Configuring a Sample HVAC

Products in the HVAC industry are often very specific and custom, and that’s where HVAC manufacturers can benefit from the power of a product configurator.

When designing an HVAC system, it is important to gather as much information as possible to meet the needs and the specifications of the facility.

Having the ability to engage with a customer in the design of the system with a product configurator such as DriveWorks can give your business a competitive advantage.

The DriveWorks Live website has many examples showing the latest DriveWorks technology.

Anyone can use these online configurators that were created using DriveWorks software.

In this blog, we’re using one of the examples and following the quick and easy steps to configure a custom HVAC.

With DriveWorks 18, our team have added more 3D capability to bring the HVAC configurator to life.

I’m going to step through a series of options to specify the size of my  HVAC. I’ll make my selection from the options provided.

With every change I make and every option I select, DriveWorks software is working in the background to update the model on screen, update selections and show an up to date price throughout.

Once I’ve completed my selections, DriveWorks will create all the manufacturing details automatically.

That includes the SOLIDWORKS 3D parts, assemblies and drawings, cut lists, BOM and much more.

Multiple Modules and Components

The HVAC configurator on DriveWorks Live is a strong example of adding and configuring multiple modules and components of an assembly together in DriveWorks.

The configurator steps through the different modules that make up the entire HVAC unit.

Notes within the different steps and modules help support a guided selling environment that a customer or salesperson can easily follow to make their configuration choices.

Each module will be configured on its own as part of the larger unit.

We will encounter multiple forms, rules and layers of design automation at work in this example.

Defined parameters and strong rules built in the background in DriveWorks are doing the heavy lifting.

Although we can’t see it, there is a lot going on with the design of this system in the back end once the entries have been made in the front end of the tool.

Dynamic Form Controls

The configurator makes it easy to design the HVAC unit, walking through the design step by step.

First, we need to set some specifications on the capacity and calculation of the airflow of the unit.

As forms define the user interface of a DriveWorks configurator, we will see various ways these are set up as we work through this example.

We choose our connection type in this first step by clicking on the options (screwed vs. flanged) and then use a slider tool to determine the airflow.

The system configuration will be updated as we move into our next steps.

Generation Tasks

Once we have established our connection and capacity, we must now begin to add the different modules to the HVAC Unit.

Working through the simple dashboard of HVAC modules that have been created, we choose the modules we want to add one at a time by clicking on the image.

Once a module is chosen, a new set of DriveWorks form controls appear that are relevant to that module.

Changes are applied immediately when we add the module to our assembly and the price is also updated.

The choices we make on these forms are driving a brand-new design of this component because of rules that have been added in the background.

With DriveWorks Generation Tasks, we can add and configure the 6 separate modules individually to make up the larger HVAC unit assembly.

Specify Design Requirements

As we work through each of the 6 modules, we must specify the design requirements that we want for each module.

There are DriveWorks dynamic forms in place for each module. DriveWorks form controls are completely customizable so you can adapt and skin them to match your own branding, style and business needs.

In this case, the forms are mostly designed as a slider tool. In both the Fan Module as well as the Humidifier Module, we use the slider tool to choose the dimensions of the units.

Forms and rules work together in DriveWorks. The inputs of the forms are driven by the rules that have been created in the background.

The model and price are continuously updated. This automation happens throughout the configuration.

Order Review and Submit

As we complete the design of the HVAC unit, we can now review all the modules that have been added to our design.

This configuration summary page provides the list of the modules as well as the cost, dimensions, and description for each of them.

The configurator has been designed so that you can go back a step and make a change if needed – the change is then reflected in the model and the summary.

Automated Documents

DriveWorks also creates custom sales and manufacturing documentation for your order.

We can view the Bill of Materials and Quote for this order by clicking on the buttons in the configuration summary.

The quote provides a summary of the modules ordered during design as well as the cost for the order.

Once the order is confirmed and submitted, DriveWorks immediately starts generating the assemblies and a fully dimensioned drawing for review and for use in manufacturing.

All of this automation is a huge time saving for engineering. This fully automated process reduces errors, improves quality and allows product engineers and designers to focus on other areas of the business.

DriveWorks can easily pass information to and from 3^rd party systems. This is possible as DriveWorks is built on its own fully documented API.

This makes it easy to integrate DriveWOrks with any of your company systems such as a CRM or ERP system.

Drawings

In addition to receiving the order information and associated business documents, DriveWorks also automatically creates the SOLIDWORKS models for the HVAC unit and the detailed dimensioned drawings.

As the rules, logic and engineering knowledge have already been entered into DriveWorks, manufacturing can begin without engineers checking every detail and making changes to the design.

The drawings are labelled for easy identification. Below is an example of the fan module drawing that we configured in DriveWorks.

You can see that it has the part numbers as well as the descriptions for each part listed in the table on the drawing.

Having both the SOLIDWORKS models and drawings fully automated by DriveWorks, we have reduced the number of engineering hours needed every time a new order is made.

In addition to this, as the models are updated by DriveWorks, it also reduces the number of errors as well as expedited our time to manufacturing and meeting the customer’s needs.

Flexible, Scalable and Easy to Use

DriveWorks is versatile, fully customisable and easy to use so you can build a product configurator that suits your needs.

This HVAC configurator is just one example of how DriveWorks can be used and shows just some of the functionality available.

Have a go with this example, and see the many other product and industry examples at www.driveworkslive.com

Once you’ve explored how DriveWorks looks from the front end, head to the Technology section to take a look under the hood at the underlying technology inside DriveWorks and the functionality used to build a Design Automation and Sales Configurator solution.

In this week’s InPod by InFlow Podcast, host Nick Sweeney from InFlow Technology is joined by DriveWorks Senior Technical Specialist, Tom Wormald to talk all things DriveWorks!

InPOD by InFLow

Every Wednesday, Nick Sweeney, Pre Sales, Application Engineer at InFlow-Technology releases a new InPOD by InFlow podcast.

Each podcast Nick is joined by special guests to discuss all the different products that InFlow offers and supports.

Starting with some conversations about SOLIDWORKS, Nick covers all sorts of topics.

