Autodesk hits aerospace milestone at Paris Air Show

The news came at at the International Paris Air Show , with Buzz Kross, senior vice president of manufacturing at the design and engineering software giant, saying: "Our rapidly expanding aerospace customer base is a testament to the strength of the Autodesk solution for digital prototyping." He refers to a growing list of large and small manufacturers in the aerospace sector now relying on Autodesk Inventor all the way through for digital prototyping. Names include South Africa's ADEPT Airmotive, US-based Gemcor, Russia's St Petersburg Aircraft Repair Company (SPARC) and Techman-Head. ADEPT Airmotive, for example, which makes aviation engines for light aircraft, used Inventor to develop its compact 320T engine. The company says digital prototyping meant accurate modelling before anything was built, not only reducing the number of physical prototypes, but also reducing lengthy changes to almost instantaneous events. It's a similar story at Gemcor, which designs and sells custom machinery and tooling for aircraft parts assembly. Bill Mangus, Gemcor president and CEO, says that by putting aircraft part designs into Inventor, the firm can simulate dynamic assemblies and test how machines will fasten together 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," he claims. "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," comments Kross.