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About Digital Projections

Digital Projections designs large LCD display walls for open spaces. Their clients can generate High Definition video content to be viewed by groups of people in stadiums, conference rooms or anywhere crowds gather. They use structural framing and custom components to fabricate the display walls to fit their clients’ design and space.

Engineering Challenge

Digital Projections traditionally works with 2D architectural drawings provided by their clients. Typically, their display frames were measured and “cut to fit” on the job site. They needed a 3D model-based design process to create the structural frame and display assemblies because of the accuracy required to perfectly align the display panels. So, they reached out to TriMech and we prepared a demonstration for them showing how they could meet their needs with SOLIDWORKS 3D modeling and drawing capabilities. They decided that this was the solution they needed, so they purchased the software and included a SOLIDWORKS Essentials training seat.

After starting with SOLIDWORKS, they hit a bottleneck trying to model their large frame assemblies. Creating the hundreds of 3D models and mating each frame segment was taking longer than expected. Their first target project had a deadline that was fast approaching, and they knew there had to be a more efficient way to get the job done.

Working with TriMech Design

Digital Projections reached out to TriMech Design to see if we could help. They wanted to complete a display project for their new client. We were tasked with optimizing their design process and streamline their workflow.

SOLIDWORKS Panel Design

After understanding our client’s needs, we set some objectives to help them with their display frame, which included: building a library of parts and weldment profiles used to build project assemblies, creating a drawing template and creating a detailed drawing proposal of the LED display system. Weldments is a feature that allows you to use 3D sketched based wire frames, and along with structural members or “profiles”, build your frame as it would be constructed. This allows for highly accurate frames with an automatically generated “cut list” that details the size of each part in your assembly. From there, we can align and attach each display panel precisely as required.

Project Outcome

The client was extremely happy with the method used to design their large display wall. It was faster, highly accurate and more efficient.

Digital Projection has continued to open additional work orders with the scope of creating an extensive series of display walls with many proposals to new clients. Many of those proposals build from the drawing template repurposed from this project; fashioned to match their company documentation and elevate their design presentations. The result of this has been winning more jobs on a whole new level of design and complexity.

TriMech Design continues to be the engineering resource for Digital Projections through continued collaboration and shared experience. We’ve expanded this collaboration and communication using the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform directly sharing 3D digital content, 2D images and interactive conversations. We’re looking forward to continued growth, and the future looks very bright.

Do you need Project Design Services?

Our product design team offers a wide range of capabilities to cater for your design and engineering requirements. From concept development to the final product, our team guides you through the entire process, ensuring efficiency and innovation every step of the way. Learn more about our Product Design Services.

A robust CPQ (configure, price, quote) system is an essential tool for manufacturers offering a variety of configurable product options, such as heavy machinery, high tech, textiles, or furniture.

DriveWorks enables users to accurately configure custom products, calculate pricing, and automatically create documents and data for sales and manufacturing. And its rules-based SOLIDWORKS® automation eliminates errors and time-consuming design changes.

Client success

Javelin client Maglin Site Furniture has more than 35 years of experience in creating extraordinary furniture for public gathering spaces. Since 2016, its team has witnessed the DriveWorks CPQ platform’s transformative effects on its operations – some anticipated and others unexpected.

At the summits, Maglin presenters Nathasha Cherian, Product Configuration Specialist; Aaron Dawson, Director of Manufacturing; and Chung Kim, Engineering Systems Manager explained that with support from Javelin, Maglin continues to advance how it uses DriveWorks and to unlock new advantages.

Complex, built-to-order manufacturing

Maglin works with landscape architects and site contractors and provides custom outdoor site furniture, including benches, tables and seating, waste containers, bike racks, panels, planters, and sunshades.

The team uses DriveWorks to help manage design and manufacturing of its modular products, which consist of dozens of elements that can be customized for aesthetic and functional purposes.

Easy and transparent for customers

Maglin customers can customize several product lines to their specifications on the company’s website and can clearly visualize what they are about to buy – often without spending any time with the sales team.

DriveWorks software calculates pricing in real-time based on selected configurations, considering material costs, manufacturing complexity, and any relevant discounts or promotions. This ensures accurate pricing and transparency, removes manual calculations, and speeds up the sales cycle.

Maglin wins projects because of excellent user experience and fast service. Most products are ready to ship in six to eight weeks, in about half the time offered by competitors.

From challenges to solutions

1. Far less time spent on approval drawings

A built-to-order environment makes the customer approval stage a critical step in avoiding delays and waste.