Each week Nick is joined by professionals from around the company and around the Dassault channel community.

InPod Features DriveWorks Senior Technical Specialist, Tom Wormald

During Nick’s internship at Driveworks, he worked alongside many members of the DriveWorks team including DriveWorks  Senior Technical Specialist, Tom Wormald.

In the podcast, Nick and Tom have a look back at how they both began with DriveWorks, sharing some of their memories of  Nick’s time in the UK working at DriveWorks HQ.

Looking at the customer journey from start to finish, together they talk about how that can look for someone investigating DriveWorks all the way through to successfully implementing DriveWorks.

DriveWorks is all about starting small and learning.

In the podcast, Nick and Tom discuss starting out with our free entry-level product, DriveWorksXpress right through to DriveWorks Solo and DriveWorks Pro.

Touching on our range of resources, Nick and Tom look at how a user can build on what they learn in DriveWorksXpress and DriveWorks Solo to make the most of DriveWorks Pro.

During the podcast, Nick and Tom talk about all things DriveWorks from training and certifications, the flexibility of the tool, and even sharing some fun things they’ve seen be achieved with DriveWorks, including an automated poker game and ordering fish and chips for the DriveWorks team! 

Each week Nick tweet’s the latest episode of InPod by InFlow and a teaser for it on his InFlow Twitter Account (@NSweeney_InFlow).

Listen to the full podcast here and find more great podcasts from Nick Sweeney: InPOD by InFlow.

Read Glen’s Right to Repair Feature in September’s DEVELOP3D Magazine

In this month’s DEVELOP 3D magazine, DriveWorks CEO Glen Smith, talks about the importance of having the right to repair, repurpose and recycle. 

This is part of a series of articles by Glen that is featured every month in the DEVELOP3D magazine.

In the September edition of DEVELOP3D, Glen talks about the importance of technology advancing and the fact that ‘new’ doesn’t always mean better.

Glen shares his love of repairing and restoring by telling stories of his first-ever Jaguar that was purchased with his student loan. Also sharing the story of working on the seventeenth-century water-driven iron forge, in Sheffield with his dad.

“…history shows that when we face adversity, we do tend to innovate and make significant progress.”

“Right now, we’re already seeing rapid advances in virology, materials science, testing, analytics and remote communications as we wage our current war against the Coronavirus.”

“What we need to do is to innovate on new technology, while still building in an ability to repair, repurpose and recycle.”

DEVELOP3D Magazine is free to read online, read the full article on page 14.

Implementing DriveWorksXpress

Oasis Trailers build mostly custom trailers and focus on custom welding.

Jake has been using DriveWorksXpress for over a year and has implemented the software to create correct manufacturing drawings for the axles.

Building the Form

Using DriveWorksXpress, Oasis Trailers have created a simple form where they enter three inputs. These inputs automate the requirements for the Hub Face, the Spring Center and the Wheel Options of the axles.

Oasis Trailers have also taken advantage of the different form building options in DriveWorksXpress, using both the drop-down and spin button feature.

Each time a new specification is entered on the form, DriveWorksXpress works in the background to calculate the rules and drive the SOLIDWORKS model.

Before DriveWorksXpress this would be 20 minutes of repetitive work.

Using DriveWorksXpress, they have cut this time down to just 5 minutes at most.

Benefits

Through implementing DriveWorksXpress, Oasis Trailers have experienced several benefits, including:

• Saving both time and effort
• Focusing time on more important tasks
• No rules to remember
• Getting the job done quicker and more efficiently

Resources

When setting up the projects, Jake took advantage of the free DriveWorksXpress resources, such as the DriveWorksXpress Training and Certification and the DriveWorksXpress Getting Started Webinar to advance his knowledge of the software.

Activate to Automate

DriveWorksXpress is included free inside every license of SOLIDWORKS. Activate your license in the SOLIDWORKS tools menu, using your MySolidWorks account.

In this week’s InPod by InFlow Podcast, host Nick Sweeney from InFlow Technology is joined by DriveWorks Senior Technical Specialist, Tom Wormald to talk all things DriveWorks!

InPOD by InFLow

Every Wednesday, Nick Sweeney, Pre Sales, Application Engineer at InFlow-Technology releases a new InPOD by InFlow podcast.

Each podcast Nick is joined by special guests to discuss all the different products that InFlow offers and supports.

Starting with some conversations about SOLIDWORKS, Nick covers all sorts of topics.

Each week Nick is joined by professionals from around the company and around the Dassault channel community.

InPod Features DriveWorks Senior Technical Specialist, Tom Wormald

During Nick’s internship at Driveworks, he worked alongside many members of the DriveWorks team including DriveWorks  Senior Technical Specialist, Tom Wormald.

In the podcast, Nick and Tom have a look back at how they both began with DriveWorks, sharing some of their memories of  Nick’s time in the UK working at DriveWorks HQ.

Looking at the customer journey from start to finish, together they talk about how that can look for someone investigating DriveWorks all the way through to successfully implementing DriveWorks.

DriveWorks is all about starting small and learning.

In the podcast, Nick and Tom discuss starting out with our free entry-level product, DriveWorksXpress right through to DriveWorks Solo and DriveWorks Pro.

Touching on our range of resources, Nick and Tom look at how a user can build on what they learn in DriveWorksXpress and DriveWorks Solo to make the most of DriveWorks Pro.

During the podcast, Nick and Tom talk about all things DriveWorks from training and certifications, the flexibility of the tool, and even sharing some fun things they’ve seen be achieved with DriveWorks, including an automated poker game and ordering fish and chips for the DriveWorks team! 

Each week Nick tweet’s the latest episode of InPod by InFlow and a teaser for it on his InFlow Twitter Account (@NSweeney_InFlow).

Listen to the full podcast here and find more great podcasts from Nick Sweeney: InPOD by InFlow.

We are pleased to announce that we have 6 new Authorized DriveWorks Resellers

DriveWorks is sold worldwide and supported locally by authorized and certified DriveWorks resellers, on your time zone

As DriveWorks integrates with SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD, many of our 100+ Authorized Resellers are also among the best SOLIDWORKS Resellers providing you with one point of contact for CAD, PDM, Design Automation and Sales Configurator information and support.

