Innova's SolidWorks Blogspot

Innova ranked Number One for customer satisfaction in Europe

2010-02-04T12:45:00.003Z

SolidWorks recently asked customers to participate in a satisfactory survey, rating the quality of technical support provided by their reseller.

The results have just been announced at this years SolidWorks World event in Anaheim. At Innova Systems, we were extremely proud to hear we ranked number one from over 100 resellers in Northern Europe!

This is great news for us and our customers, ensuring you will always receive the highest level of support from us.

Alan

Innova Customer in MSN news

2010-01-19T09:59:00.005Z

SolidWorks is used in innovative technologies in all walks of life. I noticed Innova customer Plastic Logic featured in a technology article on MSN today. Plastic Logic are using SolidWorks to keep them at the forefront of developing 'electronic paper'. It's an interesting new technology that will no doubt be big in years to come.

Alan

Innova customer innovates to beat recession

2010-01-18T10:48:00.002Z

It's great to hear success stories about our SolidWorks users. CDi Worldwide, an Innova Systems customer specialising in packaging machinery, has been featured in Business Weekly for their growth in such hard economic times.

We've seen a lot of engineering companies struggle in 2009, but some have flourished by investing in R&D to build a strong product line to tackle the downturn. CDi are one such company, having doubled their staff and looking to recruit five new candidates, they predict their turnover to double to £1.5m this year.

Great news for the custom packaging machine manufacturer from Suffolk, and we continue to wish them the best.

Alan

Innova customer builds 100 year old aeroplane

2010-01-11T09:35:00.004Z

Innova Customer Round Peg are a Cambridgeshire based product design consultancy run by Nick Harrison. Nick is resident of Oakington, where in 1909 a pair of residents entered a competition to build the first British plane to fly a circular mile. Their design never left the ground, and a hundred years on, Nick is building a replica of the plane based on the design remodelled in SolidWorks.

Using donated materials and modern manufacturing techniques (Nick didn't want to use a hammer and chisel!) the plane is taking shape. At the moment they're looking at the engine, revisiting the original specification to give it enough power to comfortably fly.

Best of luck Nick.

Alan

SolidWorks World 2010

2010-01-05T11:49:00.003Z

Each year, SolidWorks Corp host a showcase event called SolidWorks World for users, enthusiasts and staff alike. I attended last years event in Florida and it was a brilliant experience. Below is a photo of some of the Innova team with SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray at the Award's Dinner:

This year it's being held in sunny Anaheim, California on 31st Jan - 3rd Feb (which is good news with all the snow we've been having here in the UK!).

The days events include morning keynote speakers (this years headline guest is film director James Cameron!) and the afternoons are filled with technical sessions you can attend to brush up your SolidWorks skills. For a design engineer, I would highly recommend these tech sessions - the content, range and quality is superb, and they are all run by SolidWorks staff or industry experts.

See if you can persuade you boss to let you go...

Alan

SolidWorks design Formula One helmets

2009-12-22T14:57:00.003Z

I came across an interesting story this week, how a SolidWorks customer has adapted one of its products for use across two vastly different markets.

SolidWorks is well established in snow sports, with customers such as Burton designing high performance snowboard bindings. So it was great to hear how a snowboard helmet company RuRoc have adapted a snowboarding helmet for use by Formula One pit crew teams.

Having made the necessary modifications such as fitting flame proof linings, RedBull Racing and McLaren have both used their helmets in recent seasons.

Alan

Squeezable mice!

2009-12-09T09:19:00.002Z

Following my last blog about a squeezy marmite pot, i've discovered another Innova customer who've developed a squeezy device.

Prestigious design house Cambridge Consultants are releasing a new product called Suma, a handheld interface to overhaul how we interact with computers. Suma translates your squeezes to manipulate movement through the internet ofr in video games. Pretty cool technology that they predict will become big in coming years.

Alan

Innova Systems in Develop3D magazine!

2009-11-25T09:14:00.002Z

I was pleased to notice Innova Systems featured in an article in this months Develop3D magazine. Innova customer Pemberton Dear recently designed a squeezy Marmite bottle using SolidWorks. As you can imagine, there were many challenges involved in working with a sticky, viscous substance like Marmite, and SolidWorks was key in ensuring the success of their solution. It was also great to see how Pemberton Dear used PhotoWorks as a invaluable tool in communicating ideas with the manufacturer.

