Cases

Innovation and magical ideas drive Reebok International Ltd., a leading worldwide designer, marketer and distributor of sports, fitness and casual footwear, apparel and equipment, to create powerful breakthrough products. Rapid prototyping plays an important role in this. For handling their complex, amorphous 3D models and preparing watertight files for rapid prototyping, Reebok relies on Magics software. Using Magics allows them to solve problems much more quickly than when using a traditional CAD package.

Magics easily assures RP models can be built

Product development at Reebok can take different routes. In their headquarters in Canton, MA, they develop certain products using their in-house CAD services. Designers provide a sketch that is interpreted by the CAD engineer. All tooling specific requirements are added into the CAD file as it is engineered. RP models are made during this CAD process to assure the CAD designer's interpretation is correct and that the tooling requirements do not significantly alter the original design intent. These in-process models are often produced on Reebok's Z Corp. RP system. At that time, Magics is used to assure the models can be built. RP machines can only build STL models that are completely watertight and this may not always be the case with models in process. Reebok therefore uses Magics to examine, and, if necessary, repair and edit the STL models.

Magics quickly makes STL files watertight

Once the CAD work is done, final models are produced on an in-house Selective Laser Sintering system for ultimate approval. Magics is used again to assure the STL file is 100% correct. Next, the CAD files are sent overseas to Asia for production. Using this process, Reebok builds approximately 650 prototype models per year. Reebok has relied on Magics for STL file examination and repair since they began using RP technologies.

Magics solves problems much quicker than traditional CAD packages

Reebok prefers Magics for two reasons: first, because it is the ideal software to handle and repair STL files quickly and efficiently; second, Magics saves Reebok a lot of time and thus money.

Sometimes we will get a file from an outside source. This file will not be constructed to the normal standards for Reebok 3D CAD files. A traditional CAD package would take hours to modify and correct these files, reconstruct missing faces, trim untrimmed faces, or build in a thickness that was never originally modeled. Magics, on the other hand, has several tools and techniques that can solve these problems regardless of the original CAD system, in a much shorter time period! One example was a shoe bottom that was modeled strictly for CNC machining. The file needed substantial CAD time to enclose it to a watertight model. Magics allowed us to do this in less than half the average time.

Mr. Paul Bates and Mr. Gary Rabinovitz, of Reebok International Ltd.

Thanks to Paul Bates, Director, Advanced Process Engineering, and Gary Rabinovitz, Selective Laser Sintering Machine Technician, AR&D of Reebok International Ltd. (www.reebok.com).