In addition to providing product support, DriveWorks Value-Added Resellers (VARs) also offer DriveWorks Training programs and can provide guidance on getting started.

We’re really pleased to announce that we have 6 new resellers joining us to sell and support DriveWorks!

We are excited to welcome our new resellers to the DriveWorks Community!

CADVISION SYSTEMS SDN BHD

Malaysia

Chengdu Digital Leader Co. Ltd

Chengdu

Implementa

Russia

I-Tools

Moscow

Metro Systems Corporation PLC

Bangkok

Tekyaz

Istanbul

Find Resellers 

Find your local authorized reseller by searching on our reseller map below.

Read Glen’s Right to Repair Feature in September’s DEVELOP3D Magazine

In this month’s DEVELOP 3D magazine, DriveWorks CEO Glen Smith, talks about the importance of having the right to repair, repurpose and recycle. 

This is part of a series of articles by Glen that is featured every month in the DEVELOP3D magazine.

In the September edition of DEVELOP3D, Glen talks about the importance of technology advancing and the fact that ‘new’ doesn’t always mean better.

Glen shares his love of repairing and restoring by telling stories of his first-ever Jaguar that was purchased with his student loan. Also sharing the story of working on the seventeenth-century water-driven iron forge, in Sheffield with his dad.

“…history shows that when we face adversity, we do tend to innovate and make significant progress.”

“Right now, we’re already seeing rapid advances in virology, materials science, testing, analytics and remote communications as we wage our current war against the Coronavirus.”

“What we need to do is to innovate on new technology, while still building in an ability to repair, repurpose and recycle.”

DEVELOP3D Magazine is free to read online, read the full article on page 14.

One Year On

This month marks one year since we received our double Queen’s Awards.

The awards are tangible recognition of our team’s hard work and commitment. We’re still just as proud today to be Queen’s Award holders as we were when we first received them.

This time last year, 4 members of the DriveWorks team had been to Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Awards winners reception. Whilst there, they met and spoke with HRH Prince Charles.

We then hosted a Digital Technology and Automation open day, where we were presented with our Queen’s Awards for Innovation and International Trade.

We couldn’t have predicted the year that would unfold following receiving our Queen’s Awards but our commitments to innovation and international trade, recognised by our Queen’s Awards, have helped us to remain strong and efficient throughout this pandemic.

Let’s take a look back at what’s happened in the past year.

Our Double Queen’s Award Presentation and Technology Open Day 

On Friday 6th September 2019, we held our Queen’s Award Presentation and Digital Technology & Automation Open Day at our corporate headquarters in Thelwall, Warrington.

Proudly flying the Queen’s Award flag, we welcomed 135 guests to join us.

We gathered in the courtyard in front of the Barley Store, as the Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire, Mr David Briggs M.B.E. presented the two awards and Royal Grant of Appointments to our company founders, DriveWorks CEO Glen Smith and Vice President, Maria Sarkar, on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.

The Queen’s Awards are the highest award available to UK businesses, recognising outstanding achievement.

More than 200 businesses, including 151 small and medium enterprises, were awarded Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in April.

In 2019, only 6 companies received a Double Queen’s Award, and we were extremely proud to be one of them! 

David Briggs M.B.E described the awards as “a truly great achievement and a testament to the hard work and commitment from the entire DriveWorks team”.

Amongst the guests joining us to celebrate our achievements were Cllr Wendy Johnson, Mayor of Warrington, Faisal Rashid, Local MP for Warrington South, members of the Warrington Business Exchange, DriveWorks customers, resellers, friends, family and many other members of the local community.

We set up technology demonstrations to showcase our award-winning software and give guests the opportunity to see the software in action.

There were live configurators, videos, 3D printers and virtual reality to explore.

What We’ve Been up to Since Our Queen’s Awards 

Surviving a Pandemic

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, there was a lot of uncertainty for many businesses. Companies struggled to adjust and employees were furloughed or let go.

For us, we were very grateful for our previous investments in technology, and our ongoing commitment to digital transformation. Our team are well set up for working remotely and we were able to transition to completely working from home overnight.

We have remained open and operational throughout. All our teams have continued to work hard and support our channel as usual.

As we settled into a new way of working, it wasn’t just business as usual for our team. If anything, it was business with a boost!

Whilst it’s still been uncertain and difficult at times, our team have embraced this time as an opportunity to improve, create and innovate. With reduced travel, events and other external activities, we adapted some roles within the company, giving us more time to spend on creating great training content and learning materials for our customers and resellers.

We’ve also been hearing from our customers who have been embracing change. Some companies changed their manufacturing to provide much-needed supplies, some worked on new product ideas, and others used this time to improve and work on projects they don’t usually have time for.

Many of our customers are focusing on moving forward and working smarter.

Continuously Innovating

We are really proud to have been recognised with a Queen’s Award for Innovation. Innovation is at our core and we’re constantly investing, researching, developing and moving forward.

Following receiving the awards last year, we released two software service packs, DriveWorks 17 SP1 and DriveWorks 17 SP2.

We then went into lockdown at a critical stage of the release process for our next major software version, DriveWorks 18 – testing! Every release of DriveWorks is tested rigorously. As a team, we rely on our software and we know our customers do too, so it’s vital that every software version we release is robust, obvious and innovative.

We’re proud that we released a major software version, rigorously tested (and used by us!) during a global pandemic whilst our team were all working remotely.

As always we also released a full online help file for DriveWorks 18 and provided training resources and hands-on classes as part of DriveWorks World 2020.

DriveWorks World is our annual technical training event and an opportunity to bring our community together for learning, networking and sharing ideas. It’s such a valuable event for our customers, resellers and partners.

Whilst the global situation stopped us from hosting a face to face event, we still wanted to provide an opportunity for DriveWorks users to learn and connect. So this year we reimagined DriveWorks World into an online, digital event.

Digital DriveWorks World was a great success, with over 200 DriveWorks customers, resellers and partners from around the world joining us for a week of learning, networking and sharing ideas – all online.