Before using DriveWorks to power an online product configurator, Maglin designers spent weeks creating drawings to suit customer selections. The Ogden product line, with its various seat and back types, color options, and slat directions, has a total of 82,560 possible configurations! After creating layout drawings for approval, designers spent additional time going back and forth with the customer to refine the drawings.

Today, customers or sales representatives generate drawings automatically when they configure the product to their wishes. Both simplified dummy models and appealing customer-facing layouts are generated.

What previously took two weeks now takes only 20 minutes, and customers and salespeople can even edit their own layouts without interacting with the engineering team. That team can now focus on creative pursuits and developing new products, rather than on minor design adjustments.

2. Correct details in production drawings

Maglin designers once used a master SOLIDWORKS model, created manually for the Ogden series, but human error sometimes led to small discrepancies in details like hole size and location or material thickness. Today, DriveWorks pulls the information directly from the database, avoiding errors and delays.

Overall, DriveWorks Autopilot has cut production drawing processing time in half, while all the necessary checkpoints remain in place.

3. Smoother integration of SOLIDWORKS data into the ERP system

Entering engineering and manufacturing data (such as the BOM) into the ERP system used to be a cumbersome process with room for error. Now that process is semi-automated. Only 11 manual-entry fields remain, while DriveWorks fills about 200 fields automatically.

Deeper understanding of shipping and storage needs 

DriveWorks is linked to Maglin’s freight partner’s database, so even shipping details are generated automatically.

Pixel product line

The Pixel product line consists of building blocks that can be mixed and stacked. When model numbers and quantities are entered, the configurator calculates the number of boxes needed. Add the destination postal code in the shipper’s system, and you get the shipping price instantly.

Ogden benches

Maglin also discovered they can ship three times the number of Ogden benches per container than they once did, increasing the profitability of this product line.

DriveWorks has contributed to better inventory management and a reduced need for warehouse space. Maglin’s space requirements levelled off, even though sales were growing. That’s because materials arrive and go to straight to works in progress – they don’t sit on shelves.

Inspiring a new approach to product development

With DriveWorks providing a solid foundation, Maglin designers can think freely about what can be done with existing and future product lines. They don’t limit their thinking because they can take almost any creative design successfully through to manufacturing – and to a beautiful space near you.

Maglin is online at maglin.com. To learn more about DriveWorks, reach out to our automation experts.

• The 3DEXPERIENCE Virtual Twin solution from Dassault enables engineers to plan, evaluate, and optimize manufacturing operations without interrupting current production.
• The Plant Layout role facilitates the planning of future states within a plant by visualizing point clouds, existing layouts, and all sources of CAD data in a common, easy-to-navigate environment.
• The Factory Simulation role gives engineers a way to quantify the differences between competing design concepts through data-driven simulations of operations including cycle times, schedules, downtimes, and product variation.
• All of these roles and many more from Dassault are available in the collaborative environment known as the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This single source of data means everyone on the team always has the latest data to make accurate, timely decisions.

The company is based in Waterloo, Ontario and was founded in 1988. It was known as Systematix until 2021, when Samuel, Son & Co acquired Systematix, and the Samuel Automation Solutions Group was formed.

We talked to two members of its multidisciplinary engineering team, Admir Mujanovic and Jim Peltier, who explained that as custom machine builders, every day is different. Customers present a product design and rely on Samuel Automation to automate the mass production process.

“Creating one-off custom equipment can be challenging,” Jim said. “We know the goal and we know what’s needed to get there. And there’s no stopping us.”

Matching the industry standard

Admir Mujanovic – Systematix Engineer

Samuel Automation chooses SOLIDWORKS, sold and supported by their technology partner Javelin, part of TriMech Group.

Jim said SOLIDWORKS allows their designers to get ideas out of their heads and into the minds of their colleagues who build the tools and machinery.

“It’s our design platform, but also our communication tool. It’s the language we use to communicate ideas. That also applies externally when we communicate with suppliers and customers.”

Samuel Automation started their switch to SOLIDWORKS in 2017. Admir explained that one reason for changing from Autodesk Inventor to SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software was to better match the skills of the available talent pool of designers and engineers, both recent graduates and established professionals.

“SOLIDWORKS is the industry standard. We’re keeping up to date and have been upgrading over the years.”

In switching to SOLIDWORKS, the team’s engineers were also hoping to avoid costly rework.

“With the SOLIDWORKS parametric approach to modeling, I know for a fact that no one here is talking about misaligned holes anymore,” Admir said.

Unlocking the potential of SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional

A recent upgrade took Samuel Automation from SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard to SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional. Professional takes storing and managing data to the next level, with advanced workflow automation and the SOLIDWORKS PDM Application Programming Interface (API).

