Automation through SOLIDWORKS doesn’t always come with a hefty price tag. Some of the most basic ways to automate come free with every seat of SOLIDWORKS. These include design tables and DriveWorksXpress. This article intends to explain both design tables and DriveWorksXpress, some of their similarities, their differences, and going further with DriveWorks automation.

Design Tables for SOLIDWORKS Automation

Design tables can be embedded in a SOLIDWORKS design table, or through an Excel-based design table. It can be used to build additional configurations in a model or assembly, suppress features or parts, change dimensions, drive custom properties, and more!

We are going to focus on Excel-based design tables, as they’re the most robust type of table. Excel-based design tables have a few options. You can create a multi-line design table– which typically contains the comprehensive list of everything a component can be—and single-line design tables, which contain a single row of all features, parts, properties, and dimensions that could change within a component. Both options have a Configuration Publisher tool that interfaces with the end user. This works as a form control that will be given to a user who is inserting parts/sub-assemblies into an assembly.

Configuration Publisher

You can create the Configuration Publisher tool with any Excel-based design table. For multi-line tables, SOLIDWORKS automatically creates the Publisher. For single-line tables, the process is a bit more manual. This isn’t a bad thing and we’ll get to that later.

You can find the Configuration Publisher by right-clicking the top-level component in the ConfigurationManager.

This tool allows you to fill out forms to call out the correct configuration, rather than looking through a long list of configuration names. As you fill out the information, the tool looks through the Excel table to find an existing configuration. Through single-line design tables, if no existing configuration exists, it will create a new configuration within the part file. The “Configure Component” PropertyManager is available only when inserting the component into an assembly.

Multi-Line Design Tables

Multi-line design tables are used when we want all the configurations stored in the SOLIDWORKS file. While this makes it easy to find all options for configuring, it can also make the file size exceedingly large. Multi-line design tables are best for components with only a few variations. “A few” is subjective. A few could be 100, depending on your application and system. A good rule of thumb is to consider the performance of your multi-line design table. If it’s less than ideal, it might be time to consider another option.

A part like this (below) makes a good use case for a multi-line design table because there are only 8 configurations.

The file size of this model is only 329 kB. When I create just 90 more configurations, the file jumps to 5.9 MB after force-rebuilding all configurations. That’s 18x larger even for this simple file. On the plus side, the Configuration Publisher tool automatically creates the form to select the proper configuration.

Single-Line Design Tables

Single-line design tables optimize file size. However, the Configuration Publisher is required for this method. A single-line design table consists of all parameters that can be configured in a single row. This could be dimensions, feature suppression states, part suppression states, custom properties, and more.

The benefit of a single-line design table is that we’re building the design table on the fly. Here, you can specify any range of values within the Configuration Publisher, rather than just what’s available in the design table. This is because we can configure the Configuration Publisher to allow for this. This manual process gives more control to the user. If you want to learn more about Excel-based design tables, check out this SOLIDWORKS Help File entry.

SOLIDWORKS Automation with DriveWorksXpress

While DriveWorksXpress works similarly for configuring components and SOLIDWORKS automation, it’s also much more than that. Yes- DriveWorksXpress can use table-like logic to generate models. Yes – DriveWorksXpress can suppress features, change dimensions, and drive custom properties. It can also automate file naming, file paths, and drawings! This is what makes DriveWorksXpress stand out. It also has a unique rule builder that makes it simple to program. Much like the Excel-based Configuration Publisher, Xpress also has its own form designer.

Activate DriveWorksXpress

Access and activate DriveWorksXpress either by going to the Menu Bar> Tools> Xpress Products> DriveWorks Xpress, or through the “Evaluate” CommandManager. The first time you launch into the tool, you’ll be prompted to visit a link and log into your SOLIDWORKS user account. Then, just copy and paste the product code into the window. Upon entering, DriveWorksXpress should open in the Task Pane.

Using DriveWorksXpress

When you first launch the fully licensed DriveWorksXpress, you’ll see it open in the task pane. Here, my database is already active, but if an existing database hasn’t been selected, a new database must be configured. Think of this database as the DriveWorks project template. I must select the location of the DriveWorks project by clicking “Create/Change Database”, then give the *.mdb file a name.

Projects

The next page is the “Projects” tab. This is where DriveWorks stores all of the projects in the database. If the model we want to drive through DriveWorks is open, select “Use Open Model”, if not, select “Browse”.

This is where we can browse for parts or assemblies. However, we aren’t controlling drawings at this stage. We’ll get to drawings in a bit because DriveWorks considers them as part of the model.

