COSMOS makes FEA child's play

Company Lappset Industry Consumer Products Location Finland Product Used COSMOSXpress™ Type of Analysis Linear Static More Details

The Challenge
Lappset is one of Europe's leading playground and sports equipment manufacturers. Lappset playground equipment is modular in design, which makes it easy to build new styles of apparatus and also gives the customer a wide variety of options. Designs have to take into account not only the functionality and viability of the product, but also its safety and user-friendliness. The final result must be innovative and safe in accordance with the EN ISO 9001 quality standard.

The Solution
Seven engineers and three designers work in the design department at Lappset. The team recently changed its CAD system from Autodesk® Mechanical Desktop® to SolidWorks, which includes COSMOSXpress, a free version of its design analysis system COSMOSWorks™. COSMOSXpress combines CAD and finite element analysis (FEA) capabilities enabling the team at Lappset to perform stress analyses much earlier on in the development cycle.

Lappset can now make fewer prototypes because it is using COSMOSXpress to test all the models virtually. The time and cost savings have been significant. "In the past, we had to wait as long as a month for a physical prototype," Juntilla explained. "Using COSMOSXpress, the virtual prototype is available on the computer screen almost instantly. Before SolidWorks, we typically made three prototypes per model, but now just one is enough because we already know what will and won't work having tested everything in COSMOS."

Summary and Metrics:

• Up to 50% time savings
• Virtual prototypes available almost instantly
• Reduced production cost by eliminating excess material