Packaging
Autodesk Announces Sound Devices as Inventor of the Month for May 2008
Thursday 29. May 2008 - Digital Prototyping Helps Manufacturer Deliver Innovative Audio Device to Marketplace in 50 Percent Less Time
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) today announced that Sound Devices, LLC a leading manufacturer of professional audio recording and mixing equipment, has been named as the Autodesk Inventor of the Month for May 2008. Sound Devices relied on Autodesk Inventor software, the foundation for Digital Prototyping to develop the 788T, an innovative 8-track digital audio recorder. This powerful, compact device allows audio professionals to capture and process sound more effectively in a variety of “on location” situations — from documentary films and reality television programs, to music events and sports broadcasts — which ultimately provides a more satisfactory audio experience for listeners and viewers.
The Inventor of the Month program recognizes the most innovative design and engineering advancements made by the extensive community using Autodesk Inventor software — the foundation of the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping. A digital prototype is a realistic 3D digital simulation of the entire end product, used to virtually optimize and validate a product before it is built to reduce the need for constructing physical prototypes.
To design the 788T, Sound Devices had to figure out a way to fit eight full-featured microphone inputs and eight tracks of recording into a chassis weighing less than four pounds and roughly the size of a hardcover book. Digital prototypes created with products from the Inventor family of products proved invaluable in helping the company check for interferences between various components and explore design variations before anything was actually built.
“Using Inventor, we were able to digitally prototype the 788T nearly a dozen times before we cut a single sheet of metal,” said Jason McDonald, Design Engineer for Sound Devices. Jon Tatooles, Managing Director of Sound Devices added, “The flexibility that Digital Prototyping provides does more than help us avoid the time and costs associated with physical prototypes — it also allows us to incorporate customer feedback into the decision-making process at a very early stage, which helps ensure we’re creating products that truly meet our customers’ needs.”
McDonald estimates that Digital Prototyping helped the company reduce its product development time by nearly 50 percent, as the company went from initial design sketches of the 788T to full production within a period of just six months. Specific Inventor functionality such as the Sheet Metal Design feature — which provides an accurate 3D model of sheet metal folding — helped the company to quickly and easily explore different product configurations until it was able to come up with a portable audio recorder that delivered outstanding performance without a size, weight or cost penalty.
“Manufacturers of every type are feeling the pressure of compressed product development cycles,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president of Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions. “Successful companies like Sound Devices have realized that Digital Prototyping can help them thrive in this environment by increasing innovation, even as they reduce the time to market for their pioneering new products. It is a pleasure to name Sound Devices as our Inventor of the Month for May.”