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CADVenture Success Story – Swagelok Company

Founded in 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio, Swagelok Company is a leading developer and manufacturer of fluid system component technologies for research, analytical instrumentation, process instrumentation, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, power, petrochemical, and semiconductor industries. With more than 25 Swagelok research, manufacturing, technical support, and product distribution facilities supporting a global network of more than 200 independent, local sales and service centers on six continents, the company’s sales have grown to over $1 billion annually.

Implementing 3D CAD to Automate Product Development

The Challenge

Swagelok Company has grown into a $1-billion-a-year global manufacturer of fluid system components through its commitment to innovation and quality in product development. For many years, the company used another supplier’s 2D CAD system to design its more than 1,000 products. During the mid-1990s, the company began evaluating emerging 3D CAD technology as a means for boosting productivity, shortening design cycles, reducing development costs, and accelerating time to market, according to Dave Peace, Director of Operations for Swagelok Semiconductor Services Company. “Once I saw my first 3D CAD presentation, I was convinced we had to go to 3D,” Peace explains. “Our products comprise over 100,000 parts, and the move to 3D represented a major change in the way we do business. But the future gains in productivity, quality, and innovation more than offset the potential risk.” For assistance in transitioning its extensive product development organization to a 3D design environment, Swagelok turned to CADVenture and the SolidWorks® solid modeling system.

The Solution

Swagelok assembled an evaluation team that was representative of all of its product development groups to assess and rank leading 3D CAD packages against a list of 25 criteria to determine which system best suited the company’s product design activities. “Both the SolidWorks system and CADVenture’s service were rated as either meeting or above expectations in every category,” recalls Steve Sackett, Engineering Manager for Swagelok Semiconductor Services Company. “CADVenture contributed greatly to the implementation process. CADVenture is a terrific technical resource and has been very active in supporting our business solutions and helping us to meet our product development objectives.”

The company selected SolidWorks as its new 3D design environment and leveraged CADVenture implementation, training, and support services to facilitate the SolidWorks conversion. “As we got into the CAD transition, we quickly appreciated having a good, quality value-added reseller (VAR),” Peace notes. “This was a big decision and a major change. CADVenture did a good job of helping us to make the transition to 3D without disrupting our business.”

The initial round of SolidWorks training was a major undertaking involving more than 150 users over several months, according to Tim Horn, a project engineer at Swagelok. “The training was very good, especially because we were dealing with a new piece of software,” Horn says. “CADVenture’s expertise came through during the training sessions because we got much more than basic concepts and learned how we could apply SolidWorks functionality in the real world.”

Horn added that CADVenture’s technical support is both responsive and effective. “We have a very close relationship with CADVenture and have had a good experience with them on support issues,” Horn says. “They have several people that not only are very knowledgeable about SolidWorks software but also understand our needs and can provide detailed information in response to support questions.”

Because CADVenture professionals know Swagelok’s product development processes so well, they alert the company to specific capabilities in new releases that can impact those processes. “They match new features with our needs to provide real solutions,” Horn says.

The Results

According to Peace, CADVenture’s assistance in transitioning to the SolidWorks 3D modeling system is helping Swagelok to achieve its goals of boosting productivity, shortening design cycles, reducing development costs, and accelerating time to market. “They’ve helped us to cut development time by 50 percent,” Peace says. “When we design a major new product, the engineering vision is captured and communicated in the 3D solid model. It cuts down the debate/approval time, facilitates the sharing of design information, and helps us develop prototypes faster. Across the board, 3D CAD is helping us meet our objectives.”

“Automating our engineering processes helps us to reduce overall design time while improving product quality,” Sackett says. “We’re much better at iterating designs. Now, we can complete four or five design iterations in a week.”

“We have fewer levels of rework in the prototyping stage because it’s much easier to see what’s going to happen,” Horn notes. “With 2D drawings, we had a lot of misinterpretation and misunderstanding. With 3D, we’re able to reduce the number of prototypes, which significantly lowers our prototype development costs.”·      

  • Helped cut development time by 50 percent.
  • Reduced prototyping costs significantly.
  • Increased sharing and reuse of design data.
  • Improved design visualization and communication.
  • Automated engineering group functions.

Swagelok Company
29500 Solon Road
Solon, OH 44139 U.S.A.
Phone: 1.440.248.4600
www.swagelok.com

SolidWorks is a registered trademark of SolidWorks Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

©2003 CADVenture. All rights reserved.



"CADVenture is a terrific technical resource and has been very active in supporting our business solutions and helping us to meet our product development objectives.”

Steve Sackett
Engineering Manager
Swagelok Semiconductor Services Company

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