SolidWorks Sustainability:

This podcast covers the full fledged lifecycle assessment offering from SolidWorks called SolidWorks Sustainability.  This is a modest upgrade of the free Xpress tool that is part of SolidWorks 2010.  Topics covered:

- Description of features (beyond Xpress)

- "Online Info" sustainability calculator tool

- SolidWorks Sustainability website

- Frequently asked questions (FAQ highlights)

Starting back at SolidWorks World last year, SolidWorks talked about their sustainability product that was going to hit the SolidWorks LABS site in summer and would eventually be in the SolidWorks 2010 product.  In June, SolidWorks launched this utility for download on SolidWorks labs and much of the feedback was that the tool was not full featured and the only really useful tool was the "Find Similar Material" tool.

The free version in SolidWorks named SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress, was for parts only and there was always a hint of a full Sustainability product to be available for customers who wanted more granular tools and the ability to work with entire assemblies.  This full tool went into a Beta when SW 2010 launched and is still in beta now in SP1.

Sustainability awareness has to begin with education and having tools available inside of SolidWorks to lend, yet another, evaluation tool to help make critical decisions in product design is a great start. We have to start somewhere and it reminds me of how recycling started 20 years ago.  Today we are more educated and adoption of this practice is almost everywhere we look. ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

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