Jim completed the Using SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional training course with Javelin to gain the confidence to maximize the capabilities of the tool. He shared how he leveraged its high-end functionality – with tech support from Javelin – to create a macro that updates the geometry of an assembly in just two clicks.

“This means that if someone on the shop floor opens an assembly file, they see the most up-to-date version. Without this macro, they would see the assembly’s geometry as it was last saved. This is custom functionality that Javelin helped us develop.”

Automating documentation

API is used to automate redundant and lengthy design tasks and to create completed engineering applications that can run both inside and outside of the SOLIDWORKS application.

When a Samuel Automation customer asked that thousands of their drawings be formatted and numbered according to the customer’s methods, Jim relied on his design automation experience and the power of SOLIDWORKS API to create processes to do the work. Each drawing was updated in 30 seconds, when a more manual process would have taken 30 minutes. Overall, a project that Jim’s manager thought might take 10 months took just one.

Open API has also allowed Samuel Automation to integrate SOLIDWORKS with internal custom software and their ERP system. Data shared include part numbers, costing, and due dates.

Javelin on standby

Admir said that when his team was in the process of switching to SOLIDWORKS, they had a lot of questions about the installation and how to integrate with their custom software.

“I’ve dealt with vendors who made us feel like we weren’t supposed to ask questions.

Not once did Javelin say, ‘we can’t help you.’ You fill out a quick report and within a couple of hours, if not minutes, someone is reaching out to help you. You get quick, in-depth responses from very knowledgeable people. Having someone pretty much on standby during the tricky parts was fantastic.”

He added that various disciplines across the company – from designers to analysts to assemblers – use SOLIDWORKS tools differently, and that he appreciates that Javelin provides floating/network licensing for clients who need a pool of software licenses that can be shared among users.

Continued success with manufacturing solutions

Samuel Automation looks forward to an ever-expanding focus on sustainability measures, including persistently improving efficiency, reducing waste, and meeting customers’ growing need for energy savings through fully electric actuation.

Admir said integration is an ongoing theme, as Samuel Automation finds more opportunities to collaborate with their sister operations within the Samuel family of companies and continues to standardize software and processes among departments internally.

With personal support from Javelin and access to the wider product and service offerings of TriMech Group, Samuel Automation is well positioned to take on new challenges.

“Javelin is always happy to drop in and chat with us about the latest and greatest,” Admir said. “They understand what we do and how we do it, so they know what can help us.”

Samuel Automation is online at samuel.com/our-businesses/systematix.

Systematix – Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

This is especially important with short lead times. While this data is very valuable, it can also be a challenge to navigate it while continuing production.

Included in the Overall Equipment Effectiveness paper

In this white paper, we guide you through how to make the most of OEE data with important checkpoints:

• Where to Start
• Roadmap to Increasing OEE Performance
• Lessons Learned from Improving OEE Performance

Once you finish reading this white paper, you will have a strong outline of the steps needed to implement OEE with confidence and how DELMIAWorks software can help you.

Fill out the form to download the white paper instantly! 

There are many discussions about how IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) can benefit your business and they cover all the main features, but how are you supposed to implement it? What technologies would work best with your production process? Often times, these discussions are so vague they leave you to do your own research and offer little when it comes to an actual plan of action. It is important to know what is available and how it will improve your efficiency with smart shop floor devices and generating high-level analytics.

Learn more about IIoT

This white paper will walk you through the steps that three manufactures used to determine what the needed to implement Industrial Internet of Things successfully with DELMIAWorks. Here are some of the steps they used:

• Determine a specific problem and a have fix in mind
• Look past the hype
• Pilot one process or cell at first
• Keep the initial scope simple
• Create an investment and roll-out plan

Once you finish reading this white paper, you will have a strong outline of the steps needed for implementation with confidence.

Fill out the form to download the whitepaper instantly! 

The DELMIAWorks Sales tools allow the automation of the quote to sales order and generation of the work order, without continuously pushing them to the design and engineering teams. Allowing the design team to focus on new products, solving ECR’s and continuous improvement tasks, not creating sales configurations.

About this Sales Configuration On-Demand Webinar

TriMech’s Systems Architect, Rob Hauser, provides an overview of the Sales tools available within the DELMIAWorks ERP / MES solution.

• The capabilities of DELMIAWorks
• Overview of DELMIAWorks Sales Quoting and Estimating Module
• How you can improve productivity

Alfred was born out of research into developing robots that can manipulate deformable materials, which change their shape when you interact with them (think guacamole or ice cream). Using a variety of utensils, such as scoops, ladles, and tongs, Alfred handily puts together meals based on the programmed instructions of the kitchen staff.

