Generally, users of this new online translation will evaluate this new service in several areas including: results, ease-of-use, time savings, and of course, cost.

The goal of online repair and translation is to deliver a valid surface or solid model that can be immediately imported and used in the customer’s CAD/CAM system with no rework. From our experience, automated online translation will deliver a totally valid surface or solid model that can be immediately read into one’s in-house system the vast majority of the time (70 to 80 percent of models). In other situations (15 to 20 percent of models) most errors/issues in the model will be repaired but there may be some work required by the customer to complete the repair.

Unfortunately a small percentage of CAD models cannot be translated to the point where they can be immediately used without extensive rework. These cases may include models that have serious design quality problems. Simply translating these types of models will not deliver desirable results. Fortunately these instances are rare (an estimated five percent).
Many moldmakers have come to think of repairing and translating CAD models as a normal part of their job. In fact some shops figure time and costs spent fixing models into their bid process. Online translation enables moldmakers to concentrate on their core jobs and turn repair and translation over to the experts.
In fact, continued evolution of the Internet and e-mail reduces the process to a simple “point and click” exercise of sending the file and retrieving the translated file.