The fastest way to increase design team efficiency is to capture engineering logic and automate repetitive CAD tasks.

DriveWorks enables manufacturers to automatically generate SOLIDWORKS® designs, drawings, BOMs, and manufacturing documents using rules-based design automation. By automating repetitive design tasks and generating accurate designs, DriveWorks increases design team output, reduces errors, and frees up engineers to focus on higher-value projects.

What causes design team inefficiency?

For manufacturers of custom products, a significant amount of time is spent on creating “same but different” designs, with design teams working on manual tasks such as:

• Updating existing CAD models
• Changing dimensions and configurations
• Creating drawings, assemblies, and BOMs
• Checking designs are manufacturable

The business impact of design team inefficiency

As configuration complexity grows and inquiries increase, the volume of manual work slows down the design cycle and increases the risk of errors.

Bottlenecks appear in the design process, leading to:

• Slow quote turnaround times
• Lost sales
• Poor customer satisfaction
• Less time for product innovation
• Additional pressure on design engineers

How does DriveWorks help engineers work more efficiently?

Manufacturers all over the world use DriveWorks to improve the efficiency of their design teams:

1. Eliminate repetitive design tasks

DriveWorks automates SOLIDWORKS design tasks so engineers spend less time recreating different versions of existing work.

Using rules-based automation, DriveWorks automatically generates SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies, drawings, BOMs, and other manufacturing documents to meet specific customer requirements.

2. Capture and reuse engineering knowledge

For many manufacturers, design rules are held in spreadsheets, documents, and the general knowledge of individual engineers. As products become increasingly customized, this can lead to bottlenecks and errors. Additionally, when experienced engineers leave, knowledge can disappear. This is often referred to as “brain drain” and is a key challenge when combined with the growing skills gap in the manufacturing industry.

DriveWorks captures engineering knowledge as a set of reusable rules to ensure design accuracy and consistency. Design rules are stored centrally in DriveWorks, reducing reliance on individual engineers and preserving valuable engineering know-how.

3. Improve design accuracy

Errors and rework are common challenges for custom product manufacturers. Every design revision reduces the overall efficiency of the design team and slows down response times.

DriveWorks automatically applies predefined engineering logic to every design, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring design consistency for every configuration. This improves accuracy and reduces rework volume and costs.

4. Remove engineering bottlenecks

Design team workload can often become a bottleneck for other parts of the business.

DriveWorks streamlines the design process by automating repetitive design tasks. This enables design teams to respond to design requests faster, improving quote response times and increasing sales.

What are the benefits of DriveWorks for design teams?

Design teams using DriveWorks benefit from:

1. Increased design output

Automating repetitive design tasks enables engineers to produce more designs in less time and scale design output as sales volumes increase.

2. Fewer errors and rework

Rules-driven design automation ensures designs are accurate and manufacturable, eliminating errors and reducing costly rework.

3. More time to focus on innovation

With repetitive design tasks automatically generated, engineers have more time to focus on higher-value work, such as new product development.

4. Improved collaboration

Improved design cycle times with accurate design outputs reduce the need for back-and-forth dialogue between design, sales, and production teams.

To learn how DriveWorks can support your design process, explore DriveWorks with MECAD Systems.

Content adapted from the original blog post published by DriveWorks.