Autodesk has announced at the International Paris Air Show that it now has more than 1,000 customers in the aerospace and defense industry.

"Our rapidly expanding aerospace customer base is a testament to the strength of the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping," said Robert "Buzz" Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. "Today we are uniquely positioned to help aerospace suppliers and manufacturers get more innovative products to market faster through less reliance on costly physical prototypes."

A growing list of large and small manufacturers in the aerospace sector relies on Autodesk Inventor software and the complete solution for Digital Prototyping to overcome a wide variety of business challenges. The Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping brings together design data from all phases of the product development process into a single digital model created in Inventor.

ADEPT Airmotive, a South Africa-based manufacturer of general aviation engines for the light aircraft market, relied on Autodesk Inventor software to develop the 320T, a 320-horsepower general aviation engine with a compact design that offers low vibration levels and high structural integrity.

Inventor software's Digital Prototyping capabilities helped ADEPT produce accurate 3D models of the 320T before anything was actually built, reducing the number of physical prototypes that needed to be constructed. Processes that once took hours - such as changing the wall thickness of an engine component - were completed almost instantaneously with Autodesk Inventor software. As a result, engineers were able to spend less time constructing geometric models and more time creating innovative designs, and then simulating the performance of the designs under real-world conditions.

U.S.-based Gemcor, which designs and sells custom machinery and tooling for aircraft parts assembly, has used Inventor for nearly five years. By putting aircraft part designs into Inventor, Gemcor can simulate dynamic assemblies and test how machines will fasten together the different parts such as a wing panel or fuselage.

"With Inventor, we've streamlined our entire design and engineering process to accomplish more with fewer resources," said Bill Mangus, Gemcor president and CEO.

The St. Petersburg Aircraft Repair Company (SPARC), one of Russia's leading aircraft repair companies, employs Inventor to design assemblies within its helicopter maintenance center, develop service and training documentation on aircraft repairs and enhance project management.

"Many of our projects involve the management of large aircraft assemblies and the handling of huge volumes of data," said Dmitry Khohlov, SPARC department chief. "Autodesk Inventor has proved invaluable in processing and managing all of this material efficiently but has also supported innovation and aided the decision-making process through its 3D visualization capabilities."

Techman-Head recently licensed Autodesk Inventor software to digitally design its mechanical and hydraulic aircraft maintenance tools. Inventor software has helped the French company design, visualize and simulate its tools for Airbus and Boeing planes before they are produced.

"What we like most about Autodesk Inventor is its ease of use. Inventor helps us rapidly design a range of maintenance tools, and the software suite's power makes it ideal for the development of our tool parts," said Philippe Chirade, design office manager at Techman-Head. "It also offers a range of native converters that can read and write files from and to other CAD applications, and standard converters such as STEP."

Related links and articles:

Siemens PLM helps to address aerospace challenges

Autodesk at 2009 Paris Air Show

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