Alan

SolidWorks designs Star Wars costumes...!

2009-11-23T12:39:00.002Z

I've got to admit, I'm not a Star Wars fan. I think this puts me in the minority, so i thought i should share this with everyone who does enjoy it.

I came across a link to a site where a guy from the US has designed and built his own tauntaun Halloween costume using SolidWorks (looks like he used SW07 though - he needs to upgrade!). Pretty impressive stuff, and top marks for effort!

Fancy your own mini-aeroplane?

2009-11-16T16:11:00.003Z

I was visiting one of my friends this weekend, and he said to me "have a look at this". He took me into his garage and i was expecting to see another motorbike, but i was confronted by this:

I thought this was pretty cool, but even more so when i realised that it was designed in SolidWorks by one of Innova's customers Bailey Aviation (my friend was not so impressed by this fact!). We wanted to take it for a spin, but didn't think his Dad would be too happy about us helping ourselves to his new toy!

Innova and Westfield Sports Cars

2009-11-09T11:33:00.002Z

Birmingham based Westfield Sports Cars are a long standing Innova customer, and we were very pleased to hear they have released a new vehicle, the Sport Turbo, with full European Small-Series type approval (EuSS), meaning it can be sold across the continent.

SolidWorks was integral to the design process, used to modernise a classic shell to accept the Vauxhall 1600 Turbo engine from the Corsa VXR. Westfield have also revamped the interior design, giving a much more luxary look and feel. They are projecting total sales of 300 cars this year, which is great news for the British company.

Alan

Customer day a great success!

2009-11-02T17:09:00.002Z

Thanks to all of our subscription customers who came to Duxford Imperial War Museum to see SolidWorks 2010 launched last Friday.

A great set of presentations from Justin Burton were well received, and those that i got a chance to talk to (it was a busy day!) were excited about the new release.

On that note, I'd say, hold fire until SP1 before going live with 2010. It might also be wise to install it in parallel, and play with it on a 'pack-and go'd' assembly.

Alan

Handling your old DWG/DXF data in SolidWorks

2009-10-28T10:10:00.003Z

I frequently get asked in demo's to explain how we can help customers manage their legacy 2D data after they switch to SolidWorks. Whilst it was fresh in my mind, i thought I'd write a brief blog to explain what's what.

Visit the DWGgateway website and watch the short demo video which explains it all.

In a nutshell, there are three products:

DWGGateway - allows to to open and save in almost all versions of AutoCAD
eDrawings - for viewing native DWG/DXF's
DWGEditor - edit any DWG/DXF just like you would in AutoCAD

Hopefully you'll never need to use AutoCAD again [much applause!]. But best yet, all these products are free!

Alan

Innova Customer Day – SolidWorks 2010 launch

2009-10-26T10:29:00.002Z

It’s that time of year again that we invite our subscription customers to our annual launch event of SolidWorks.

Due to the popularity of the venue last year, we’re holding it at Duxford Imperial War museum again. This time it’s a half day event, finishing off with a buffet lunch (last year’s food was spot on, so the food alone is a good reason to attend!)

The first presentation will begin at 9:30, then a mid-morning coffee break, another session taking us up to lunch. The presentations will be given by Justin Burton, SW UK Technical Manager, and in the breaks you’ll get a chance to meet the Innova team and discuss SolidWorks (or anything else you please!) with us.

The date for your diary is Friday 30th October. Doors open at 8:30.

If you’ve not regisitered via our mailshot already, visit here to confirm.

Look forward to seeing you there. Alan

An environmental conscience...?

2009-10-19T12:08:00.002+01:00

The news is full of stories about how much of a negative impact we’ve made on our planet. As a designer you may be unaware of just how much difference you can make! Imagine about how a run of 10,000 injection moulded parts could impact the environment throughout their lifecycle. Your design decisions could be significant....

With SolidWorks 2010, you will now have a tool called Sustainability Express, to help understand the impact of your design. Using a simple dashboard interface, you can see how your choice of material and manufacturing process will affect the environment in a number of key areas(shown in the diagram left).

