news

Steve Vick Invited To Speak About SMARTester™ At International Convention

November 27, 2018

Steve Vick International Ltd (SVI) were delighted to be invited to speak at an international convention in September 2018 in Toronto organised by AUTODESK, the mechanical design and 3D CAD software developer.

SVI used the Autodesk product suite extensively in the development of the company’s SMARTester™, their new wireless electronic pressure testing system.

Matthew Maclennan, SVI’s Mechanical Design Engineer and Sam Street, Technical Designer and IT Manager, made an hour long presentation at Autodesk Accelerate which was attended by customers, industry executives, top market analysts and subject matter experts from the US, Canada and Europe.

This year’s event focussed on the convergence of design and manufacturing technology, covering the entire product lifecycle from generative design to additive manufacturing.

“Autodesk contacted us as they felt we had made novel use of their products,” says Matthew. “We explained to the audience how we took SMARTester™ from concept to a fully fledged marketable product with the help of Autodesk.

“At Steve Vick we are extremely good at designing products and techniques for the repair and renewal of underground pipes,” explained Matthew, “But moving into the realms of electronics and software was new to us!”.

The SMARTester™ system provides users with definitive pressure test evidence and the reassurance of absolute traceability. It accurately records every step of a test process making engineers confident that their good practice is verifiable. Whilst initially designed to measure pressure in gas pipes, SMARTester™ is equally suitable for gauging water pressure and has potential applications in manufacturing.

“Autodesk’s 3D CAD software allowed us to carry out live reviews of the product design over the phone, making more efficient use of everyone’s time,” said Sam.

SVI found AUTODESK’s Lifecycle software particularly useful in managing design changes during the development of SMARTester™ as it tracks and records changes to product design as they happen.

The cloud based Product Lifecycle Management tool also enables SVI to configure SMARTester™ for individual companies with the knowledge that in two or three years’ time they can identify exactly which components were used in a specific product.

In addition, the software handles the calibration process of the SMARTester™ allowing SVI to offer customers a very high and reliable level of precision which is backed by stringent methods.

Other presenters at the event included Aclara a major producer of utility metering systems; Roboy, a humanoid robot developer currently working on a project for NASA; global brake technology company Nucap; Steelcase, a $3b US producer of office furniture; and Hosakawa, global supplier of powder coating equipment and systems.