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RTS Significantly Decreases Design, Manufacturing and Assembly Time 

With design time down by up to 20 percent and manufacturing and assembly time reduced by up to 60 percent, machine designer and builder RTS of Nashville TN  is making positive gains with Autodesk Inventor

Can a 120-pound person single-handedly move a 9,000-pound piece of equipment? Thanks to Robotic Technology Systems PLC (RTS), it is being done.

An RTS customer needed a large piece of equipment custom designed and manufactured to perform component tests on 3,000 semiconductor parts simultaneously. The customer had a manual position cart that was designed for multipurpose use to accommodate various pieces of large equipment. It was essential that the cart line up with the RTS equipment perfectly so that the head on the equipment could perform the tests accurately. However, one of the machine specifications called for the equipment to manipulate the customer’s 1,500-pound test head to perform the tests on the parts. The subsequent RTS equipment ended up being roughly 12 feet tall and weighing 9,000 pounds. The goal was to have a 120-pound person with a maximum of 50 pounds of force be able to move the enormous equipment. RTS employed Autodesk Inventor^® software to meet the design challenge.

For this RTS Wright 3D project, a 12,000-part assembly, eight designers worked in multiuser mode of Autodesk Inventor to create the design by working on different sections-piping, framing, tilted conveyor system, extraction system, and the main assembly.

Three designers worked in multiuser mode to complete the project in four months—30 percent ahead of schedule. RTS not only achieved its goal, but they exceeded it by requiring only 35 pounds of force to move the equipment, not the 50 pounds originally proposed.

There were additional benefits. The customer was able to see what the equipment looked like before it was built—the size, appearance, and movement. RTS used the Presentation Mode of Autodesk Inventor to create AVI animations to demonstrate the drive constraints of the machine. Previously, RTS showed customers 2D concepts to help convey the characteristics of the equipment.

According to Michael Best, software support engineer at RTS Wright, a subsidiary of RTS Group, "Autodesk Inventor improves our ability to meet customer specifications. It is much easier to use and more intuitive than the 3D software we were using. In fact, immediately after implementing the software, we undertook the design of this very large, complex piece of equipment. Management deemed the project a success as a direct result of the speed at which we completed the job and the accuracy with which we were able to design the product."

The largest 3D project to date for RTS using Autodesk Inventor software is a 12,000-part assembly. For this project, eight designers worked in multiuser mode to create the design by working on different sections—piping, framing, tilted conveyor system, extraction system, and the main assembly. The person in charge of the main assembly was responsible for ensuring that all the subassemblies the others were working on fit within the design envelope and the customer’s facility. Autodesk Inventor enables the designers to perform collision detection using drive constraints and check for overall interferences. As a result of the accuracy that Autodesk Inventor provides, no prototypes were needed. These capabilities enabled RTS to complete the design as much as 20 percent ahead of schedule.

RTS used Power Piping software, an add-on package from Autodesk developer CAD Management Group, for the piping section of the project. The software worked seamlessly as it was integrated within the Autodesk Inventor environment. The extensive pipe work for this project included the design of the hydraulics and hazardous material evacuation systems.

RTS Wright is a world leader in the design and delivery of integrated automation solutions to Fortune 500 companies for scientific, environmental, assembly, manufacturing and process applications. Its expertise lies in custom complex machine design.

The company is comprised of seven business groups including Assembly Systems International (ASI), Nuclear Systems International (NSI), Fibers Technology International (FTI), and Life Science International (LSI) that share 33 Autodesk Inventor licenses—all in Nashville, Tennessee. There are an additional eight licenses of Autodesk Inventor within the NSI group in the United Kingdom.

The UK and Nashville NSI groups share design resources and collaborate on many projects, exchanging designs via a live link. To extend the value of Autodesk Inventor and the digital design data, RTS is interested in employing the Autodesk Streamline™ 4 online collaboration service as a more effective means to communicate between the Nashville and UK facilities.

RTS faces several key business challenges. Because it is a company that is reliant upon its design expertise, RTS must develop an innovative approach to solve a customer’s particular needs. With all customers, accelerating the time to market with the final product is always a priority. In addition, RTS is often required to manufacture functioning prototypes of machines quickly to win large projects. Increasing designer productivity and providing them with powerful tools to transfer their innovative ideas into reality enables RTS to address these challenges and win new customers.

The results RTS has been able to achieve with Autodesk Inventor software are outstanding. "Using Autodesk Inventor, our cost structure has improved. On average we’ve seen as much as a 20 percent reduction in design and engineering, and up to 60 percent savings in manufacturing and assembly," said Best. "The assembly side of design is something most companies don’t consider when selecting a design solution. In fact, this is an area where the software has helped us achieve significant savings."

By improving its productivity, RTS has been able to accelerate its time to market. During the design process, the Engineer’s Notebook that is integrated in Autodesk Inventor is used to convey design intent among designers such as part tolerances and fits, and vendor contacts for purchased components. This feature eliminates the need for a designer to verbally repeat ideas to every person that touches the design. Autodesk Inventor software’s ease of use also translates into increased productivity. Designers that had difficulty using AutoCAD^® and other software are productive with Autodesk Inventor within a day.

According to Best, he used the API within Autodesk Inventor to develop a custom program that batch exports Autodesk Inventor files to DWG format per RTS company standards. This saves him countless hours of converting files individually. Best has also developed a batch-plotting program to automatically print the drawings associated with an entire project for manufacturing and assembly.

With 3D design comes the ability to better communicate with customers. "As a result of using Autodesk Inventor, we have won a considerable amount of new business," said Best. "We are able to develop concepts quickly in 3D, and present them to the customer via AVI ‘movies’ to help sell the project and showcase our design capabilities."

"We are an innovative company and our success is determined by the strength of our ideas. Our ability to win customers is based on communicating our ideas effectively so customers understand how they will benefit their business. With Autodesk Inventor, we are able to accomplish this," said Bob Rice, business development manager at RTS.

RTS machinery is designed and manufactured with greater sophistication and with a dramatically higher level of accuracy that improves fit and assembly. This translates into better quality products and service to customers.

RTS plans to do more custom programming with Autodesk Inventor to speed up the design process. Best says RTS Wright is looking forward to upgrading to Autodesk Inventor 6. New drawing enhancements that appeal to Best include the Create View dialog box, breakout views, weld features, revision block, hole tables, and hole notes. RTS can further improve productivity with the software’s assembly enhancements. The built-in 3D content library will also be valuable since RTS estimates that between 20 to 60 percent of its machines are designed using standards parts.

"We like to test the limits of our design capabilities. We use Autodesk Inventor the way it was intended and then we push a little harder. We’ve received great support from Autodesk over the years and make suggestions for what features should be included in future versions," concluded Best.

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