Exporting to More Countries

The Queen’s Awards are highly respected in many countries. Being recognised with the awards strengthened our position in those countries. Since receiving the awards, we’ve added 8 new resellers from around the world, some of them in new countries and markets for us.

As a Queen’s Award for International Trade recipient, our CEO and VP were invited to the Institute of Export & International Trade Gala Dinner. This was a fantastic opportunity to meet Queen’s Awards winners and network with other UK business leaders. We have now joined the Institute of Export & International Trade to stay connected with other exporters.

Maria Sarkar, VP of DriveWorks has since been appointed Northern Powerhouse Export Champion. This programme focuses on raising awareness of the benefits of exporting, communicating where to go for support, and inspiring more companies to start trading internationally (or to expand their current reach).

We’re also continuing with our commitment to helping more companies to expand their reach with DriveWorks software. Creating an online product configurator with DriveWorks enables companies to use the power of digital to sell to anyone, anywhere, online 24/7.

Our strong international channel helped us to survive the pandemic. Whilst the UK was still in lockdown, with many companies pausing or changing production, other countries were coming back. Like most companies, sales slowed down for us but we are fortunate not to rely on one economy.

Manufacturers all over the world began to realise, more than ever, the importance of digital transformation and are looking to invest in technology like DriveWorks to improve their processes and work smarter.

Working as a Team

We’re a close-knit team and often get together to share knowledge and engage in fun activities.

Since our open day, we’ve celebrated Ruby’s birthday (Ruby is a very special member of our team – a black labrador!), enjoyed our Christmas Party and ate lots of pancakes on pancake day.

At our Christmas party last year, we even used our own software to automate Secret Santa!

We’ve continued to add to our knowledge in many ways, learning together and sharing knowledge. Many of our team have completed courses and received new certifications, including in SOLIDWORKS and the 3D Experience Platform.

Since receiving the Queen’s Awards our team has continued to grow. We’ve welcomed 4 placement students, 1 graduate, and 6 full-time employees, as well as welcoming back previous placement students in new graduate scheme roles.

Eight of those employees joined our team in the middle of the pandemic and whilst they’ve missed out on some usual team activities, they’ve settled into their new roles really well and have still been able to get to know each other and the rest of the team virtually.

We’ve hosted regular virtual team quizzes, continued with our weekly Show & Tell sessions over teams, and kept in touch with each other using technology.

Our entire team have adjusted really well to the change in the way we work over the last 6 months, and it’s a testament to our company attitude of adapting and embracing change.

Supporting Communities

We’re lucky to be involved in many great communities and we’re committed to supporting them in any way we can.

We’re proud sponsors of SOLIDWORKS User Groups (SWUG). We attend and support user group meetings. We host our own annual award for DriveWorks SWUG leader of the year and we’ve received awards from the community too – we were awarded SWUGN Partner of the Year Award two years running and in 2020, Heather from our team received the SWUGN Choice Award for SOLIDWORKS Community Champion of the Year. The SWUGN community have shown their appreciation for our support in many ways, with Chicago SWUG even presenting us with a plaque of appreciation this year.

One of the main reasons we support communities is to build a strong future for STEM.

FIRST® is a not-for-profit public charity designed to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. First Robotics competition teams have had access to DriveWorksXpress for many years and we’ve supported them with free learning resources. However, this year, we added to our sponsorship and now offer free licenses of DriveWorks Solo, alongside online training and learning resources to help them take automation even further and focus on quality robot design.

We released a brand new DriveWorks Solo Certification, so SWUG members, FIRST Robotics teams, and any other SOLIDWORKS users and students can add an extra certification to their CV. It’s available online so SOLIDWORKS users can get certified from anywhere, at any time.

Closer to home, we’ve been heavily involved in our local Cheshire & Warrington Pledge, supporting education. Before lockdown we hosted two Digital Work Experience Days, inviting local students to spend a day with us and learn about future career opportunities. We’ve also been involved in virutal events throughout the pandemic, to keep students engaged and motivated, and helping them to make the most of their time.

We’ve also contributed towards our local community centre car park and a nearby care home looking to add new technology.

We’re pleased to have been able to continue supporting these communities virtually during the pandemic. We’ve created digital resources and joined in with virtual events.

Attending Events

Autumn last year was busy as usual for our team, as we attended many SOLIDWORKS Reseller Roll-Out Events. Every year we attend as many reseller events as we can. We often present, teach a session and have a booth so delegates can try one of our configurators and see our software in action. In 2019, we visited 14 countries, attending 48 events held by 22 different resellers.

In February, we then headed off to the states for 3D Experience World 2020. This was our team’s 20th year at the event. Our team showcased our software on our busy booth, presented about DriveWorks and taught sessions, helping SOLIDWORKS users gain a DriveWorksXpress Certification. We also heard from inspiring keynote speakers and joined in with community activities.

Many events are different at the moment but technology is bringing communities together, giving us all the chance to stay connected. We made our own annual event virtual this year, Digital DriveWorks World, and we’ve had the opportunity to get involved in many other virtual events, staying connected with the community and providing more opportunities to learn.

Of course we’re still proudly flying our Queen’s Award flag at DriveWorks HQ.

Starting Small with DriveWorks Solo

HSI has been using DriveWorks since 2017, to automate the design process of their cranes. They started initially using DriveWorks Solo.

At HSI, cranes can range from 6 feet to over 300 feet, handling multiple capacities from 500 pounds to 40000 thousand pounds.

Part numbers can also range from 80 for a small system into the thousands for a larger system, making them extremely configurable.

Lead Mechanical Designer, Michael Townsend, downloaded the free DriveWorks Solo 30-day trial and created a small project to demonstrate the software capabilities to his colleagues.

Scaling up to DriveWorks Pro

After purchasing DriveWorks Solo, the company created their first project, but soon realized that they wanted to create a customer-facing online tool, and therefore upgraded to DriveWorks Pro.

Owing to the scalability of DriveWorks software, the data captured in the DriveWorks Solo projects was not lost and was easily migrated to form the basis of their DriveWorks Pro web-enabled project.