Why do we need a robot sous chef?

Dexai’s mission is to protect the food service industry from difficult labour shortages and help insulate it from economic ups and downs. At the same time, Alfred can reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses. Everything that Dexai designs meets the standards of the public health and safety organization NSF and each mechanical part in the complex design must be built with safe food handling and safe working conditions in mind.

Controlling Alfred the Robot Sous Chef

Supporting a startup

Dexai CEO David Johnson explained that when he and Anthony Tayoun started the company, they worked out of Greentown Labs in Somerville, Massachusetts. The incubator space has a great relationship with TriMech, which provides and supports software tools that are used across every stage of product development.

“TriMech answered all of our questions,” David said. “How do we get SOLIDWORKS licenses? How do we get a data management solution? TriMech has been with us from the very beginning.”

That beginning was four years ago; as Dexai took the challenging steps of turning an idea into a product, adding to its team, and scaling up production, Hardware Team Lead Justin Rooney said that TriMech became a trusted – and responsive – partner.

“There’s a big human component that I really appreciate about TriMech. It’s very easy to get on the phone with them or email them and get an answer. Even as we were researching 3DEXPERIENCE and comparing it with other products on the market, they seemed to have unlimited time to go through the decision-making process, which was amazing. And later, TriMech allowed me, as an individual with no IT experience, to roll out a PLM product to a big team.”

— Rana Odabas, Mechanical Engineer, Dexai Robotics

“When we were vetting a few different PLM options, TriMech stuck out to me as very available. They offered their services countless times to go through the functionality of 3DEXPERIENCE Works. Understanding that TriMech was always going to be there to answer questions veered us toward choosing 3DEXPERIENCE.”

One shared platform

3DEXPERIENCE Works PDM by Dassault Systèmes is a cloud-based platform that connects engineering and business activity in one real-time, collaborative environment.

Dexai design with 3DEXPERIENCE Works

Rana gave one example of how using the 3DX platform has improved productivity, when each designer is working on different parts, yet they all have access to the digital twin of the product.

“If we have multiple people working on the robot head, they can design their parts in parallel while tracking dependencies in the context of the same assembly. All team members have access to the full assembly and visibility into the latest stage of development. I think this has been the biggest benefit of having 3DEXPERIENCE. It really motivates collaboration across the team.”

In Dexai’s early years, the small team of 10 worked on their own local devices and passed zipped CAD files back and forth, a process not conducive to understanding how one subsystem fits with the rest of the system. Today, with a team of more than 25, they are all connected to the same cohesive platform.

Rana said the productivity of the team has increased “exponentially.”

“I don’t think we would have been able to do the development that we did over the course of the past year or so, and the scaling up that we’re gearing up to do, without 3DEXPERIENCE. It just wouldn’t be feasible. After a week of using the platform, I knew I would never go back.”

Alfred the Robot Sous Chef

Dexai is online at dexai.com.

Highlights of Dexai’s Robot Sous Chef success with 3DEXPERIENCE

• Designing in familiar SOLIDWORKS remains at the core of Dexai’s product development work.
• A digital twin of the entire product is easily accessible to everyone on the team.
• One person’s changes are immediately visible and understood by others.
• No more passing massive files back and forth between designers’ individual devices.
• Cloud-based – there’s no need for a traditional server-based approach.
• Scalable – allows for growth in the number of team members and increases in production.
• Modular – when ready, Dexai began to take advantage of product lifecycle management (PLM) components, such as identifying, assigning, and managing issues, and creating and maintaining an accurate and up-to-date manufacturing bill of materials.

InFocus Energy Services, Inc. is an innovative Canadian company specializing in the development of solution-driven downhole products for the oil and gas industry. Committed to the development of high-performance, innovative drilling  and well-completion products, InFocus is primarily an R&D-based company that licenses its technology and products to strategic partners.

Staying on the cutting edge of the oil and gas industry requires robust design and engineering tools, which is why the company utilizes the integrated SOLIDWORKS® 3D product development suite. According to Founder/Director Allan Pearson, InFocus has utilized SOLIDWORKS tools from the start because the integrated solutions provide the power, agility, and flexibility that the company needs to consistently develop innovative products. “SOLIDWORKS is the core of our engineering group,” Pearson notes. “It’s the basis for everything we do: modeling, simulation, flow analysis, renderings. We rarely have to rely on other products.”

