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Sheet Metal

Cost impact for upgrades to aPriori Professional 2021 R1

Cost Model Version Summary

The following table shows the cost model version numbers for the last three major releases:

Release Cost Model Version Status
aPriori 2021 R1 210 New with this release
aPriori2020 R1 190 (20.1.0) / 200 (20.1.1) From a prior release
aPriori 2019 R2 170 (19.2.0) / 180 (19.2.1) From a prior release

Summary of Platform Changes

The table below indicates whether there were geometry and/or cost engine changes for this process group. Such changes could impact costing results for configured Digital Factories.

Platform Area Was there a Change?
Geometry Yes
Cost Engine No

Change Summary by Area

The table below indicates whether there were geometry and/or cost engine changes for this process group. Such changes could impact costing results for configured Digital Factories. For the first type of change (geometry or cost engine changes), the table indicates the impact level (High, Medium, Low, or No).

Area Impact?
Geometry or cost engine changes that could impact configured Digital Factories LOW
Bug fixes or small improvements to prior cost model versions that could Impact configured Digital Factories NO
Cost model changes that do not affect configured Digital Factories YES

Details: Geometry or Cost Engine Changes that Could Impact Configured Digital Factories

The following changes might impact costing, even for Digital Factories that use earlier cost model versions.

  • Blank Size (Potential Impact: Material Cost and Machining Time): Previously, in rare cases, aPriori underestimated blank thickness, length, or width, because it did not recognize certain areas that are reduced in thickness due to material removal (typically by machining or chemical milling). No GCD was extracted for such an area, so no time and cost for the corresponding material removal operation was accounted for and no indication of an uncosted GCD was provided to the user.

In this release, aPriori better recognizes areas of reduced thickness and extracts distinct GCDs for them. Each such GCD is either assigned an appropriate operation or is extracted as a NotSupported GCD whose Cause property is Different Thickness. As a result of this change, times and costs (including material cost) may increase for some parts.

Details: Bug Fixes or Small Improvements to Prior Cost Model Versions

The following changes might impact costing for Digital Factories that use earlier cost model versions.

  • NO IMPACT

Details: Cost Model Changes that Do Not Affect Configured Digital Factories

The following changes do not affect costings with Digital Factories that use earlier cost model versions. The changes are available only in the latest cost model version.

  • Adjacent Bends (Potential Impact: Cycle Time): This release improves how aPriori determines whether multiple adjacent bends can be made simultaneously with a single operation.

In the previous release, aPriori sometimes mistakenly determined that a group of bends could be made with single operation, and also sometimes mistakenly determined that a group of bends could not be made with a single operation. This release improves the classification of bends in both these respects, and so cycle times may either increase or decrease, compared to the previous release.

  • Adjacent Bends and GCD Extraction (Potential Impact: Operation Assignment): In the previous release, if aPriori determined that a group of bends could be made with a single operation, the bends were represented by StraightBends GCDs and assigned to individual operations, each with reduced cycle time so that the total time would be representative of a single operation.

In this release, if aPriori determines that a group of bends can be made with a single operation, the group is represented as a single MultiBend GCD rather than multiple StraightBends. The MultiBend is assigned to a single Embossing operation (for stamping routings) or Bending operation (for Bend Brake routings).