Capture

The Capture icon is signified by the camera.

It is used to capture features, dimensions, drawings, and custom properties that can change throughout the tool. Activate “Captured Assembly Structure” and check any parts that change in some way based on the form inputs. Go back to “Captured Models” and double-click on a single component to capture it’s parameters. To capture a part or assembly’s dimensions/features, activate the “Drawings and Features” button and simply double-click the item in the Feature Tree. Re-name the feature to capture it or click on the dimension of the feature in the graphics area.

Form Design

The next step is to create a form for users to input information. This is what invokes the custom configuration. The location is at the top of the Task Pane tab.

You can choose between 5 different form types: text box, numeric text box, drop-down, spin button, and check box. They will also assign a name to the input type.

Rules

Now that the form is designed and rules are configured, it is now time to set up the rules that drive the model changes.

There are 5 different rule types: File Names, Configurations, Custom Properties, Dimensions, and Features. The Task Pane shows which rules we still need to configure. I can click a check box next to the rule type, then click “Edit Rules” to build rules for a specific rule type. The most important behavior to understand applies to “File Names”. We can build rules to delete or suppress parts and features completely when a check box is ticked. DriveWorks’ unique rule builder allows you to select from various inputs and logic statements like “If” statements, see below. In my example, if FeatureType was TRUE, or “checked”, it would suppress the component. It would unsuppress if FALSE.

DriveWorksXpress vs. Excel-Based Design Table Comparison

Let’s compare the similarities and differences between the DriveWorksXpress and Design Tables. This helpful feature matrix should show you what’s possible between the tools. An example, below, shows the variation in form control appearances.

Table – *limited functionality

It’s clear from the table that DriveWorksXpress can do just about anything that design tables can do and more! Personally, the DriveWorksXpress rules builder is a more intuitive programming language than Excel-based design tables. Be sure to try both and see where your specific application suits you best!

DriveWorksXpress helps reduce file size because we’re configuring models only after filling the form. There are no configurations, but it works more like saving a variation of a master component or assembly. This greatly reduces file size while making it easy to find through automated file naming.

Going Further with DriveWorks

Not satisfied with the level of SOLIDWORKS automation DriveWorksXpress provides? Try a 30-day free trial of DriveWorks Solo. Get in contact with a CATI sales rep to learn how to start your free trial today! Click for more information on DriveWorks Solo and DriveWorks Pro.

As always, happy designing automating!

Jordan Kleinschmidt, CSWE
Application Engineer II
Computer Aided Technology

An Integrated System for Engineering and Manufacturing

The goal of a full system is to provide you with a single location to configure a solution, while also providing immediate pricing and a method to turn that into a quote. By nature, a system like this is going to touch multiple groups and needs multiple layers of validation. However, using a full solution helps prevent situations like the one I laid out at the top.

So which systems will this talk to? Well first, a configuration tool needs to have a tie into engineering and manufacturing. Let’s talk about this as it relates to one of my favorite tools, DriveWorks. DriveWorks is an automation solution that links directly to your SOLIDWORKS models. This means that whoever uses DriveWorks can get immediate engineering feedback, without having to rope in a designer. It also means you can get models and drawings with just a few clicks. But we don’t want to stop at configuration. We also need to price out a project. For this, we turn to DriveWorks’s integration with systems beyond SOLIDWORKS.

Tying Into Sales

Every business is different in how they create pricing. Some use simple pricing sheets, others use tools like QuickBooks, and even ERP comes into play. Whatever the system, sales needs accurate pricing to sell our products. Let’s think about how sales get the pricing right now in the scenario at the top. Currently, sales should work with engineering to price out a job. However, when we’re in a rush, we often skip steps that we think we can do just as well. The problem is that we can’t always do that with perfect accuracy.

This is where it benefits you to have an integrated automation solution. We’ve already talked about creating a system where engineers configure models on the fly. Now, we put something like that on a website and tie in pricing so that anybody we want can get an accurate price along with an accurate model. Once again, let’s take a look at DriveWorks.

I made each of these models using the same configurator and notice that the price of the system changed based on the selected motor type. It’s a simple swap, but these changes may not always be standard. This is what a full solution does for engineering and sales. Now we can get an accurate price to our customers instantly, while also knowing that we can manufacture the selections we’ve made without any problems.

How Can Configure to Order Benefit You?

Providing accurate pricing and engineering specifications are two major components of any business. If you do one well while the other lacks, we don’t have a very sound solution in place. What makes a configurator, complete with pricing, such a powerful tool is our team can provide pricing for manufacturable solutions on the fly. This frees up time for your engineers to focus on value-add work and allows sales to engage with more customers than ever before.

