Highlighting Streamlined Manufacturing, Alignex Demonstrates SolidWorks for Machine Shops by Mike Bailey
In our efforts to evangelize the benefits of 3D CAD to those who have yet to make that move from 2D systems, the largest segment of non-adopters seems to be Machine Shops and other Outsourced Manufacturing Operators. Alignex has developed a presentation just for these types of manufacturers. We have shown this seminar as a live event with a lot of good response and have recently converted the presentation as a web-based seminar to bring it to our entire market faster.
Often, Outsourced Manufacturing companies don't see the benefits of using a 3D-based system for a myriad of common reasons:
- They don't design many of the parts they are asked to produce.
- They feel that much of what they do is "too simple" to waste time on a 3D system.
- They will also tell us that the drawings or CAD files they receive are already 2D, so they would have to convert them to 3D in order to utilize them anyway.
- They can't justify the cost of having more overhead tied up in "Software" and would prefer to invest in more machines.
Now, the primary reasons for moving to 3D CAD have been well documented: fewer errors, less waste, better communication, spend more time designing and less time drafting. So, the challenge has been to illustrate the benefits to the manufacturing side of this process. To that end, Alignex has developed a 1 hour webinar to demonstrate how SolidWorks can help a Machine Shop or similar business will benefit from 3D in what we call our "Streamlined Manufacturing Process."
Rather than focusing on a part that needs to be manufactured, we instead focus on the tooling required to product the part. In order to produce parts, you often have to make other parts to help in the process and SolidWorks is an incredible tool for creating parts with a close relationship with the existing geometry of the part you are tasked to produce. 2D data or a Drawing file doesn't allow for the tolerances needed to create this type of tooling.
Once the tooling is designed, our process demonstrates how easy it is to prepare it for manufacturing, including simulating the routing paths and developing the inspection reporting, all from the design window. The entire process is relative to the CAD model, so as design changes come in, your re-work is greatly reduced, again saving time and money.
If you are interested in taking part in one of our upcoming webinar sessions, click on this link to view the entire invite and to register.