Even if saving the environment isn’t your thing, you can use the great tool called ‘Find Similar Material’ for other reasons. Sustainability Express will compare the physical properties of your current material to its database, and suggest comparable materials to consider. You may be able to save cost, weight AND the environment.

This will be available in SW2010 SP1, or is currently downloadable as an add-in to SW2009 from SolidWorks Labs.

Alan

How about Windows 7

2009-10-12T11:12:00.002+01:00

When Microsoft launched Vista, it looked like a slick OS - what with being able to flick between windows Apple-style and other flashy things like that. But in reality, many people have commented to us that using Vista for much more than general office tasks has been a bit of an unsatisfactory experience.

Many of our customers are using SolidWorks on Vista, but we’ve held back here at Innova, and recommended XP when we’ve been asked about spec-ing a pc.

Out of curiosity, we’ve been using a pre-release version of Windows 7 on a laptop to run SolidWorks 2010 Beta. We even lent this out to a customer, and he said how great it was!

Windows 7 is officially launched on 22nd October, and SolidWorks 2010 SP1 will be certified for use on this platform. I am definitely going to use it as my main OS...

Please visit here for clarification of system requirements to run SolidWorks.

Alan

Got an iPhone - get the 3DVIA app

2009-10-05T10:38:00.003+01:00

3DVIA is a tool SolidWorks launched this year for creating interactive technical documentation (user manuals, assembly manuals, service guides – think of flat pack furniture instructions).

Now you can download an app for your iPhone so you can take a picture, and insert a digital model from 3DVIA.com.

Whether it’s just for fun, or to mock-up ideas to show in a meeting, the app is a great way to get 3DVIA out to the masses. Here I am in the office with a dinosaur!

Download the app for free (for a limited time):
Get the app

To find out about 3DVIA for SolidWorks:
Info on 3DVIA

Alan

A bit more about certifications...

2009-09-29T15:50:00.003+01:00

Following up the earlier blog from Mark, congratulating me on achieving the Advanced Simulation certifications, I thought I’d take a moment to share what is involved in the process.

SolidWork’s run a pretty tight ship, and there are a number of qualifications for Application Engineers to pass to be able to provide the great tech support we do. Here at Innova, we are encouraged to aim high, and we’re proud to have a brimming trophy cabinet!

These two exams involve a thorough understanding of Non-linear analysis (this could be materials, large displacements, and changing contact between parts during loading), Dynamnic analysis (exciting a part, random vibrations, shock loading etc), and also CFD (computational fluid dynamics) for simulating liquid and gas behaviour in your products.

Getting these two Simulation certifications means Innova continues to be qualified to the highest standard to sell and support SolidWorks and Simulation.

So that’s great news for you, because you can be sure that calling us with a question will get a speedy response.

Also, there are also tests you as customers can take, to prove your SolidWorks skills!

Take a minute to look at:

SolidWorks Certifications

Here you can read up about the CSWP and CSWA tests (and others!), see what’s required, and even sit some sample tests.

If you are interested, please give us a call (01223 200690), and we can help with any training needed to get you up to speed.

Alan

SolidWorks 2010 is released

2009-09-09T16:33:00.001+01:00

Leading mechanical design software company Innova Systems has announced the availability of SolidWorks 2010. SolidWorks is a design software that is used by over one million engineers and designers worldwide and has gained a strong reputation for its ease of use and the quality of design that it enables. This latest version of SolidWorks contains 200 new user-driven features that help designers and engineers work more efficiently and enable them to produce better results.

More Certifcation for Innova Technical Team.

2009-09-09T16:07:00.005+01:00

At Innova Systems, we work had to ensure our team are the most skilled in the business, so we would like to congratulate Alan Coles for his recent certification. He has now achieved the highest level of Simulation Premium and Flow Simulation.

Alan said "I am convinced more customers should be using these tools. They are simple, and effective. The Simulation workflow helps take away the mystery behind analysis and helps engineers and designers to gain a much improved in sight in to the performance and behaviour of their design. Surely, it is much better to find out any mistakes whilst the product is still digital, rather than have committed to assembly or production.

Congratulations to Alan

Good news - as UK Manufacturers haul there way back ...

