Q&A with Hugo

Hugo Despres from Remcor Group, Inc. and I spent a couple minutes chatting yesterday. For five years, Hugo worked with our partner Design Fusion in the area of tech support. During that time, he has logged over 3000 hours of training on Solid Edge. Four months ago, Hugo changed jobs and became a customer, managing CAD – and Solid Edge – for Remcor.

Q: Tell me a little about Remcor and what they do?

“Remcor designs and manufactures tank trailers, from A to Z. We have manufacturing plants in Chambly,Canada; Manning, North Carolina; Omaha, Nebraska and Columbia Remtec located in Surrey, Canada. The average assembly size is 3-4 thousand.”

 

Q: Why did you decide to attend Siemens PLM Connection?

I was suppose to come but was unsure if I should. When I heard the announcement of synchronous technology, it was not a question anymore. I had to learn what it was all about.

Q. Have you tried Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology and what were your first impressions?

I have spent about 5-6 hours with it. My impression in the first 15-30 minutes left me discouraged. Then I realized I had to forget a lot that I learned before. Solid Edge with Synchronous is so new, so different. Because I realized that I had to throw some knowledge to the trash can. After that, I realize that it was very, very easy to use and intuitive. But like I said, you absolutely have to open up your mind. The best comparison that comes to my mind is this. Snowboarding is very basic and easy to learn. But if you are and old skier switching to snowboarding, you’ll have a hard time if you try to apply skiing techniques. Empty your mind and let the new stuff get in!

Q. Can you give me an example of how easy it is?

I attempted to create a rib in the middle of a thin wall part. Then I wanted to add a lip the thin wall. Because of the rib, you couldn’t do it. You would need to change the plane step in order to modify the rib to create lip. In Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology, you no longer have to modify the rib, just pull down the face a couple millimeters and it was done. Six clicks before are now one!

Q. How will you implement Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology going forward?

We will use a mixed traditional and synchronous environment. For new parts, we will go with Synchronous Technology as much as possible, but will not move all parts for now. If the part needs modifications, we will switch it to the synchronous environment. I did a trial with Draft.  I converted a part from traditional to Synchronous Technology and re-opened the draft. Nothing changed and that provided comfort.