Stop the ping-pong between the design center and the factory!
Being agile is possible, you simply need to adopt virtual prototyping with the Romans CAD Software 2022 edition.
In a fast-changing world, consumer attention to the brand needs to be retained by frequent innovation.
To meet this goal, brands need to be in the capacity of ensuring a short cycle time from style to prototype and “production Go”. The Romans CAD Software platform enables a dramatic reduction of cycle time in the development of footwear or leather goods and improves collaborative work, unlocking agile product creation. In a traditional way of working, footwear or leather goods designers send a sketch to a prototyping unit. After a first model prototype is received, several iterations follow until the prototype is fully in line with the designer’s intention. 5 prototype iterations are often required to reach a final version.
Then the technical design of the model needs to be made, Bills of Material (BoM) need to be computed, operations defined, then enabling the costing of the model. Only at this stage can a product review take place to decide whether the model will be integrated into the collection and produced or not. The full cycle takes months to complete.
By digitalizing this workflow, the RCS platform provides a high level of acceleration. Shoe designers can directly sketch on 3D lasts. From this sketch, a 3D design of the shoe can be easily built, delivering a virtual prototype without waiting for neither physical lasts nor insoles. Colors and material can be allocated to parts from material libraries, built either from scanned materials or commercial libraries.
Creating variants is easier than ever by simply changing material allocated to parts in RCS or generating random variants from the color pallet of the collection. Automatic flattening converts the 3D design to 2D. Based on a master shell pattern structure, RCS 2D patterns can be adjusted in a few clicks, all changes being applied to dependent parts. Part BoM and operations are defined easily based on technical design data, enabling early costing. Export of BoMs to the ERP/PLM is automatic, sparing time and human errors. When it is time to produce, automatic grading generates the patterns for all the shoe sizes in the selected reference grading system and all the production BOMs.
The virtual product also enables photorealistic rendering and even 3D printing, so the design can be shared easily between stakeholders to make quick decisions, then promoted on digital platforms and even as a NFT in the metaverse. By eliminating the “ping-pong” between the design center and the factory, RCS not only reduces the duration of every single step of the product development cycle but also enables a high level of parallelization of work. The product technical design can be made while foot lasts and insoles are produced, the product costing can start as soon as the design is ready and can iterate automatically, and collection reviews can start before physical samples are ready. Consequently, approximately 85% of prototypes are validated from the first shot with RCS, and the overall cycle time is reduced by 50% to even 70%. For more information mail us at info@romans-cad.com