Manufacturers trying to design a new plant from scratch, combine two older facilities, or realign the operations of an existing one should consider Factory 5.1, a new software release from Engineering Animation Inc. (EAI).
EAI's latest package includes layout and design software, material flow analysis capabilities, and a layout planner-optimizer. EAI's Factory CAD 5.1 for layout and design of plants contains new factory equipment such as cabinets and workbenches. And the FactoryPlan 5.1 module for layout planning and optimization has new charting options that take into account work-center relationships.
"Factory 5.1 is vastly improved with the incorporation of over 100 changes in response to customer requests," says Dave Sly, executive director of software product development at the Ames, Iowa software firm.