Quotinator™

Since purchasing DriveWorks Pro, HSI has been working on Quotinator™, their online tool for dealers, customers and distributors.

Quotinator™ uses DriveWorks and SOLIDWORKS to provide scaled drawings and quotes for their recently released NikoRail enclosed track cranes, as well as standard jib and gantry cranes.

Dealers can access Quotinator™ from anywhere, through the distributor login on HSI’s website.

Lead Mechanical Designer Michael Townsend says:

“End users are so happy that they don’t have to sit around waiting for a quote, that they keep returning faster and they can do it on the site too”

Security

Quotinator™ was BETA tested internally for two months and then rolled out to distributors.

To use Quotinator™, a distributor or customer must request a login from HSI. This is an extra security step to ensure HSI knows who is accessing the online configurator.

It also doubles as a sales tool, because they can track who is interacting with the site.

Improving and Adapting

HSI is also constantly improving and adapting the configurator and product options in response to customer demand.

The aspirations for the Quotinator™ and DriveWorks don’t stop there as they are looking to integrate DriveWorks with their CRM system too.

HSI believe in continuous improvement and are utilizing the form building tools found in DriveWorks to enhance the look and feel of the UI to make Quotinator™ even more user friendly, particularly on mobiles.

We look forward to following their progress! For more information about HSI and their products, visit www.hsicrane.com

Get Started with DriveWorks Solo

See what you can achieve with DriveWorks.

Try DriveWorks Solo free for 30 days to get started building your own design automation and product configurator solution.

Save time, eliminate errors and improve customer experiences.

One Year On

This month marks one year since we received our double Queen’s Awards.

The awards are tangible recognition of our team’s hard work and commitment. We’re still just as proud today to be Queen’s Award holders as we were when we first received them.

This time last year, 4 members of the DriveWorks team had been to Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Awards winners reception. Whilst there, they met and spoke with HRH Prince Charles.

We then hosted a Digital Technology and Automation open day, where we were presented with our Queen’s Awards for Innovation and International Trade.

We couldn’t have predicted the year that would unfold following receiving our Queen’s Awards but our commitments to innovation and international trade, recognised by our Queen’s Awards, have helped us to remain strong and efficient throughout this pandemic.

Let’s take a look back at what’s happened in the past year.

Our Double Queen’s Award Presentation and Technology Open Day 

On Friday 6th September 2019, we held our Queen’s Award Presentation and Digital Technology & Automation Open Day at our corporate headquarters in Thelwall, Warrington.

Proudly flying the Queen’s Award flag, we welcomed 135 guests to join us.

We gathered in the courtyard in front of the Barley Store, as the Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire, Mr David Briggs M.B.E. presented the two awards and Royal Grant of Appointments to our company founders, DriveWorks CEO Glen Smith and Vice President, Maria Sarkar, on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.

The Queen’s Awards are the highest award available to UK businesses, recognising outstanding achievement.

More than 200 businesses, including 151 small and medium enterprises, were awarded Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in April.

In 2019, only 6 companies received a Double Queen’s Award, and we were extremely proud to be one of them! 

David Briggs M.B.E described the awards as “a truly great achievement and a testament to the hard work and commitment from the entire DriveWorks team”.

Amongst the guests joining us to celebrate our achievements were Cllr Wendy Johnson, Mayor of Warrington, Faisal Rashid, Local MP for Warrington South, members of the Warrington Business Exchange, DriveWorks customers, resellers, friends, family and many other members of the local community.

We set up technology demonstrations to showcase our award-winning software and give guests the opportunity to see the software in action.

There were live configurators, videos, 3D printers and virtual reality to explore.

What We’ve Been up to Since Our Queen’s Awards 

Surviving a Pandemic

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, there was a lot of uncertainty for many businesses. Companies struggled to adjust and employees were furloughed or let go.

For us, we were very grateful for our previous investments in technology, and our ongoing commitment to digital transformation. Our team are well set up for working remotely and we were able to transition to completely working from home overnight.

We have remained open and operational throughout. All our teams have continued to work hard and support our channel as usual.

As we settled into a new way of working, it wasn’t just business as usual for our team. If anything, it was business with a boost!

Whilst it’s still been uncertain and difficult at times, our team have embraced this time as an opportunity to improve, create and innovate. With reduced travel, events and other external activities, we adapted some roles within the company, giving us more time to spend on creating great training content and learning materials for our customers and resellers.

We’ve also been hearing from our customers who have been embracing change. Some companies changed their manufacturing to provide much-needed supplies, some worked on new product ideas, and others used this time to improve and work on projects they don’t usually have time for.

Many of our customers are focusing on moving forward and working smarter.

Continuously Innovating

We are really proud to have been recognised with a Queen’s Award for Innovation. Innovation is at our core and we’re constantly investing, researching, developing and moving forward.

Following receiving the awards last year, we released two software service packs, DriveWorks 17 SP1 and DriveWorks 17 SP2.

We then went into lockdown at a critical stage of the release process for our next major software version, DriveWorks 18 – testing! Every release of DriveWorks is tested rigorously. As a team, we rely on our software and we know our customers do too, so it’s vital that every software version we release is robust, obvious and innovative.

We’re proud that we released a major software version, rigorously tested (and used by us!) during a global pandemic whilst our team were all working remotely.

As always we also released a full online help file for DriveWorks 18 and provided training resources and hands-on classes as part of DriveWorks World 2020.

DriveWorks World is our annual technical training event and an opportunity to bring our community together for learning, networking and sharing ideas. It’s such a valuable event for our customers, resellers and partners.

Whilst the global situation stopped us from hosting a face to face event, we still wanted to provide an opportunity for DriveWorks users to learn and connect. So this year we reimagined DriveWorks World into an online, digital event.

Digital DriveWorks World was a great success, with over 200 DriveWorks customers, resellers and partners from around the world joining us for a week of learning, networking and sharing ideas – all online.

Exporting to More Countries

The Queen’s Awards are highly respected in many countries. Being recognised with the awards strengthened our position in those countries. Since receiving the awards, we’ve added 8 new resellers from around the world, some of them in new countries and markets for us.