Let’s Start Using Configure to Order!

The beauty of an integrated system is that you can start anywhere. Do you have a design that you think could benefit from some automation? In that case, check out DriveWorksXpress, a free automation tool that’s incorporated into every seat of SOLIDWORKS! Or maybe you have a parts catalog and just want to see what’s possible. If that sounds like you, check out the Building Components or Industrial Components demonstration on the DriveWorks Live website.

And if you don’t know where to start, CATI is always here to guide you in the best direction for what you need. We talk about these tools day-in and day-out and have years of experience finding the best fit for whatever tool will help you do your job the best.

Nick Sweeney
Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

How Much Can We Automate?

I get it, you do unique work that takes training to understand the ins and outs. That said, we all operate within certain bounds that make it so we can teach other people what we’re doing. It’s not everything, but at least some portion of your job could probably be automated. If you look at a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, “about half the activities people are paid $15 trillion in wages to do in the global economy have the potential to be automated”. That’s not insignificant either, as they conducted the report based on the analysis of more than 2000 activities over 800 occupations.

It is important to point out that I’m not suggesting you automate everything, though my boss does like to throw this image in our Teams chat from time to time.

Rather, find the mundane tasks that make you roll your eyes and look closely at them. I bet you can find something that you spend even 5 minutes working on every day that with a simple tool, could be taken off your plate.

An Automation Example

Speaking of routine things that I don’t enjoy doing, creating legal documents is right near the top. I think law is a really interesting discipline and gave rise to one of my favorite TV shows, but writing terms and conditions isn’t exactly riveting. Therefore, after I wrote maybe three of them, I decided I needed a better way of doing it; enter automation.

Before, it took five minutes per document to make sure I filled in everything correctly and, even then, sometimes I missed things. Since I put the project in DriveWorks, I’ve managed to create over 200 documents in the past year alone, each one taking 30 seconds. On top of that, we’ve managed to cut out our initial review because of the consistency automation gives us.

Now not all of us create documents all day and that may not be a perfect example for what you do, but there’s an underlying message in that. Whether you automate some of your job or all of your job, you can save yourself some time. Automation gives you consistent results faster than you could ever do by hand.

A Few Automation Options

I mentioned DriveWorks, but I should probably explain the tool a bit. At a high level, DriveWorks is a design automation solution. It has full integration with SOLIDWORKS, making it my go-to choice when I want to automate SOLIDWORKS designs. However, it goes beyond just design automation. Instead of stopping at just creating SOLIDWORKS models, it creates drawings, supporting documentation, and even has a customizable user interface. Put all of that together, and you can really get a full automation solution with a single tool.

DriveWorks is my favorite automation tool, but it’s far from the only one. For example, take workflows in SOLIDWORKS PDM. You can equip any workflow with automatic tasks that run every time an action occurs. What this allows you to do is ensure the same thing happens when you want it to happen every time you need it to happen. Printing documents is a great example. As engineers, we understand that some people need paper drawings. However, printing a document is definitely not a “value-add” activity. So, instead of doing a “File, Print” and selecting the printer, why not spend five minutes setting up the PDM Print Task to do it for you?

For those of you that need more dialed in automation, you could look to a custom API. SOLIDWORKS has a documented help file chock full of examples to get you going. And, if you don’t have the patience to write something up yourself, CATI is happy to help you out a custom API solution.

How Can We Get Started?

Automation is a process and it’s important to approach it as such. Additionally, having proper expectations is key when thinking about integrating a new solution. My advice is to start small. You don’t need to create a solution on day one that lets you spend all day with your feet kicked up. Instead, look at the things you do every day. Can you find something that is the same process nearly every time?

If you can answer that question with a “yes”, then you’re on the right path. Now you have a task and can start looking for a direction. If it’s design automation you’re after, you can start by looking at DriveWorksXpress, a free automation tool included with SOLIDWORKS. Additionally, you could look at using the SOLIDWORKS Design Library to automate some consistent features.

If you’re after some process automation, DriveWorks can certainly be a piece of that, but take a look at your data management solution as well. If you’re using SOLIDWORKS PDM, you have numerous tasks you can place in the workflows. You can use the print task to print a drawing packet in just a couple of clicks!

Wrap It Up

We can all automate something that we do every day. Whether that’s setting up a routine on our smart devices when we wake up or creating a 75-part assembly at work, there’s always something. Take a look at what’s around you and the repetitive tasks. If you know the perfect tool to help, perfect. And if you need some guidance or help figuring out a solution, hit me up and let’s talk about it!

