a result, Megaforce is able to perform mold assembly drawing, 3D parting part drawing production, mold base design and the design of the slider/lifter/cooling channel of the same mold through multiple design members collaboratively. This approach significantly improves design efficiency and substantially shortens design time. In fact, these full 3D design procedures not only enhance design efficiency, but also have enabled the company to develop user-friendly 3D design applications, which allow beginners to quickly use the software.

Solutions/Services NX www.siemens.com/nx Customers primary business Megaforce designs and manu factures plastic injection parts for 3C products. www.megaforce.com.tw Customer location Taipei Taiwan Partner Wisdom Engineering Service Corp. www.wisdom.com.tw A key to the long-term cooperation between Megaforce and our clients is their trust in our ability to design and develop molds. Our full 3D design environment, which is based on NX software, enhances our design and manufacturing quality, shortens our development cycles and caters to our clients new process and product launch schedules. Steve Lin Executive Vice President IV Manufacturing Center Megaforce

Automatically-generated BOM fosters 100 percent accurate material preparation Using NX, the BOM for Megaforces mold is generated automatically. It is no longer necessary to manually retrieve the size and volume of parts, as the traditional design approach required. In this way, the sizes of mold parts remain accurate and inadvertent errors in materials preparation that occurred under the traditional approach are eliminated. In addition, the mold design BOM and the ERP-driven material procurement system are synchronized so that the procurement group knows which mold materials to use and what quantity is needed. Kinematic analysis ensures proper motion of tooling structure As part of its NX initiative, Megaforce commissioned mold designs for LCD TVs. When designing larger sizes or complicated molds, the company utilizes NX kinematic analysis for motion simulation. This process ensures proper mold motion, preventing interferences. The NX kinematic analysis function enables the manufacturing staff to join the design process at an early stage when sophisticated molds are being developed. The practical mold structure that results from cross-discipline collaboration significantly reduces waste during mold development and improves the success rate during mold tryout and subsequently during mass production. Process integration raises quality and efficiency With the integration of a full 3D system into the companys CAD/CAM environment, Megaforce is able to minimize time otherwise lost to file conversion, as well as release manpower for other tasks. The

integration also eliminates errors caused by data loss during file conversion. Previously, when the companys data processing group processed parts, such as mold bases, it relied on 2D engineering drawings to draft the 3D drawing. Once the full 3D mold design environment was operational, all data was documented in 3D. As a result, the manufacturing staffs workload decreased and operational efficiencies improved, e.g., knowledge re-use enabled the optimal leveraging of prior design work. Manufacturing groups that perform bench work, wire cutting and polishing now can easily extract documentation and review the 3D mold drawing. This enables them to get a direct view and better understanding of the critical parts of the mold being manufactured. Next steps include further application of NX Looking to the future, Megaforce expects to further explore the application of NX across its modeling environment. The company intends to enhance its secondary development of plastic molds and is looking to extend the system to match the needs of its mold designers, as well as to refine the design process and integrate all of its manufacturing groups to improve the precision and efficiency of its mold development operations.

Siemens Industry Software Americas +1 800 498 5351 Europe +44 (0) 1276 702000 Asia-Pacific +852 2230 3333 www.siemens.com/plm
2012 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. All rights reserved. Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. D-Cubed, Femap, Geolus, GO PLM, I-deas, Insight, JT, NX, Parasolid, Solid Edge, Teamcenter, Tecnomatix and Velocity Series are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other logos, trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks used herein are the property of their respective holders. Z3 22254 8/12 B