As a Queen’s Award for International Trade recipient, our CEO and VP were invited to the Institute of Export & International Trade Gala Dinner. This was a fantastic opportunity to meet Queen’s Awards winners and network with other UK business leaders. We have now joined the Institute of Export & International Trade to stay connected with other exporters.

Maria Sarkar, VP of DriveWorks has since been appointed Northern Powerhouse Export Champion. This programme focuses on raising awareness of the benefits of exporting, communicating where to go for support, and inspiring more companies to start trading internationally (or to expand their current reach).

We’re also continuing with our commitment to helping more companies to expand their reach with DriveWorks software. Creating an online product configurator with DriveWorks enables companies to use the power of digital to sell to anyone, anywhere, online 24/7.

Our strong international channel helped us to survive the pandemic. Whilst the UK was still in lockdown, with many companies pausing or changing production, other countries were coming back. Like most companies, sales slowed down for us but we are fortunate not to rely on one economy.

Manufacturers all over the world began to realise, more than ever, the importance of digital transformation and are looking to invest in technology like DriveWorks to improve their processes and work smarter.

Working as a Team

We’re a close-knit team and often get together to share knowledge and engage in fun activities.

Since our open day, we’ve celebrated Ruby’s birthday (Ruby is a very special member of our team – a black labrador!), enjoyed our Christmas Party and ate lots of pancakes on pancake day.

At our Christmas party last year, we even used our own software to automate Secret Santa!

We’ve continued to add to our knowledge in many ways, learning together and sharing knowledge. Many of our team have completed courses and received new certifications, including in SOLIDWORKS and the 3D Experience Platform.

Since receiving the Queen’s Awards our team has continued to grow. We’ve welcomed 4 placement students, 1 graduate, and 6 full-time employees, as well as welcoming back previous placement students in new graduate scheme roles.

Eight of those employees joined our team in the middle of the pandemic and whilst they’ve missed out on some usual team activities, they’ve settled into their new roles really well and have still been able to get to know each other and the rest of the team virtually.

We’ve hosted regular virtual team quizzes, continued with our weekly Show & Tell sessions over teams, and kept in touch with each other using technology.

Our entire team have adjusted really well to the change in the way we work over the last 6 months, and it’s a testament to our company attitude of adapting and embracing change.

Supporting Communities

We’re lucky to be involved in many great communities and we’re committed to supporting them in any way we can.

We’re proud sponsors of SOLIDWORKS User Groups (SWUG). We attend and support user group meetings. We host our own annual award for DriveWorks SWUG leader of the year and we’ve received awards from the community too – we were awarded SWUGN Partner of the Year Award two years running and in 2020, Heather from our team received the SWUGN Choice Award for SOLIDWORKS Community Champion of the Year. The SWUGN community have shown their appreciation for our support in many ways, with Chicago SWUG even presenting us with a plaque of appreciation this year.

One of the main reasons we support communities is to build a strong future for STEM.

FIRST® is a not-for-profit public charity designed to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. First Robotics competition teams have had access to DriveWorksXpress for many years and we’ve supported them with free learning resources. However, this year, we added to our sponsorship and now offer free licenses of DriveWorks Solo, alongside online training and learning resources to help them take automation even further and focus on quality robot design.

We released a brand new DriveWorks Solo Certification, so SWUG members, FIRST Robotics teams, and any other SOLIDWORKS users and students can add an extra certification to their CV. It’s available online so SOLIDWORKS users can get certified from anywhere, at any time.

Closer to home, we’ve been heavily involved in our local Cheshire & Warrington Pledge, supporting education. Before lockdown we hosted two Digital Work Experience Days, inviting local students to spend a day with us and learn about future career opportunities. We’ve also been involved in virutal events throughout the pandemic, to keep students engaged and motivated, and helping them to make the most of their time.

We’ve also contributed towards our local community centre car park and a nearby care home looking to add new technology.

We’re pleased to have been able to continue supporting these communities virtually during the pandemic. We’ve created digital resources and joined in with virtual events.

Attending Events

Autumn last year was busy as usual for our team, as we attended many SOLIDWORKS Reseller Roll-Out Events. Every year we attend as many reseller events as we can. We often present, teach a session and have a booth so delegates can try one of our configurators and see our software in action. In 2019, we visited 14 countries, attending 48 events held by 22 different resellers.

In February, we then headed off to the states for 3D Experience World 2020. This was our team’s 20th year at the event. Our team showcased our software on our busy booth, presented about DriveWorks and taught sessions, helping SOLIDWORKS users gain a DriveWorksXpress Certification. We also heard from inspiring keynote speakers and joined in with community activities.

Many events are different at the moment but technology is bringing communities together, giving us all the chance to stay connected. We made our own annual event virtual this year, Digital DriveWorks World, and we’ve had the opportunity to get involved in many other virtual events, staying connected with the community and providing more opportunities to learn.

Of course we’re still proudly flying our Queen’s Award flag at DriveWorks HQ.

Configuring a Custom Bi-Fold Door

Implementing an online sales configurator enables your customers, engineers, and sales teams to configure their product, get quotes and place their order in one session.

Many manufacturers are taking advantage of this platform to embrace digital selling and improve overall customer experience.

At the same time, by having a tool like DriveWorks in place they are saving valuable time on repetitive designs, reducing errors, and getting to market quicker with their products.

Manufacturers using DriveWorks rules-based software can embrace digital transformation to improve customer experiences and make selling these custom products quicker, easier and more profitable.

The DriveWorks Live website has many examples showing the latest DriveWorks technology in action. Anyone can use the online configurators, created using DriveWorks software.

In this blog, we’re using one of the examples and following the quick and easy steps to configure a custom Bi-Fold Door online.

With DriveWorks 18, our team added more 3D capability to bring the doors to life. We’ve positioned the door in a scene to give it context and a more realistic feel.

I’m going to step through a series of options as we design the door, we experience many of the dynamic functions that you can take advantage of when creating your own online sales configurator.

We will complete forms and enter measurements for the door. We will determine how many windows we would like in the door and be able to choose the construction materials.

