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Client:
Parametric Technology Corporation
Software and Services Provider

Project:
Customer Testimonial

Marketing Resources Contribution:
Copywriting

Powerful Technology Stands Behind Award-Winning Design
Lunar Design, Inc. Harnesses the Power of Pro/ENGINEER®

As an industrial design (ID) and mechanical package engineering (MPE) consulting group, Lunar Design, Inc. has built its business on regularly facing and conquering out-of-the-ordinary design challenges. The company’s ability to model form from emotion and function, and imbue it with craftsmanship, has resulted in award-winning designs for products ranging from laptop computers to surgical laser systems. Recognized repeatedly by BusinessWeek as a top design firm, Lunar helps shape the products of companies such as Apple Computer, Coherent Medical, Wyse Technology, and Abbott Laboratories.

“What makes Lunar different is our standard of consistent, high-quality design,” explains Gerard Furbershaw, vice president of mechanical package engineering and a founding partner of Lunar Design. “Advanced tools like Pro/ENGINEER by Parametric Technology allow us to focus on creatively maintaining that high quality.”

Furbershaw speaks from experience in industrial design consulting. The launch of Lunar in December of 1984 was preceded by years of consulting background by Furbershaw and his two founding partners. Their experience at previous firms pointed them toward a philosophy of designing beautiful products that are meaningful to their users and appropriate to the clients’ needs. “We believe every product is a corporate ambassador—sometimes the most powerful image a company projects,” states Furbershaw. “A truly well-designed and exquisitely-implemented product communicates a lot about the company that built it. This kind of design is essential in order to create pre-purchase desire in potential buyers and to establish a word-of-mouth mandate in satisfied customers.”

Making the Most of Advanced Technology

Lunar has always believed in taking advantage of the latest technology to enhance and speed up the engineering process. In the company’s first years, an alliance with an early software developer allowed Lunar’s engineers and designers to learn about the potential strengths of CAD in its infancy. Lunar’s early involvement with computer-aided design taught designers and engineers to be flexible with the technology, while understanding and harnessing its full power. When Pro/ENGINEER came along, seeing its potential was easy for the members of the Lunar Design team.

“We saw the potential benefits of solid modeling tools like Pro/ENGINEER years ago,” recalls Furbershaw. “As a consulting group, though, we didn’t have the resources and long-term cost-justifications of a corporate engineering organization.” At the same time, Lunar knew it needed state-of-the-art tools to meet the needs of existing clients and gain credibility with new clients. “We found ourselves walking a tightrope between needing the tools to support our customers and having the customers to justify our tools,” says Furbershaw. “Then, when hardware prices began to drop, we were immediately ready to make the investment in a new CAD system. Pro/ENGINEER quickly won everyone’s support.”

Paul Hamerton-Kelly, the mechanical engineer in charge of evaluating solid modeling packages, embraced Lunar’s desire to implement a system that could be used by everyone—from the industrial designers who developed the initial concepts to the mechanical package engineers who turned these product visions into reality. Hamerton-Kelly concluded that Pro/ENGINEER had the power the group needed and was easy enough for everyone to learn and use.

Since the installation of Lunar Design’s first Pro/ENGINEER seat in 1992, the group has wasted no time in generating high-profile designs. EtherWave, a plug-and-play network connector by Farallon, has been named Mac User Magazine’s 1993 Hardware Product of the Year. In developing the EtherWave product, Lunar called on a number of Pro/ENGINEER’s strengths. Designers relied heavily on the enhanced visualization capabilities and the ability to transfer the data easily into a sophisticated rendering package. This allowed advanced artistic manipulation—a uniquely important feature for an industrial design company. Pro/ENGINEER’s ability to immediately change feature values like radii and draft angles allowed the EtherWave enclosure to be altered and viewed time after time without the costly and time-consuming model-making process.

Lunar’s mechanical package engineers use the intelligence of the system to expedite the design process and allow greater engineering efficiency. Furbershaw cites an example: “We wanted to incorporate a press-fit fastening detail we had used in a previous design, but this time in a larger version. The press-fits’ behavior is governed by the material properties and the volume of material displaced. We were able to use the interference checker in Pro/ENGINEER to precisely calculate and control the volume of displaced material, and scale-up the critical elements of our earlier design.”

From Concept to Reality

When Farallon was ready for the prototype stage and 25 EtherWave units were needed, stereolithography was employed to create a pattern for rubber tooling. Pro/ENGINEER’s solid modeling advantages became very evident. Lunar worked with a supplier who has interfaced its Pro/ENGINEER system with computer-aided manufacturing equipment. “One of Pro/ENGINEER’s biggest contributions is its ability to define geometry in an unambiguous manner,” explains Furbershaw. “Two-dimensional documentation and even wireframe packages may allow geometry to be left up to interpretation. With Pro/ENGINEER, when we send a file to a vendor, we know exactly what we’re going to get back.” The supplier successfully generated stereolithography patterns and cast multiple polyurethane prototypes of EtherWave directly from Pro/ENGINEER part files.

Once the project was ready for a pilot release injection mold production, a run of 100 sets of parts was required. With one of Pro/ENGINEER’s comprehensive features, Lunar could determine the volume of plastic resin required for the production of 100 sets of parts and instruct the vendor to purchase the appropriate amount. “For the first time on an enclosure engineering project, we felt comfortable going right from the CAD system to tooling, without generating engineering models,” says Furbershaw. “When you design on Pro/ENGINEER, it’s like you’re really fabricating parts.”

Throughout the EtherWave design project, Lunar tapped the strengths of Pro/ENGINEER to expedite the schedule. For many of the high-tech clients served by Lunar, market windows are narrow. These clients need to get their products out as fast as possible, with a design that reflects outstanding engineering and meticulous attention to detail—a design that lives up to its role as a corporate ambassador. On all projects, Lunar strives to deliver designs that exceed customers’ expectations. With the help of Pro/ENGINEER, in its award-winning EtherWave product, Lunar’s success is evident.