Surfing for Virtual Parts

A product called Design Suite by In Part, Saratoga, CA, promises to reform design catalogs upright, creative, and efficient. Pro/ENGINEER models are fully parametric and include envelope dimensions and embedded parameters, such as mass properties and part number. InPart also includes Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) models that enable users to view the part in three dimensions before downloading it. InPart says that every model goes through a quality assurance check to ensure that it represents a repeatable, detailed, and accurate model. Then the manufacturer conducts a review. Finally, InPart conducts a second check. InPart also offers Alert Assurance, a notification system that sends e-mail to alert customers to changes in a part they have used and asks if they would like an updated part. Manufacturers are said to be contractually obligated to notify InPart, even before their own customers, of product changes, so InPart's customers are the first to know about a product change.