Lordgate Engineering Limited of St Ives, Cambridge, manufactures precision formed and fabricated parts for the Civilian aerospace, Railway, Military, Medical and electronic industries, working with well known names such as Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier and British Airways. Under constant pressure to win new business in a fiercely competitive marketplace, Lordgate Engineering looked to improve new product development by implementing a new 3D design system to utilise design resource more efficiently and to support customer requirements.
David Cornell, Sales and Project Coordinator at Lordgate Engineering comments, “I had a brief look at using 3D with AutoCAD but found it was just too difficult to use. Furthermore, any changes to the model did not automatically update and production drawings were taking to much time. I then looked at Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA and Solid Edge, but quickly found SOLIDWORKS offered the best price performance for our business.
The results within a short space of time using SOLIDWORKS have been impressive and we have seen many significant benefits such as: – Eliminating the expensive and time-consuming process of building prototypes. We are confident the design will always “go together beautifully”. Product animations and shaded images of products in their conceptual phase can be easily created, helping to set customers expectations and impress potential customers.
Complete drawing documentation can be easily produced to show exploded views and assembly process sequences Working with a number of customers who have different 3D design systems, so we use the rich set of data import tools within SOLIDWORKS to ensure we can work with our customer’s 3D data. eDrawings help to communicate design information to customers and suppliers. Simulation Xpress has proved useful to validate stress under certain loading conditions.
“SOLIDWORKS now underpins all of our new product development. We have definitely made the right choice with SOLIDWORKS and Innova Systems as our supplier. Their local support and excellent technical assistance helps me exactly at the time when I need it”. Comments David
Lordgate Engineering collaborate with Technical Resin Bonders Lordgate Engineering also work in partnership with Technical Resin Bonders of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, who are a market leader in the manufacture of a range of lightweight panels, adhesive bonded assemblies and composite components for the rail, aerospace, marine, defence and motor racing industries. Technical Resin Bonders also use SOLIDWORKS supplied by Innova Systems for new product development; ensuring design data can flow seamlessly between the two companies.
“Lordgate Engineering needed to improve product development and have not looked back since their investment in SOLIDWORKS. This once again confirms that companies with the vision and desire to improve their existing design process will reap the benefits by producing better designs, at less cost to ultimately win more business. We value our partnership with both Lordgate Engineering and Technical Resin Bonders”, said Mark Bradford, Managing Director at Innova Systems.
