Software adds a new demension to stage show design

An IBM Product Lifecycle Management Solutions product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 21, 2004

Stage Technologies uses IBM Product Lifecycle Management Solutions to design equipment to enhance the movement of scenery and the flying of performers for stage productions.

Stage Technologies uses IBM Product Lifecycle Management Solutions to design equipment to enhance the movement of scenery and the flying of performers for stage productions.

IBM Business Partner CenitDesktop is providing consulting, implementation and training services for Stage Technologies' strategic IT investment.

Stage Technologies supplies diverse productions from rock and roll tours to dramatic theatre in venues worldwide from Australia to Iceland.

Recent work includes complete power flying systems supplied to Goteborg Stadtsteater and Rotterdamse Schouwburg, as well as complete stage-rigging packages for Princess Cruise Lines' new vessels.

As a leader in its industry, Stage Technologies needed to streamline its design processes.

Its existing 2D design tools limited design flexibility and creativity and hindered the development of complex designs.

IBM PLM's virtual product design application Catia V5 is helping the 45-employee company reduce design time, eliminating the need to redesign parts due to interference clashes and allowing Stage Technologies to efficiently reuse existing designs in new projects.

"Being able to model something in three dimensions is a huge advantage in terms of packaging things and fitting them into complicated spaces", said Jonathan Langton, Mechanical Engineer and CAD manager for Stage Technologies.

"In 2D, you can find yourself restricting your design to those two dimensions, whereas in 3D, all of the sudden, you can find a lot of extra space to play with".

"All around, that's a great advantage".

Catia V5 enables more flexibility and creativity in Stage Technologies product design process in an easy to use, Windows-like format.

The collaborative application has enabled Stage Technologies to reduce required site visits and part redesigns and to make use of existing designs.

Although stage productions vary, most of the company's products are variations on a few tried and tested designs.

Therefore, being able to import and reuse existing designs allows the company to streamline the design process and eliminate errors.

"We make lots of variations on standard designs - a different thickness of rope or a different amount of travel on a winch, for instance", said Langton.

"With Catia, we can draw the new part, bring it into the old model and everything will update - meaning we're not reinventing the winch, as it were, each time".

"If you change the size of a part, you can see exactly how it's going to impact on everything else".

The mechanical engineering department at Stage Technologies designs winches and associated assemblies, stage elevators, flying scenery bars, guide systems, lighting trusses and grids for stage show venues around the world.

"It can be really challenging", Langton said.

"All of the venues are different".

"A lot of the time we're working in an old building that has some form of a manual system - they are always sort of quirky and not always straight".

With 2D software, that meant making a lot of site visits and often redesigning and remaking parts when interference problems cropped up unexpectedly once installation began.

"One of the advantages of Catia V5 for us is that we can model these spaces in three dimensions", Langton added.

"We go out there and do the survey - it can be anywhere from Japan to Italy and beyond - wherever it is, we're able to model up back here in London and work from there".

Stage Technologies also cited the user-friendliness of the IBM PLM Solution.

"Cenit Desktop has provided excellent training to our designers, but the software is really intuitive and easy to use", he said.

"We have a new guy and we just showed him and set him to work".

The company is leveraging another benefit of Catia: the ability to generate a simple PDF format for sending data to suppliers that ensures designs cannot be altered, introducing errors.

Another advantage when dealing with suppliers is that drawings can be sent directly to suppliers in a format that can be used to program their machines.

"Ultimately, we chose IBM PLM Solutions and CenitDesktop for the power and reliability of their solution".

"Catia easily handles very large assemblies - a real strength and the biggest reason for the investment", Langton concluded.

CenitDesktop is a Premier IBM Business Partner, selling IBM PLM Solutions, including Catia, Enovia and Smarteam applications developed by Dassault Systemes, and IBM middleware and services.