Nick Sweeney
Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

A few years back some of my colleagues wrote a four-part series on Design Checker. They broke it down discussing the different area of the tool.

I am going to check and make sure the Drafting Standard, Unit Settings, Dimension Font, Arrow Style and Proper Drawing Template are being used.

This is the drawing I will check. Notice the drawing was created using SOLIDWORKS DriveWorks. The Drawing Standard is ISO, dimension font is Century Gothic (24 pt size), arrows not filled in and sheet format is DriveWorks.

Let’s get started.

First, we will turn on Design Checker add-in.

We will need to create a checklist. This checklist or template will be saved as a *. swstd format and can be used at any time.

To get started I will click Tool > Design Checker and Build Check.

Next, I’ll close the welcome screen.

After clicking New I will save this as RGR Design Checker 1.

Now we can choose categories we would like to check.

First thing I will do is make sure the Drafting Standard is ANSI.

Units Settings is (IPS-inch pounds second) and Dimension fonts (Arial, Bold, Points=14) from the documents check tab.

Arrow Style from the Annotations Check.

Overlapping Dimensions from the Dimensions Check Tab.

The last check will be the Standard Template. It is simple as adding the template location.

Save and exit the SOLIDWORKS Design Checker.

In the active drawing, click Check Active Document, click Add Standard and select RGR Design Checker 1.

Click Check Document.

Expand each check to see the four failed checks. Notice the Actual and preferred Value.

You can choose to correct all or correct individually. I will select Auto Correct All.

SOLIDWORKS Design Checker updated the document to verify it meets pre-defined design criteria.

Stay safe and have blessed day.

Roger G. Ruffin
Senior Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

WEATHER GUARD

The 2D Configurator Couldn’t Keep Pace

When end users come to WEATHER GUARD’s site searching for van products — such as cargo van shelving, mounting kits or van roof racks — seeing is believing. In order to determine the right fit and customized combination of products, WEATHER GUARD had been using a 2D configurator. The solution’s performance had peaked and wasn’t keeping pace with users’ requirements. This led to the need to add new vehicles and van products to a system that was difficult to update.

“We have a unique product line in that it requires exact specifications when doing custom fits for commercial van interiors and we wanted to give end-users and distributors a powerful 3D visual tool,” said Stacy Gardella, Vice President of Brand Marketing with WernerCo. “There was a huge void in the market and we wanted to fill the gap.”

Top Three Configurator Requirements

The number one priority for WEATHER GUARD was that the configurator had to be 3D in order to provide an extremely realistic view of an installed van product package. Secondly, long-term sustainability was a must, with the solution developed in a way that integrated with other business systems. Specifically, the company wanted to be able to leverage data within its Product Information Management (PIM) system, allowing seamless additions of new SKUs or vehicles. 

“It was critical that the van configurator could be maintained and updated by anyone within the company,” said Pete Robinson, Manager of Engineering Systems with WernerCo. “We were after longevity and ease of use while bringing an intuitive and engaging experience to end users.”

“Much More Than a CAD Automation System”

WEATHER GUARD was introduced to DriveWorks Pro at SOLIDWORKS World. The company then reached out to Fisher Unitech, who quickly facilitated a demo. The DriveWorks demo of the custom trailer configurator gave Werner insight into what was possible with its end-users’ vans.  

“What I knew of DriveWorks was that it was a CAD automation system,” said Robinson. “But, once we started exploring the product, it became very obvious that it could do much more —reaching into our existing business systems to reuse data that could change how we connect with end-users and distributors to drive more sales.”

WEATHER GUARD got internal buy-in to move ahead with a pilot and Fisher Unitech developed a Proof of Concept to demonstrate the ability to meet WEATHER GUARD’s specific requirements, such as being able to give users visibility into previous configurations. WEATHER GUARD decided to move ahead with deployment.

All Hands on Deck for Scoping “Boot Camp”

The next step was to get Fisher Unitech and key stakeholders from WEATHER GUARD, including engineering, product development, IT and marketing, in the room for a project “boot camp.” This group walked through product training and brainstorming solution wishlist items that could be broken out into several deployment phases.  

Fisher Unitech and WEATHER GUARD also visited one of the company’s largest distributors, touring the facility to see van installations. During this visit, it became clear that while it was critical to provide a 3D customization experience, the system needed to serve as a lead generation tool — dramatically reducing lead and engineering time to boost sales.

“The most important part of the week was the focus on scoping the project, and gaining consensus about what we were going to deliver,” said Robinson. “Fisher Unitech helped facilitate that discussion and did an excellent job of setting expectations and helping to develop a very detailed scope document with priorities for phase one.

