Established in 2015, Bowland CAD Services provide expert design & detailing of architectural metalwork & steel fabrication, combining the latest SOLIDWORKS software with over 30 years of experience in engineering to provide design services to an ever-growing network of clients. We spoke with the Company Owner, Jason Merrin, to find out how he uses SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD & SOLIDWORKS Visualize to design his architectural structures.
Why did you choose SOLIDWORKS?
Before moving to SOLIDWORKS, Bowland CAD Services used AutoCAD & Tekla, which didn’t live up to the standard that SOLIDWORKS sets, as Jason explains, “AutoCAD was well and truly outdated, and Tekla isn’t intuitive and didn’t offer the design tools that SOLIDWORKS has. For my bespoke architectural design, SOLIDWORKS is far better for creating beautiful results that are expressed even further in Visualize. The UI is beautiful. I spend most of my time looking at and building the models, to see them with real view graphics, shadows and reflections is just a joy.”
Making the jump in 2018 to go from 2D to 3D CAD,
“It has been a great asset to attract new clients, due to its excellent visualizations”.
When it comes to Weldments & Sheet Metal, “the time saved in comparison to AutoCAD for making mitered joints, end caps and sheet metal developments is just amazing”.
What projects have Bowland CAD Services been working on recently & how does using SOLIDWORKS benefit you?
“Typical jobs are general fabrications, small structural projects, architectural glass, and stainless projects. It has been a great asset and has attracted lots of new clients due to its excellent visualization capabilities on both screenshots and rendered images.”
“I am currently working on a series of organically shaped staging and balustrades for a new build in central Manchester. The fluidity and intuitive UI in SOLIDWORKS enable complex features like this to be easily modeled and detailed. The ability to import and export .IFC files has been an advantage, as the client’s team don’t have SOLIDWORKS so this easily enables them to view the drawings free of charge through the eDrawings viewer.”
How have Innova Systems helped Bowland CAD Services make the jump from 2D to 3D?
The sales element from Mike Atkins, North West Regional Account Manager was very good. I had other offers but preferred dealing with Mike and so approached him to complete the deal.
Bowland CAD Services find the Innova Systems support team useful as he explains, “I use the support element a lot and I was very surprised with how I am almost always accommodated on the first call to Innova, without a queue.”
“I had concerns with moving to Innova as it is a smaller team than other resellers, but Mike Atkins assured me that the support would meet my requirements, and he was right! In fact, having a smaller support team means that you get to know the team which makes the experience more personal. I find, generally speaking, the support team is more familiar and friendly than my experience with other support teams. I will be continuing my support subscription when it runs out in May 2021 .”
What does the future hold for Bowland CAD Services?
For the ‘bread and butter’ income for Bowland CAD Services, I will continue to offer my services as a draughtsman and am considering taking on an employee next year to expand this. I have a few products I want to take to market myself, so I will be doing all the design for those, and sub-contracting the manufacture. I would like eventually to be in a position where I am designing my own products only, and selling them via a sales team
