Paris-based Lectra, a provider of integrated technology solutions for soft-goods applications, has introduced Diamino®  V5R4, the latest edition of its marker-making technology, offering features to improve speed and efficiency with regard to marker-making and material consumption optimization in the costing, prototyping and production phases of product development.

"Buying material is now a major expense for manufacturers in the fashion, automotive and furniture sectors and for companies that use industrial fabrics," said Daniel Harari, CEO, Lectra. "Marker-making is therefore a key lever for evaluating and guaranteeing the profitability of a product at a very early stage and improving its cost price. The time savings, streamlined processes, and material optimization offered by Diamino V5R4 give our customers a competitive edge."

Solutions include DiaminoFashion and DiaminoFurniture as well as the DiaminoTechTex solution designed for automotive, composite and industrial fabrics applications. The newest edition of the technology uses two methods to optimize material consumption, with a manual method used for interactive marker-making and an automated method that uses Diamino's algorithms when interaction is not needed. The methods also can be combined to make more complex markers.

According to Lectra, manufacturers can use Diamino V5R4's new rapid Optimizer function in both manual and automated mode on existing markers and realize material savings averaging 1 percent over a substantial number of markers. Manufacturers working with lists or batches of markers may see the efficiency of each marker improved in less than one minute.

The marker realizes further material savings by setting a protection area only around internal notches. The efficient arrangement of fuse blocks to facilitate quick assembly leads to time savings. Diamino V5R4 also provides direct access to HP-GL and Cutfile export interfaces as well as the DXF format used for automotive and aerospace applications. In addition, only one interface is needed for printer and plotter management.

April/May/June 2011