Fisher Unitech “Taught Us How to Fish”

WEATHER GUARD credits the Fisher Unitech team as being the biggest asset for this deployment and a key part of the overall success. “Many technology providers and consultants we’ve worked with propose a solution but hold onto information to keep us coming back for service and support,” said Robinson. “Fisher Unitech stood apart for the company’s willingness to teach us how to fish, giving us the tools, support, and knowledge to manage the system on our own.”

Success Metrics to Measure ROI

With WEATHER GUARD’s past van configurator, a user-submitted configuration would take up to three days to be assigned to a distributor. However, distributor feedback revealed that not acting on leads within the first four to eight hours can mean lost business. WEATHER GUARD wanted to be able to send referrals to distributors immediately, creating a viable lead pool to close more deals. 

As a result of the DriveWorks deployment, configuration requests are now immediately sent to a distributor for follow up, and the company has gained visibility into the complete lead lifecycle. The opportunity is captured in Salesforce, allowing WEATHER GUARD to track status all the way through to close, accurately capturing sales dollars.

“The speed of DriveWorks is critical because it enables distributors to get a lead within minutes and allows us to see when the prospect was contracted, quoted and closed,” said Robinson. “Plus, we’ve dramatically reduced our engineering time, saving at least one full day of labor per configurator request received.”

DriveWorks Drives Annual Sales 

WEATHER GUARD has taken an engineering tool and evolved it into a lead generation and sales tool that allows stakeholders to know exactly how much revenue is coming through the configurator to measure ROI. 

The company is relying on DriveWorks to increase completed configurations, boost distributor referrals and drive sales—anticipating a five percent increase in annual sales as a result. 

“Our configurator lets us directly interact with end-users, create referrals for distributors and help them visually sell WEATHER GUARD’s van products more effectively,” said Gardella. “DriveWorks is not just an engineering automation tool, but a sales-driving and revenue generation system for our company.”

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About the Author

Christa Prokos is a marketing manager at Fisher Unitech. She researches and writes about the latest business trends and technologies impacting manufacturers, including 3D printing, SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD design and product data management tools, product lifecycle management, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things. Christa has worked as a high tech marketing and communications professional since 2000. You can follow her on Twitter: @ChristaProkos.

Designers, engineers, and manufacturers know that reducing time to market is crucial. In order to beat out competitors, companies must be able to quickly and efficiently create a quality product without incurring additional expenses…but multiple design iterations and troubleshooting can eat into a project’s budget and timeline. By implementing design automation in the workflow, companies can better leverage their data to streamline processes and reduce costly errors.

What is design automation?

Design automation is working smarter by automating repetitive design tasks. By automating tasks within a design workflow, engineers are freed up to focus on other important tasks, such as reworking existing designs and double-checking details.

How does design automation work?

As the video below demonstrates, design automation works by setting up a project once and allowing it to run multiple times. This automatically creates multiple versions of your design that engineers, non-technical staff and even customers can use to create customizations.

Although the ease of design automation varies by provider, software like DriveWorks can be easily set up by capturing the parameters of a design, setting up your user interface, and then linking the two through defined rules.

What is DriveWorks?

DriveWorks is a suite of design automation software recognized by SOLIDWORKS as a Gold Partner Product. DriveWorks currently has three scalable software options available:

DriveWorksXpress: DriveWorksXpress helps save time and reduce costly errors with rule-based design automation. DriveWorksXpress comes free in every license of SOLIDWORKS and can be easily activated within the software.

DriveWorks Solo: DriveWorks Solo is the upgrade from DriveWorksXpress, and makes it easy to create custom products inside of SOLIDWORKS. This design automation software can easily generate the materials you need from one simple input form, then run the project as much as you need. You can even capture and reuse your design knowledge!

DriveWorks Pro: Building on the functionalities of DriveWorks Solo, DriveWorks Pro also incorporates anytime/anywhere access and shareable live data so anyone can easily customize on desktop, mobile, or tablet. DriveWorks Pro makes it easy to empower your teams, impress customers, and close the sale before your competitors.

What are the benefits of design automation tools like DriveWorks?

Design automation tools are a great investment for companies looking to reduce the cost of custom designs and streamline processes.

Design automation software like DriveWorks Pro, for example, helps “create custom configurators that anyone can use,” including customers and non-tech employees. It empowers both sales and design teams to work more efficiently by generating everything from sales quotes and Bills of Materials to 3D and 2D drawings.