With its concentration on developing oil and gas products that are currently not available anywhere else, InFocus regularly pushes SOLIDWORKS tools, including simulation solutions, to the limit and remains on the lookout for emerging solutions. “We’ve used SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium software for certain types of analysis, but our work increasingly involves not only geometric and material nonlinearities but also complex contact problems,” explains Mechanical Engineer/Simulation Specialist Peter Kjellbotn.

“We needed more simulation power, as well as a solution that worked smoothly with SOLIDWORKS. When we heard that SOLIDWORKS was launching a new 3DEXPERIENCE® simulation solution that incorporated the SIMULIA® Abaqus solver, we signed up for the Lighthouse Program so we could start using the new Structural Performance Engineer immediately. As soon as we got our hands on it, we started testing it and benchmarking it against known test results.”

— Mechanical Engineer/Simulation Specialist Peter Kjellbotn

SIMULIA Simulation for tricky, complex contact analysis

InFocus first utilized SIMULIA Structural Performance Engineer on the bearing section of the company’s RE|FLEX Premium HP/HT Drilling Motor. The motor’s bearing section is a proprietary design that was developed to convert extreme loading parameters, including torque of over 30,000 foot-pounds, into efficient drilling action. The company’s initial concept design of the drive system, which utilized traditional ball bearings, resulted in failure during testing when the load crushed the bearings and the faces that load the bearings. SIMULIA Structural Simulation Engineer predicted the failure—with accurate correlation to actual test results—and helped the company develop a better, more innovative design.

SIMULIA drill analysis

“With Structural Performance Engineer, we were able to evaluate a range of geometric and material options, a process that helped us quickly optimize the tapered, barrel-shaped design of the bearings, and also decide the best high-strength steel for the design” Kjellbotn recalls.

Developing unique, innovative product quickly and affordably

The experience using SIMULIA Structural Performance Engineer software to develop the bearing section of the RE|FLEX Premium Drilling Motor is representative of the fast, focused development process that InFocus needs to introduce industry innovations in a timely, consistent fashion. “We can develop more products quicker and at lower cost by using Structural Simulation Engineer,” Kjellbotn stresses.

RE|FLEX Premium HP/HT Drilling Motor

“For example, on the bearing section of the RE|FLEX Motor, if we had had to physically test all of our design options instead of evaluating them in Structural Simulation Engineer, it would have taken a lot more time and money,” Kjellbotn says. “To do all of those tests on a high-strength drive shaft—at a cost of thousands of dollars per test—would have blown both the schedule and budget. We saved tens of thousands of dollars, months of time, and extra labor costs by using Structural Simulation Engineer. It helped us condense a process that would usually take months into just a few weeks.”

Greater agility and flexibility fuel growth

The implementation of SIMULIA Structural Performance Engineer provides InFocus with the increased agility and flexibility that it needs to continue to innovate and grow. “Getting the products out and into the market faster is everything to us,” Pearson says. “Structural Simulation Engineer fits into our goal to go from concept to completion in a week. Our business needs change quickly, so having an agile system that gets results that we can trust quickly is extremely important for our continued growth.”

“Because Structural Performance Engineer is part of 3DEXPERIENCE Works in the cloud and is fully compatible with our SOLIDWORKS modeling data, it provides additional advantages”

— Mechanical Engineer/Simulation Specialist Peter Kjellbotn

“It’s hardware-independent, freeing up our workstations for other things, and utilizes SOLIDWORKS data, saving time and money because we don’t have to go through time-consuming import/export protocols. The solution also automatically stores data in the cloud and supports collaboration. With Structural Simulation Engineer, we are only limited by our imagination.”

Jabil Packaging Solutions

A key provider of precision molded plastic products, JPS offers healthcare and packaging customers the widest array of design and manufacturing capabilities in the industry.

With more than 40 years of experience, the company’s highly specialized teams meet the complex demands of the diagnostic, medical device and instrumentation, and pharmaceutical and consumer health markets, helping the world’s leading brands fulfill their market potential.

Healthcare and Packaging markets worldwide are in the midst of dynamic change. Technologies, regulations, patient and consumer behaviors, population demographics, and business models are all experiencing transformation that makes the future of healthcare difficult to predict and navigate. With this risk and disruption come great opportunities for companies that embrace change, manage complexity, and achieve greater agility, scale, intelligence, and control in manufacturing. Jabil Packaging Solutions, a Jabil company based in St. Petersburg, FL, is a prime example of a company taking the lead in this challenging market.

In 2013, Nypro was acquired by Jabil to provide new long-term solutions for Jabil customers as well as to continue to serve Nypro’s diversified customer base. Jabil’s experience in electronics and optics, combined with Nypro’s know-how in healthcare and consumables, combine for big opportunities.