With every change I make and every option I select, DriveWorks software is working in the background to update the model on screen, update selections and show an up to date price throughout.

Once I’ve completed my selections, DriveWorks will create all the manufacturing details automatically. That includes the SOLIDWORKS 3D parts, assemblies and drawings, cut lists, BOM and much more.

Interactive 3D

The bi-fold door is in a 3D environment that gives the customer a real-life experience as they are designing their product.

The 3D environment created in DriveWorks allows the customer to zoom in or zoom out and rotate to get a different perspective on the layout of the door.

The door will open and close when clicked with the mouse. This animation makes the bi-fold door example more interactive and responsive.

All these interactions add to the overall 3D experience and create more involved customer engagement. It also gives the customer a clear and realistic perspective on how the door may open and close once installed.

This interactive 3D technology is a key feature in DriveWorks 18. It’s just one example of how you can use the functionality inside DriveWorks to build a 3D product configurator.

Guided Selling

Users can configure the door to their exact requirements, starting by entering the width and height of the door.

DriveWorks provides a guided selling environment to help the consumer work through each step in their design.

This is very helpful as it lets the consumer understand what is needed and be able to complete the steps self-sufficiently.

Step 1 asks for the required dimensions. The ‘measure’ hyperlink brings up a pop up that gives the guidance needed to enter the correct information into the form.

Similar guidance is provided throughout the design process. You can decide whether or not to add these helpful pop-ups and make them specific to your products and options.

DriveWorks Form Controls

Forms are the user interface (UI) of a DriveWorks configurator. They are set up in DriveWorks by adding form controls and using rules in the background to decide what to show and when.

Creating an interactive UI in DriveWorks is easy. You can choose from more than 20 “out of the box” control types (label, drop down, slider tool, date picker, etc.)

They are customizable and you can adapt and reskin them to match your own branding.

In this example, a slider tool and text box are used for the dimensions. DriveWorks offers multiple ways to create form controls that suit your needs.

Whether it’s entering measurements like the dimensions in Step 1 of this design, or in subsequent steps where we need to enter other design inputs, rules in the background establish minimum and maximum measurement limits and other options.

These rules mean customers, sales teams and distributors can only configure products that can be manufactured, and the calculated outputs are correct.

When changes are made, the rules drive the design to change immediately and displays the updated model.

This is a great tool for the self-guided selling process, but also in a face-to-face sale.

Choosing Components

The number of folding panels, construction materials, muntins (both horizontal and vertical), glass type for the windows and the hardware finishes for the door can all be configured and customised.

These component selections are made using the most appropriate DriveWorks Form Controls for these design options. These are just an example of the many form control options available in DriveWorks, you can see other form options in the Custom Picture Frame Configurator as well as the Cupboard Configurator.

As selections are made, the choices are captured in DriveWorks and applied to the design.

As DriveWorks has fully automated SOLIDWORKS, the changes are applied to the sales order, the CAD model and all associated manufacturing documentation as well.

Live Design Summary and Cost Updates

The sales configurator provides a rolling summary of the custom design. The summary is available throughout the process to view the dimensions and materials chosen as well as the glass type and finish applied to the model.

As it is dynamically linked to the rules running in DriveWorks, if changes are made, the summary and model are both updated in real-time. In addition to the design summary, a real-time update on costs associated with the design is displayed in the bottom right corner.

With the simple-to-use forms it’s quick and easy to design multiple versions of a bi-fold door. Here are just a few examples of doors designed in minutes using this DriveWorks example.

It’s not just the sales configurator that is updating, but the CAD models and all technical drawings and documentation are also automatically generated by DriveWorks.

As there are rules and logic in the DriveWorks project, engineering does not have to check every detail or make changes manually.

Imagine the time saved in engineering by having these designs automated by DriveWorks – time that now can be used to grow other areas of the business.

Not only is it a time saving to engineering, DriveWorks provides an immediate quote to the customer and it reduces errors that could be made by making manual updates repeatedly.

Automated and Custom Outputs

Once the design is complete, a summary screen shows the choices made over the course of the design.

Customers and designers can easily go back into the configurator and make a change to the model, then come right back to this screen to place the order.

Once the order is submitted, DriveWorks immediately begins to generate unique and order-specific sales and manufacturing documents. Within seconds an order-specific cover letter and quote document are sent via email.

As a business, it’s important to have different areas of your business connected. DriveWorks can be easily connected to 3^rd party business systems such as CRM, ERP or other database systems.

Passing data to and from other systems and between teams allows everyone to work together and have one unified, cohesive source of information. Having better control and flow of information creates stronger data integrity for the customer and the business.

Immediate Confirmation

Once finished the order is submitted, DriveWorks immediately generates order-specific sales and manufacturing documents.

A cover letter and quote are both sent via email to the customer and the sales team.

A fully dimensioned drawing is generated automatically, saving valuable engineering time. The Drawing, Bill of Materials, Cut Lists and other files are sent to the manufacturing department so manufacturing can begin.

As the rules, logic and engineering knowledge have already been entered into DriveWorks, manufacturing can begin without engineers checking every detail and making changes to the design.

Rules mean customers, sales teams and distributors can only configure products that can be manufactured and the calculated outputs are correct.

The process is fully automated to reduce errors, improve quality and allow product designers and engineers to focus on innovating and improving.

Flexible, Scalable and Easy to Use

DriveWorks is versatile, fully customisable and easy to use so you can build a product configurator that suits your needs.

This Bi-Fold Door configurator is just one example of how DriveWorks can be used and shows just some of the functionality available.

Have a go with this example, and see the many other product and industry examples at www.driveworkslive.com

Once you’ve explored how DriveWorks looks from the front end, head to the Technology section to take a look under the hood at the underlying technology inside DriveWorks and the functionality used to build a Design Automation and Sales Configurator solution.

DriveworksXpress comes free with every seat of SOLIDWORKS so you can start automating any part of your product design today!

DriveWorksXpress Design Automation

Design automation is quickly becoming the norm, offering businesses the opportunity to streamline business processes and adapt quickly to changing market conditions.