Additional benefits of DriveWorks include:

Increasing productivity:

Automation makes it easy to shorten lead time and increase productivity. Companies like BKW Instruments were able to use DriveWorks to enter sales inquiries within 30 minutes and create quotes twice as fast as before – a 100% increase in productivity. Likewise, the process of moving from design to despatch (which used to take 3 to 5 weeks) can now be trimmed down to 5 days using DriveWorks.

Improving quality:

Incorporating design rules helps automate processes and minimize errors. Freeing up engineers’ time gives them opportunities to work on new product developments or improve existing designs.

Saving time:

Using modeling and design automation software “drastically reduces tool design time, resulting in a shorter lead time for customer.” Companies like Steiner Technologies were able to reduce tool design time “by about an hour a half per design,” turning around orders “faster and with more accuracy.”

Trying Design Automation with a DriveWorks Trial

Still unsure about design automation? Watch our video on doing more with DriveWorks automation, or activate your DriveWorksXpress in SOLIDWORKS to experience it for yourself.

Users interested in a more comprehensive design automation experience can also download a 30 day free trial of DriveWorks Solo. The DriveWorks Community offers free online training, videos, and webinars to help you get started.

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About the Author

Angelle Erickson writes about how companies are using innovative technologies, such as 3D printers and SOLIDWORKS software to increase productivity, improve product development processes, and maximize business potential.

Did you know that you have a powerful tool that’s fully loaded and ready to go sitting right in your seat of SOLIDWORKS?

So if you’re an engineer who spends too much time modifying existing designs instead of creating new ones, DriveWorksXpress can substantially automate your process allowing you to focus more of your time doing what you love and what benefits your company most – new product development. Companies have been using DriveWorks design automation to accomplish exactly this for over a decade and have reduced their design time from days to just minutes. So with that, let’s dig into what DriveWorksXpress is.

What is DriveWorksXpress?

DriveWorksXpress is a free design automation tool that ships with every seat of SOLIDWORKS. DriveWorksXpress is ready to go out of the box and allows one engineer to automate their job using a form to configure their design. It allows you to drive dimensions, features, and custom properties and also allows you to drive the file names of your new configurations.

How do I activate DriveWorksXpress?

DriveWorksXpress can be activated in these five simple steps.

#1. Within SOLIDWORKS, head over to your “Evaluate” tab. Once there you should see a button for “DriveWorksXpress Wizard.”

Note: You may have to expand your menu by using the little chevrons, >>, in order to see it.

#2. The next screen will give you a link to MySolidWorks.com. Press it.

#3. Next, you need to sign in to MySolidWorks.com. If you don’t yet have an account, you will need to create one. Otherwise simply log in.

#4. At this point, you will see a screen that provides an activation code.

Copy this activation code to your clipboard and enter it back into SOLIDWORKS.

How do I use DriveWorksXpress?

You can learn how to use DriveWorksXpress in the webcast below where I give an introduction to the tool. During this recorded webcast, you’ll learn how to

• – Prepare models to be DriveWorks ready
• – Create a DriveWorkXpress database
• – Capture dimensions, features, and custom properties
• – Write rules to control your design
• – Create custom variations

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About the Author

Aaron Winthers has been working at Fisher Unitech since 2014. As an Application Engineer Specialist, he works to assist companies in implementing design automation throughout their organization. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree, concentrating in product design, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aaron is a Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert with other certifications in Data Management, Composer, Model Based Definition, Training, and Support.

As a

“Amazing! Now all I have to do is create a configuration of the same assembly and configure its components, dimensions, and features as I like!” Presto! No new assembly needed. Combine this with a design table and you can create configurations of various shapes and sizes faster than Usain Bolt can run the 100-meter dash. But what do you do if what started out as a tremendous help started to become a burden?

What if when you started your Configuration tree, it looked like this:

But now it looks like this:

And perhaps that your design table started off like this:

And now, looks like this:

The consequences are that now, your assembly file is much larger than you wanted, you are running into issues referencing the correct configuration in your drawing, or maybe you’re having issues with your design table no longer functioning properly.

Maybe you thought, “I’m going to work smarter not harder. Instead of having a giant design table and tons of configurations, I’ll create one assembly and drive all of its parameters by equations.” This would mean just having one assembly file allowing you to “dial up” a new configuration and pack and go as needed.

Fast forward six months and your initially simple, equation driven assembly have become more of an engineering textbook with a SOLIDWORKS file attached. What began with just a few equations now has enough to significantly slow down the file. So you’ve maxed out design tables, configurations, and equations… now what?