Change and Continuity

“When we were acquired by Jabil, we moved to SAP, which was their core enterprise system; but we wanted to keep the real-time manufacturing enterprise system (MES) software we had been using,” says Jackie Potts, supply chain manager at JPS Iowa.

JPS Iowa had been using the complete DELMIAWorks solution (formerly IQMS) for nearly two decades, but was adamant about keeping the MES piece after moving over to the SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

“DELMIAWORKS gave us real-time visibility of what was happening on the shop floor, providing accurate metrics and information during our confirmations (production reporting) in SAP”.

While SAP does contain manufacturing functionality, Potts says it lacks the powerful, real-time capability of DELMIAWORKS. “SAP doesn’t link to the molding machines’ opening and closing, which gives us accurate data in terms of average cycle time versus actual cycle time and our true up and down time. We need the real-time connection to the machines to efficiently monitor their performance on the shop floor.”

The other part of DELMIAWORKS that JPS Iowa retained was its preventative maintenance package. “This has proven valuable to us because it calculates the cycles on all the machines and tools in operations,” notes Potts. “Plus, we can still use the work orders to track and trace all the maintenance work being done, whether it’s on a machine or a mold.”

Smooth Effective Integration

According to Potts, there were no integration issues in making sure that DELMIAWORKS MES worked seamlessly with SAP. JPS Iowa worked with DELMIAWORKS to create I-docs, reports that are transferred out of SAP and go to a folder on a shared drive.

“From there we use IQ Alert, which picks up those folders and distributes the process orders into scheduling for DELMIAWORKS.  Through this process, the orders are loaded onto each machine individually, and show up in real time on the supervisors’ monitors.”

“This allows us to watch and monitor our machines on a real-time basis as they’re running,” says Potts. “We know whether they’re behind schedule or on-time. We know it they’re running on a standard cycle time by comparing the actual cycle time in real time. Each of us can pull up this information on our computer and see how the shop floor is running.”

This feature is a particular advantage for production, allowing them to keep a close eye on machines and see when jobs are coming close to a change (e.g., label, colour, mold). It allows the prioritization of machine scheduling, making it easy for supervisors to see exactly what is needed to be done, and what machines to use, based on available assets, physical and human. “The MES also allows us to run reports like utilizations, OEEs, and cycle standard deviations,” adds Potts. “We use those every day.”

The power of Visualization for Plant Floor Operations

While JPS Iowa hasn’t quantified the ROI or hard benefits of running DELMIAWorks MES, Potts says those that use the solution immediately understand its value.

“It allows all of us to see real-time data,” she explains. “We can see when something is down and why. We see this immediately, and so can react quickly.”

By putting this information on screen in real time for supervisors, the MES saves the company the time and analysis that otherwise would be necessary if the information had to be mined rather than so easily captured and understood. “Without having the visuals at hand, we would have to do hours of manual processing on the shop floor,” she concludes. “That would be labour intensive and costly. The system also helps us do our verifications in SAP, which is important from a corporate perspective. The two systems have worked very well together.”

The key is having a solution that is specific to industry processes while providing a streamlined ERP MES integration. Through a robust integration layer, DELMIAWorks maps data from the ERP system to MES, enabling smooth, real-time data flow between the two systems. This improves shop floor visibility and increases responsiveness to customer and market demands.

EM Dynamics is a leading Canadian product development consultancy and contract manufacturer. With more than 40 years of experience, the company works with clients from around the world to design, engineer, manufacture, and integrate mechanical products and equipment. From its 80,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Toronto, EM Dynamics provides customers with a range of specialized product development capabilities, including high-precision sheet-metal design and fabrication, CNC machining, assembly, testing, and supply chain management.

The consultancy is committed to leveraging cutting-edge technology to provide clients with a high level of design, engineering, process control, and manufacturing support. This is why EM Dynamics standardized on the SOLIDWORKS® 3D product development environment more than a decade ago, according to Mechanical Engineer Sohaib Siddiqui.

“Our focus is on design, engineering, and manufacturing versus what it takes to use a particular tool,” Siddiqui says. “SOLIDWORKS is not only easy to use, which is why it’s been our only CAD system for the past 15 years, it also provides integrated sheet-metal design and simulation tools, which makes developing products and making refinements faster and easier.”

Although EM Dynamics has relied on SOLIDWORKS design and engineering solutions—including SOLIDWORKS Standard design, SOLIDWORKS Professional design, and SOLIDWORKS Simulation analysis software—the product development consultancy/contract manufacturer used third-party rendering tools to create photo-realistic renderings of proposed design concepts.