DriveWorksXpress is an easy to use, entry-level design automation tool included free inside SOLIDWORKS. Our rules-based software allows you to create multiple versions of your SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies and drawings, quickly and accurately.

DriveWorksXpress is ideal for automating everyday repetitive design tasks and great if the designs and projects you work on are the same but different.

It is widely used in many industries from trailers to conveyors, furniture to machinery, mechanical seals to pressure vessels, windows and doors and many more.

Quickly generate new versions of your SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies and drawings.

We’re extremely proud of our industry-leading, award-winning software, but DriveWorks isn’t just for complete product design.

DriveWorksXpress allows you to automate any part of your SOLIDWORKS design, giving you the flexibility to automate time-consuming and repetitive tasks, simplifying your design process, and enabling you to use your time more efficiently.

Easy to Set Up, Manage and Use

A DriveWorks design automation project is easy to create, maintain and use.

No programming skills or consultants are required.

Simply activate DriveWorksXpress which is already installed under the SOLIDWORKS Tools menu and begin automating your designs!

Automate repetitive SOLIDWORKS tasks and free up time to focus on product innovation and development.

If you offer many different product options or every customer order is bespoke, DriveWorksXpress helps you capture your design rules, recreate variations of existing designs, reduce repetitive tasks, save time, and improve product quality.

Run Project Again and Again

Once set up, run your project again and again for each custom order.

DriveWorksXpress captures information from your existing models and your engineering knowledge.

That information, including dimensions, features and configurations can then be controlled by a series of rules.

These rules are controlled from a simple input form, so all you need to do is fill out the form for each custom order, and DriveWorksXpress will do the calculations in the background and automatically generate the necessary files.

Reuse the input form over and over again, each time creating a brand-new set of files and their relevant drawings.

Meaning there is no need for complex macros, design tables or configurations.

Run hundreds of design tasks in minutes with DriveWorksXpress!

Saving Time with DriveWorksXpress

DriveWorks isn’t just for complete product design, automation is powerful even if you only automate part of your product.

Before using DriveWorksXpress designing something such as a Standard Machine Sub-base or Leg Supports would take 30 minutes.

With DriveworksXpress this task takes just 1 minute, allowing you to focus your time on the more complex aspects of your designs.

This may only be a small part of your design process but the time savings are drastic and can be incredibly valuable to the overall design time.

Over time you can build on your DriveWorksXpress project to add more and more parts, until eventually your engineering time is spent on the parts of the design that really matter and add the most value.

Using DriveWorks to Automate Mundane Tasks 

BW Container Systems is a global packaging machinery firm serving the food, beer and beverage, wine and spirits, personal care, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and household products industries.

Some of the machines BW Container Systems manufacture require a machine guard.

This is only a simple item to design, but the guard cannot be designed until the machine design is complete, and if not shipped together it could risk delaying delivery.

To overcome this, BW Container Systems are using DriveWorks to automatically generate models and drawings for these machine guards.

DriveWorks has allowed engineers at BW Container Systems to automate some of the mundane but essential engineering jobs, freeing them up to focus on other important design tasks.

With the introduction of DriveWorks, BW Container Systems can evolve product lines, meet new market needs and exceed customer expectations.

Benefits of DriveWorksXpress

Discover the benefits of using DriveWorksXpress to automate your designs.

Start Automating – Free Inside SOLIDWORKS

If you’ve got SOLIDWORKS, you’ve already got design automation!

DriveWorksXpress is already installed inside every license of SOLIDWORKS.

You’ll find it under the SOLIDWORKS Tools menu, you just need to activate it to start automating.

Once you’ve saved time with DriveWorksXpress why not take your design automation even further with DriveWorks Solo.

Download a 30-day full-feature free trial of DriveWorks Solo to see what you could achieve.

Try DriveWorksXpress and upscale to DriveWorks Solo or DriveWorks Pro at any time.

Explore the Capabilities of  DriveWorks

Learn how DriveWorks is helping companies to transform their processes and succeed.

IMA PG is a leading pioneer in packaging solutions in India. Operating in the pharmaceutical industry, they’ve been designing and manufacturing machinery for various pharmaceutical products and tablets since 1961. IMA PG work closely with DriveWorks Value Added Reseller Pelf Infotech Private Limited, based in Pune.

Design to Manufacture Process Before DriveWorks

Before DriveWorks, IMA’s design to manufacture process required an engineer to design every part component by changing each dimension manually. They also had to give annotations and dimensions for every view in a drawing sheet. With so much manual input, the risk of costly human error in the design process was high.

DriveWorks is currently used by the engineering team internally and has been implemented in the design process of almost every product range at the company.

Implementing DriveWorks

Introducing DriveWorks has revolutionised the way IMA design their products. They have now configured DriveWorks for layout and component designing.

This means an engineer can now input the requirements for each individual specification into their form.

Once the form is completed, the new model along with its manufacturing data is automatically generated and ready to be sent to the manufacturing floor.

Speeding up the Design Process

Using DriveWorks Automation, IMA can respond to sales enquiries much faster, reducing their lead time significantly, opening up even more sales opportunities.

Cavity Die is a part of the design process that has benefitted particularly from DriveWorks. The Cavities are changed depending on each individual specification, for example they might be round, or an oblong shape.

This process is now specified and controlled through DriveWorks Automation, and the plate size is driven through variable parameters.

The outputs generated by DriveWorks are also now created from the Master Model.

Benefits for IMA PG

Since installing DriveWorks, IMA PG have seen a significant time reduction in their design process.

Before DriveWorks, design time peaked at four days and this has now been reduced to just one day. Costly manufacturing errors have also reduced significantly, and IMA PG are now at 80% drawing accuracy across their product line.

Mr Mayur Patil, Manager at IMA PG says:

“DriveWorks has played a crucial role in our day to day work, helping us to achieve two important goals; time saving and accuracy.”

Try DriveWorks Free for 30 Days

Get started with DriveWorks. Download and use DriveWorks Solo free for 30 days with the DriveWorks Solo 30 Day Free Trial.

Available to anyone with SOLIDWORKS.