Well, there’s hope; and it’s a tool that works with any seat of SOLIDWORKS that will not only replace the need for configurations but can also handle all the needed for configurations but can also handle all the needed parameter manipulation and engineering calculations so that SOLIDWORKS is not bogged down. That tool is DriveWorks Solo.

What is DriveWorks Solo?

DriveWorks Solo is a Design Automation tool that allows one engineer to automate their job using a form to configure their design. DriveWorks Solo lets you drive dimensions, features and custom properties, swap in replacement models, create and control drawings, and also lets you drive the file names and locations of your new configurations.

In my recorded webcast below, I show you not only how DriveWorks Solo operates, but I  take an already “maxed out” assembly and show you to how easy it is to convert its rules to the DriveWorks environment. During our time together you will learn:

• – How to make sure your models are ready for the tool
• – How DriveWorks Solo will get you past the technology glass ceiling of slowness and limited SOLIDWORKS automation capability
• – How to transfer already existing equation logic into DriveWorks

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DriveWorks Solo Demonstration: Here’s How it Works

About the Author

Aaron Winthers has been working at Fisher Unitech since 2014. As an Application Engineer Specialist, he works to assist companies in implementing design automation throughout their organization. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree, concentrating in product design, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aaron is a Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert with other certifications in Data Management, Composer, Model Based Definition, Training, and Support.

Headquartered in Boyne City, Michigan,

Maintaining Continuity for Custom Design Projects  

A significant piece of IMI’s business is creating custom products per customer requests. With hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of legacy models, keeping pace with design changes to support these customizations while maintaining the desired pace for standard product releases proved challenging.

For example, the company’s Tramp Metal Group produces magnetic separator solutions that remove metal contaminants — widely used within the food industry and other markets to improve product purity and protect processing equipment from damage. This group wanted the ability to more easily build off of pack-and-go’s of existing assemblies to further reduce design time.

“We pride ourselves on building just about anything to meet a customer’s needs and we’re looking for efficiency improvements to work smarter and faster,” said David Dewey, Engineer with Industrial Magnetics. “We wanted built-in continuity for both new design and traditional modeling practices, allowing us to more easily leverage existing parts and designs to turn around custom products quickly.”

Leaning on a Comprehensive Design Automation Platform

Already using SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software provided by Fisher Unitech, IMI wanted to take an integrated approach to improve operations, with tools to accelerate product development, reduce the cost of custom designs and orders, enhance product quality and provide fast responses to customer requests.

The company turned to Fisher Unitech to deploy DriveWorks, a powerful design automation solution that is a SOLIDWORKS add-on and stand alone, data automation solution. DriveWorks allows users to quickly and easily create and configure custom products inside SOLIDWORKS.

DriveWorks would serve as the company’s “automation operating system” for tasks ranging from the creation of 3D models and detailed drawings to the generation of quotes and even Bills of Materials for manufacturing.

“Fisher Unitech was instrumental in helping us get this project off the ground,” said Dewey. “Their technical team had the ability to shift from the minutia of clarifying product specifications, to helping us navigate the culture change of this deployment, showing an impressive range of skills and support.”

Automating Away the Mundane

IMI is a middle market, privately-held corporation, which has cultivated a culture that values and supports the talents of its employees. The company recognizes that tapping into the creativity of its staff plays a key role in maintaining the company’s success — supporting a trajectory of 10 percent year-over-year revenue growth.

“The combination of DriveWorks and SOLIDWORKS allows us the automation to work smarter — reducing repetition and monotonous tasks,” said Dewey. “This creates more time for employees to focus on innovative, fun tasks, eliminating mundane distractions and keeping staff challenged and engaged.”

Dramatically Decreasing Modeling Time

For the three product platforms that IMI has automated with DriveWorks and SOLIDWORKS, the company has seen significant reductions in modeling time. Prior to DriveWorks, a prospect would receive a generic product picture or text description, followed by a request for engineering to create a full-blown drawing — a tedious and manual process. Today, IMI can quickly create simplified, representational models that go out with the quote or can be shown from different angles during configuration.  This provides the prospect with A) ample visual details, B) specific configurations and special transitions, and C) functional and operational positions representing how the product performs.

“Customers can now see exactly what was configured and what they will receive, long before engineering has to sink the time in to generate a complete model with full production details,” said Dewey.

Reducing a Four Minute Task to One Click  

With DriveWorks at the core, the company has integrated its CRM and ERP system, creating a centralized platform to support day-to-day operations.

“Everyone in the process stream — customers, sales, engineering and manufacturing — can now see the same information,” said Dewey. “DriveWorks serves as the interface to all our business systems, tools, models, terminology and users.”