“When SOLIDWORKS Visualize rendering capabilities were added to SOLIDWORKS Professional software, we saw the application at a seminar put on by TriMech, our SOLIDWORKS reseller, began playing around with it, and found it extremely useful,” Siddiqui explains. “Management loved the renderings that we produced with SOLIDWORKS Visualize and asked if there was anything better. That’s when we purchased SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional. We knew we had to have it.”

Bringing metal fabrication to life with Visualize Professional

Using SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional software, EM Dynamics can quickly transform design concepts into compelling photo-realistic images that are indistinguishable from high-end photography. In the past, the company typically produced physical prototypes to present “life-like” design concepts to clients. With SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional, EM Dynamics has eliminated the need to produce presentation prototypes.

“The addition of SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional has given us a lot more creative freedom,” Siddiqui stresses. “Our clients challenge our creativity to produce innovative product designs. We need to be able to communicate our creativity to the customer. Before we had SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional, we often had to create physical prototypes for customers to understand the concept. Now, we can communicate our ideas more effectively, while simultaneously saving time and money.”

Saving time while wowing clients

Since implementing SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional software, EM Dynamics has been able to shorten the design process by 30 percent because photo-realistic renderings enable the company to secure customer approval more quickly while “wowing” customers at the same time. For example, the company recently developed a new private lounge for King & Bay, a high-end Toronto-based bespoke custom-tailored clothier. Touted as “Toronto’s Finest Curated Custom Clothing Experience,” the new lounge at Brookfield Place in the heart of Toronto’s financial district is where customers seeking quality menswear meet with King & Bay Master Clothiers for selections and fittings. “On the King & Bay private lounge, the customer was upgrading to a much larger space, so we wanted to do something big,” Siddiqui recalls.

King & Bay private lounge

Opening up new business opportunities

With the ability to quickly create realistic design concepts with SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional software, new business opportunities have opened up for EM Dynamics. “While the majority of what we render doesn’t get made, the rendering speed and power of SOLIDWORKS Visualize software helps us win the projects that do,” Siddiqui says. “We don’t just do one design concept but at least 10 possibilities for most projects,” Siddiqui adds. “Because we have rendering power, we quickly create at least 10 fully realized concepts, which give us a lot more opportunity to win the business.”

The company has helped thousands of customers shred plastics, metals, wood, construction debris, white goods, tires, medical waste, green waste, e-waste, and office paper. Headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, Shred-Tech also has facilities in North Carolina, England, and Thailand, and works with distributors in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan.

Since its founding in 1980, Shred-Tech has leveraged the latest design and manufacturing technologies to spark innovation. For example, Shred-Tech’s introduction of the Mobile Document Shredding Truck in the early 1980s revolutionized the document shredding industry and fueled the company’s rapid growth, making Shred-Tech the largest shredding-truck manufacturer in the world.

In keeping with the company’s commitment to innovation, Shred-Tech upgraded its development platform from AutoCAD® 2D design tools to the SOLIDWORKS® 3D mechanical design system many years ago. However, according to Controls Engineering Group Lead Rob Taylor, while the company’s mechanical design function performed well using SOLIDWORKS mechanical design tools, electrical designers struggled to use AutoCAD mechanical tools to create schematics of electrical panels for the company’s products, resulting in time, accuracy, and cost issues.

“I joined the company to help streamline the development of electrical schematics,” Taylor explains. “We were simply not efficient using AutoCAD mechanical drawing tools to develop electrical schematics, and we experienced significant inconsistencies in BOM [bill of materials] information and drawings. I was brought in to implement SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics software, a package that I had never used.”

As a former EPLAN® and AutoCAD Electrical software user, Taylor says he was initially unsure that SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics was the best solution for Shred-Tech. “I had no experience with the software, so I was a bit skeptical at first,” Taylor recalls. “But once I did some research and started playing around with it, I became convinced that management had made the right choice. When it comes to electrical design, SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics is the cat’s meow.”

Faster BOM Generation with SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics

Upon implementing SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics, Shred-Tech immediately realized productivity gains in both schematics layout and electrical system BOM generation, cutting the time required to produce the latter from a full week to just a few hours. “SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics cuts down on ordering time because we can generate BOM information more quickly,” Taylor notes.

