Heavy equipment / Vermeer Machinery Company

The Challenge

Vermeer Manufacturing is a global leader in the manufacture of machinery and equipment for agricultural, tree-clearing, and excavating purposes. Increasing competition, the need to accelerate time-to-market, and a desire to improve product aesthetics prompted the company to upgrade from 2D CAD to a 3D mechanical design system.

The Solution
Vermeer selected SolidWorks software because it provided the most comprehensive set of advanced capabilities for the price -- including large assembly, sheetmetal, surfacing, and visualization functions -- and represented the best value. The company is designing castings, complex sheetmetal components, and checking for interferences and collisions, all in SolidWorks. Vermeer added the SMARTEAM PDM system because of its tight integration with SolidWorks and ease-of-use for non-engineering personnel. By implementing SolidWorks and SMARTEAM, Vermeer has increased product design complexity, eliminated design and manufacturing steps, shortened prototyping and analysis time, reduced scrap and rework, and improved the style of its products.

Summary and Metrics:

• Improved product performance and styling
• Shortened prototyping and analysis time
• Reduced scrap and rework substantially
• Increased collaboration and efficiency across multiple groups

"We are designing much more complex geometries and things we just wouldn’t have been able to do in AutoCAD."
        Karl Maasdam, Applications Specialist

Case Studies

• Electronics / Garmin International, Inc.
• Heavy equipment / Vermeer Machinery Company
• Design & Engineering / Watershot, Inc.
• Machinery / Hartness International
• Sheet Metal / Sub-Zero Freezer Company
• Consumer Products / Trek Bicycles, Inc.
• Mold Tool Die / JK Mold Design
• Swagelok
• Invacare Corporation
• Werner Ladders
• Simonton Windows
• Whirley Industries