As a result of the integration of DriveWorks and SOLIDWORKS with the company’s ERP system, IMI cut the task of creating a Bill of Materials down to a single click from within SOLIDWORKS — a step that used to take up to four minutes and was conducted by all eight engineers multiple times per day. Now, the process is automated, adding in extra layers of error checking and streamlining the steps to eliminate manual intervention.

Moving Beyond Engineering with DriveWorks  

IMI was one of the first customers to use the CPQ configurator solution within DriveWorks, providing the company with the ability to more effectively configure, price and quote custom projects and determine customer-specific pricing. CPQ was integrated into the company’s entire workflow — even replacing their quoting system by supporting initial requests for quotes all the way through to shipped products.

“The use of CPQ expanded our DriveWorks implementation beyond engineering, allowing us to be more consistent with customer interactions by standardizing our terminology, pricing and quote presentation,” said Dewey.  Critical to this implementation was our internal DriveWorks team who specialize in Marketing, Sales, Information Technology, Manufacturing and Engineering.

Expanding Automation Company-Wide  

IMI’s long-term goal is to expand its use of DriveWorks and SOLIDWORKS, adding more users along the way — looking for opportunities to automate mundane or error-prone processes within engineering, marketing, sales and management.

“Our team at Fisher Unitech said to think of DriveWorks not as an app, but as a development environment,” said Dewey. “Our company has embraced that philosophy, giving us the power and freedom to create tools that help us work better and smarter across the board. And, we’re just getting started.”

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About the Author

Christa Prokos is a marketing manager at Fisher Unitech. She researches and writes about the latest business trends and technologies impacting manufacturers, including 3D printing, SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD design and product data management tools, product lifecycle management, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things. Christa has worked as a high tech marketing and communications professional since 2000. You can follow her on Twitter: @ChristaProkos.

This is just an introduction to DriveWorks design automation software.

With the advent of the digital manufacturing age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete. Customers not only want products faster, they want them customized to their needs. DriveWorks makes this possible by allowing the individual engineer to automatically create new design configurations or the entire organization to deploy DriveWorks so that they can automate a full product line including online configuration, automatic SOLIDWORKS part and drawing creations, the creation and sending of documents (e.g. quotes) and emails, and real-time business system connections.

Companies have been using DriveWorks to accomplish exactly this for over a decade and have reduced their design time from days to just minutes. So with that, lets dig into the different DriveWorks packages that will allow you to accomplish your goal of design automation.

What is DriveWorksXpress?

DriveWorksXpress is a free tool that ships with every seat of SOLIDWORKS. It is ready to go out of the box and allows one engineer to automate their job. It will allow you to drive dimensions, features and custom properties and will also allow you to drive the file names of your new configurations. Use DriveWorksXPRESS to test the waters and get a feel for what DriveWorks can do.

What is DriveWorks Solo?

Looking to dive deeper but not quite ready for deployment across the organization? That’s where DriveWorks Solo comes in. It’s for that stage when you want more out of your automation and want to test just how much DriveWorks can do for you company if it were fully deployed.

DriveWorks Solo allows greater functionality than DriveWorksXpress yet still focuses on automating one engineer’s job. But it also has tools that will help you get teed up for full deployment with DriveWorks Professional. Some of the greater capabilities of DriveWorks Solo include driving colors, materials, textures, tolerances, weldment profiles and sheet metal properties. You also have full control over where your new configured models are stored. Further, you can capture and control various aspects of your drawings including the scale and position of views and driving annotations. And, when you decide to take the plunge, DriveWorks Solo is fully upgradeable to DriveWorks Professional.

What is Driveworks Pro?

If you’re ready to take the plunge and begin planning out a full deployment then DriveWorks Professional is the package you need. DriveWorks Professional is a collection of software packages (Administrator, Live, Autopilot, User) that can be purchased as needed. Administrator is the upgrade to DriveWorks Solo and allows much greater functionality including automatic check-in to SOLIDWORKS PDM, running macros (DW native and external), built in templates, automatic generation of documents, 3D Preview, 3D part connections and generation tasks that allow you to even create assemblies from scratch.

Live, Autopilot and User are additional modules that allow for web deployment (Live), automatic model generation and email sending (Autopilot) and internal configuration (User). Whatever the package, DriveWorks is sure to get you meeting your automation goals.

As I stated above, this is just an overview.

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About the Author

Aaron Winthers has been working at Fisher Unitech since 2014. As an Application Engineer Specialist he works to assist companies in implementing design automation throughout their organization. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree, concentrating in product design, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aaron is a Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert with other certifications in Data Management, Composer, Model Based Definition, Training, and Support.