Datapaq Ltd (www.datapaq.com) designs and manufactures temperature profiling and analysis systems for use in industrial heat-treating processes. Datapaq has established a worldwide reputation for the quality and reliability of its products, providing customers with systems, which are highly accurate and easy to use.
All of our mechanical design work was previously carried out using an industry standard 2D CAD package until we migrated to SolidWorks. Following a detailed investigation SolidWorks was chosen over its competitors, not only for it's technical superiority, but also because of the professionalism and customer orientated ethos of the Reseller" comments Michael Winter of DataPaq

Benefits of SolidWorks
Within a short space of time, SolidWorks was actively contributing towards the Datapaq business and delivering real benefits.

SolidWorks helps to improve communication of prototype mechanical designs to engineering and non-engineering departments alike within the organisation, making extensive use of 3D drawings, photo realistic images and short video clips. This alone has reduced the number of prototypes made to allow marketing people to visualise and apply aesthetic changes to the end product early in the design process. Any changes can then be incorporated helping to keep expensive changes late in the development process to an absolute minimum.

Photo realistic images created by PhotoWorks are also used in sales literature and on the official website during the final products design cycle.

E-drawings and the 3D instant website products have proved to be invaluable when discussing design issues with suppliers, enabling them to view components and assemblies as a 3D model, even allowing manipulation of assembly components to help them understand the design.

The lead-time, manufacture and modification of prototype parts has been much more efficient since the move to a SolidWorks. The solid model data can be used to generate the CNC program for machined components and STEP files can be exported for Rapid Prototyping.