January 18, 2005  |  Imaginestics LLC develops engineer design aid with NSF grant

Purdue Research Park, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A - Imaginestics LLC, an emerging leader in the field of knowledge reuse management, was awarded $500,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop an engineering advisory system for early product design.

The Small Business Innovative Research Program's (SBIR) Phase II grant will extend Imaginestics' research into the development of a software system that can help engineers anticipate the cost and manufacturability of design changes as they occur.

"Companies can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by building a cost conscious culture through our software product, so the design engineers get a better understanding of how their design improvements will affect the product's overall manufacturing cost," said Nainesh Rathod, President & CEO of Imaginestics. "The technology analyzes the design and conducts mini feasibility studies, leaving engineers/designers free to be creative."

This technology makes use of software developed at Purdue University, where researchers discovered a way for engineers to search for and find three-dimensional shapes within databases.

"The original 3-D Shape Search technology is so versatile," said Karthik Ramani, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Purdue Research and Education Center for Information Systems in Engineering, or PRECISE, where the 3D shape search technology was developed. "We are pleased it can be applied to helping engineers design more cost-effectively."

Along with collaborative research and development, the company plans to use this technology in Purdue classrooms to educate students on manufacturing processes and to develop cost consciousness amongst future designers and engineers.

About Imaginestics
Imaginestics is a privately-held software and services company founded in December 2002. It is emerging as the leader in knowledge-based systems for the manufacturing and life sciences industry. Imaginestics' mission is to unleash the power of existing engineering and manufacturing systems through an integrated product suite that taps companies' past and present knowledge and optimizes their future development. Imaginestics' product suite includes, i-compare, i-migrate, i-config, i-parts and i-advisor.