2009-06-11T15:41:00.001+01:00

Optimism amongst UK manufacturers is on the rise according to the latest figures from BDO Stoy Hayward's Manufacturing Optimism Index.

The UK manufacturing sector is starting to show the first signs of rallying with both optimism and output levels at a seven month high.The optimism index, which is a measure of business confidence and is a strong predictor of economic growth two quarters ahead, rose to 87.4 in May, up from 86.4 in April.

This is extremely positive given that the index reached a 12 year low (79.4) in March. Further bolstering this news was the fact that output levels, which calculates order book strength and short run turnover expectations, also increased for the second consecutive month from 83.6 in April to 86.0 in May – the biggest monthly increase since December 2007.

Tom Lawton, head of manufacturing at BDO Stoy Hayward, says: "It's still too early to call the bottom of the market, but these are certainly some positive results and could suggest that things are beginning to look up for the UK's manufacturers. "The manufacturing sector was one of the first to feel the effects of the credit crunch when order books collapsed, however, anecdotally we're now hearing that manufacturers are looking to re-stock and believe that they could be looking at the bottom of the cycle.

More good stuff from SolidWorks Labs

2008-12-16T09:16:00.004Z

We love SolidWorks Labs!

It produces some good productive stuff that you can use right now. The latest is Tree house which allows you to scope out how your next design will be structured

This new application from SolidWorks Labs features an intuitive user interface that allows you to plan out how your assembly will be arranged before you actually start designing components. Treehouse enables you to name your components and add custom properties all before creating a single document.

Arrange Assemblies, Parts and Drawings
Drag visual representations of your SolidWorks templates to build a hierarchy of assemblies, parts and drawings. Rearrange the documents by simply dragging documents to their updated position in the tree. Fill in any custom properties defined on the document templates.

Export to SolidWorks Documents
Once you are satisfied with your layout, you can export the hierarchy to SolidWorks documents. Treehouse will automatically create SW documents in the location you specify. These documents will reference each other according to the structure defined in Treehouse. You can now start filling in your design or check the documents into your PDM system to be filled in later.
Note: Treehouse requires SolidWorks 2008 or 2009 to be installed.

SolidWorks World News

2008-11-14T08:02:00.001Z

Hot off the presses today is the news that entrepreneur extraordinaire Richard Branson will be a Keynote Speaker at SolidWorks World 2009. Richard is the man behind the Virgin Group which started as a record company but has since expanded to include airlines, mobile phones, broadband, and commercial space flight just to name a few.
When “the list” was published at Matthew West’s Blog a few weeks back Mr. Branson was one of the folks that quickly caught my eye. I’m really looking forward to hearing him speak as he is quite an inspirational person

2008-11-13T14:21:00.002Z

Richard Branson to be Keynote Speaker at SolidWorks World 2009

Join us in Orlando, FL at the Walt Disney® World Swan & Dolphin for SolidWorks World 2009 ~ February 8 - 11, 2009

Energize your design ideas and strengthen your skills at SolidWorks World 2009, SolidWorks Corporation's annual user conference and exposition

Benefits of attending SolidWorks World:

- Learn how you can design better products - choose from over 150 technical breakout sessions led by industry experts.

- Network with other SolidWorks users, Solution Partners, and resellers, as well as SolidWorks employees.

- Explore the latest 3D CAD technology offered by more than 100 exhibitors in the SolidWorks Partner Pavilion.

Presentation Studio from SolidWorks Labs

2008-11-07T14:40:00.003Z

At Innova, we really like the neat productivity tools that can really enhance productivity during the design process. As part of the SolidWorks labs suite of free products, Presentation Studio is the newest and one of the neatest pieces of functionality that can really help.

PDF is the standard method for sharing documents. Add in 3D capabilities, and now you've got documents really worth sharing.
With Presentation Studio you can create a Design Brief, Price Sheet, Technical Summary, Feature Review, or Product Specification in minutes. But unlike ordinarly PDFs, an embedded 3D model conveys your design in a way 2D just can't. The PDF can then be read on any computer with Adobe Acrobat 8 or above. Give it a go. Its really neat.

http://labs.solidworks.com/Projects/PresentationStudio/