Re-evaluating the CAD market

Explaining Nova’s choice of CAD systems, Simon says, “We are generally asked to use the same CAD system as the client. That way, not only are the files in the right format, but our engineers can talk to our clients’ engineers on their terms.” He continues, “We have six seats of UGS NX for various projects with a leading UK manufacturer of aerospace and power generation turbine engines. We also run FiDES, Fords own system and we’ve been using Autodesk products for many years; AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop and Inventor. However, one of our clients in the metal processing industry was finding their existing 3D software was not at its best with some of the more complex projects. In an effort to resolve this, they re-evaluated the solid modelling market.

“As a result, the client switched to Solid Edge worldwide, retaining some UGS NX and some pockets of Autodesk products,” adds Simon. “We decided that if we were to continue our successful relationship we would have to invest in Solid Edge too.”

Before making that investment, though, Nova needed to be sure of the software’s suitability. “We hired Solid Edge on a monthly basis from the local reseller Solid Applications to get a feel for how it worked,” explains Simon. “We also tried it to see how it coped with work we’d done with our other software. Only when we had confidence in it and were sure that it would meet our needs did we make the full investment.”

Hitting the ground running

Simon is also responsible for IT matters at Nova and says, “Following our evaluation, we installed Solid Edge in late 2004 and I have to say, it does exactly what it says on the box. It’s a 3D solids mechanical design and drafting package and it just works. It’s been the best product to install, as well. You just load the CD and install the product, that’s all there is to do.” But what about the training? “To be honest, there was no need for external training,” explains Simon. “We’ve seen so many of these systems that we know what we are doing so we don’t need a huge amount of training. In fact, Nick, our Engineering Director, did the training in-house. In his experience, if you are CAD literate, you’ll pick it up very quickly.”

Does Simon think he made the right decision? “Yes,” he says, “absolutely. We’ve found that Solid Edge handles bigger models and assemblies than its direct competitors. In fact, we don’t think our other systems could have handled some of the jobs we’ve done using Solid Edge. It took less time to become productive than with our other systems and from an IT point of view, it needs minimal support. Our users rarely have problems that need my attention.”

Always in the right place

How does Solid Edge fit into the workflow at Nova? “In metal processing, the basic equipment designs have been around for some time,” explains Simon. “They are, however, still developing and derivatives are being produced in different sizes. That means we work with that client in a number of different ways.” More specifically, Simon says that, “They send us Solid Edge models they’ve created for us to detail and they also send us 2D layout drawings in paper for us to model in 3D in Solid Edge. We then return the models and 2D manufacturing drawings in Solid Edge.

“Sometimes, though, we have to produce DWG files from Solid Edge. This works really well. When imported into Autodesk software the files have required a minimum of manual intervention, and the entities are always in the right place. To be honest, this has turned out much better than we expected.”

A strong foundation

With so much experience of solid modelling under his belt, does Simon have any words for those thinking of adopting 3D? He says, “To get the best productivity out of solid modellers, you do need powerful hardware.” Simon recalls, “A number of years ago we were looking for new workstations with graphics capable enough for 3D. We did our Internet research but it is always helpful to talk to someone who knows their stuff. We found that ATI had just that person, which is one reason why we chose ATI FireGL 3D graphics accelerators.” He continues, “Most of our jobs involve 3D solid modelling and we work the cards really hard. They are great. You plug them in, install the driver and there is no further work to do; you just use them. They have proved to be very reliable and they do seem to work particularly well with Solid Edge.”

Another satisfied client

Of course, the proof of this lies with the client. Is he satisfied? “Yes,” according to Simon. In the last 18 months we’ve put over 85,000 Solid Edge files through the system for that one client alone and we are continuing to work with them on a series of individual contracts.” Nova’s investment is paying off in other ways, as well. In Simon’s words, “As Solid Edge capacity becomes available we have been able to take on work from other clients and we are actively talking to a number of potential new clients.” Simon concludes, “If we were buying for ourselves, we’d buy Solid Edge.”

www.nova-design.co.uk

www.ati.com/products/firegl.html

www.ugsplm.co.uk

www.solidapps.co.uk