Design Guidance Enhancements

aPriori 2024 R1 SP1 provides improved Design-to-Cost feedback regarding standard versus custom stock sizes.

Previously, a stock in the Sheet Metal Process Group was identified as nonstandard or custom if its thickness differed from those defined as available material in the Digital Factory. This meant that common industry standard thicknesses could be flagged as custom if the Digital Factory did not hold that stock in inventory. To address this, a new lookup table, metalStandardStocks, was introduced that contains a wider range of industry standard thicknesses. A stock now will be identified as custom only if the stock is in neither the Digital Factory material stock tables nor the new lookup table. This improves the quality of aPriori’s Design-to-Cost feedback, by eliminating “false positive” warnings about custom stock sizes.

However, a stock will be determined as virtual if it is not present in the Digital Factory material stock tables even if the thickness is included in the lookup table. Thicknesses listed in the new metalStandardStocks lookup table, but absent from the Digital Factory material tables, will be classified as virtual and incur virtual stock pricing. If the specific price of that stock is known, it should be added to the Digital Factory material stocks table.

Improvements to Standard Hole Size Feedback

aPriori 2024 R1 SP1 provides improved Design-to-Cost feedback regarding standard versus non-standard drill sizes.

In aPriori 2024 R1 SP1 , improvements have been made to the tool selection logic for the Machining process group's Drilling and Pecking operations. Previously, the largest drill diameter that was within the hole size tolerance limits would be selected. Two distinct modifications have been made to this logic:

• If a hole size exactly matches an available tool size, this tool will now be selected.

• If a hole does not exactly match an available tool size, the next smallest drill bit (if available) will be selected. Otherwise, the smallest drill bit that fits within the tolerance range will be selected (this will be larger than the nominal hole diameter).

This update will be primarily visible in the Holes and Fillets design feedback. In some cases, it may also affect the number of unique tools required, overall machining time, and ultimately, the part's cost.