“Before we implemented SOLIDWORKS Electrical, it used to take five days to generate the BOM because we had to finish all of the drawings to manually create the BOM,” Taylor says. “With SOLIDWORKS Electrical, we can generate the BOM in about four hours. Whenever you can reduce the time it takes to complete a task from a week to four hours, you’re streamlining the process. And because SOLIDWORKS Electrical is easy to use, we can utilize junior-level designers to complete tasks that required a senior-level designer in the past.”

Shred-Tech Electrical Schematic

Minimizing Errors and Reducing Footprints

Not only is Shred-Tech faster at generating BOMs and creating schematics with SOLIDWORKS Electrical, BOM and drawing content is much more accurate, further streamlining product development. “Before we implemented SOLIDWORKS Electrical, we experienced huge numbers of errors in both the schematics and BOM information,” Taylor recalls.

“The accuracy of our schematics and related information has improved dramatically, prompting us to redo all of our past schematics with SOLIDWORKS Electrical,” Taylor continues. “In developing our electrical panels, we used to err on making them bigger to account for potential errors. Because the accuracy of our schematics is so improved, we’ve been able to reduce the size of our panels by 10 percent overall, which saves our customers money by reducing the cost per square foot on the factory floor.”

Automating Wiring and Cabling

Building upon the success of the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics implementation and working with an integrated mechanical/electrical design platform, Shred-Tech is planning to further streamline its development process by leveraging the automated wire and cable routing capabilities of SOLIDWORKS Premium software. “Now that we’ve sorted out our time and accuracy issues with SOLIDWORKS Electrical, we’re planning to use SOLIDWORKS Premium software to automate the routing of wiring and placement of cable harnesses during a major revamp of our mobile products line,” says Taylor.

“Working with a harmonized platform like SOLIDWORKS for mechanical and electrical design enables us to achieve additional efficiencies, like leveraging automation tools such as Routing, to continually improve and accelerate product time-to-market,” Taylor says.

MacLean’s Goals

• Faster turn around time required (time to market critical factor)
• Capacity/Capability to handle large assemblies
• Ability to do custom design work and easily incorporate design changes
• Compatibility with existing inventory system
• Provide more complete visualization prior to production

Mining Industry Results

• Selected SOLIDWORKS over CADKey, Creo, SolidEdge and Mechanical Desktop for functionality, parametric, price, ease of use and compatibility with existing inventory system
• Purchased 23 licenses (4 SOLIDWORKS Premium and 19 SOLIDWORKS Professional)
• Product designs 100% complete in 50% less time resulting in faster product turn around
• Improved product quality due to more thorough/complete designs, equates to approximate savings of 40%
• Ability to efficiently handle large assemblies
• Easily incorporate parametric changes
• 25% savings realized on parts manufacturing
• Efficiently and accurately evaluate cost of models with SOLIDWORKS Simulation FEA (Included in SOLIDWORKS Premium Package)
• Improved internal and external communications with SOLIDWORKS eDrawings (Professional/Premium Packages)
• Design validation and less rework attributed to SOLIDWORKS Simulation
• Currently experiencing growth in overseas markets as well as an increase in sales (approximately 10%) due to better product designs and faster turn around

Also recognized for underground utility vehicles including mobile scalers, scissors lifts, crane trucks, lube trucks, loaders, mixers and placers, cassette systems and personnel vehicles.

Accepted as the industry standard, Breaker Technology Ltd., enjoys a reputation for engineering products with the most advanced technologies available. Domestic and international markets include customers in Canada, the U.S., Sweden, South America, Africa, UK and Scandinavia.

Rock Breaker’s Goals

• Upgrade to solid modeling
• Improve quality of design
• Speed up overall design time as well as reduce design costs
• Reduce fabrication costs
• Improve customer communication

Construction Industry Results

• Replaced Personal Designer (Autodesk) with SOLIDWORKS Professional for functionality, retrievability, ease of use, competitive price and ability to read/translate other CAD software
• Purchased 14 SOLIDWORKS floating licenses
• Also implemented SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional and SOLIDWORKS Motion
• Reduced product design process by approximately 25-30% using SOLIDWORKS (compared to other 3D solid modeling systems)
• Efficiently handled large assemblies
• Reduced design costs by approximately 25%
• Substantially decreased the number of design errors
• Reduced scrap costs by 20%
• Improved quality of design with software’s engineering analysis features and enhanced capability for checking mistakes
• Also improved product esthetics
• Significantly benefited from SOLIDWORKS’ ability to read/understand other CAD software
• Optimized product development process using SOLIDWORKS Motion
• Aided in reducing fabrication costs by 20-25% using SOLIDWORKS Motion
• Improved internal/external communications with SOLIDWORKS eDrawings Professional