SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software helps WEISSER streamline the development of early design concepts, enabling the company to shorten its sales cycle, compress development time, and improve customer communications.

J.G. WEISSER SÖHNE, GmbH ACCELERATING TURNING MACHINE CONCEPT DESIGN

WITH SOLIDWORKS CONCEPTUAL DESIGNER

...designed to be faster

Rettich signed up for the SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer Lighthouse Program, which provides the opportunity to use the software in production as part of prerelease testing. WEISSER’s involvement in early usage and testing of SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software, the first SOLIDWORKS solution on the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform, confirmed Rettich’s belief that the software would help the company streamline the development of early design concepts, enabling WEISSER to shorten its sales cycle, compress development time, and improve customer communications.

FASTER CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT SHORTENS SALES CYCLEUsing SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software to quickly create and share machine concepts with customers has shortened WEISSER’s sales cycle and resulted in a 15 to 20 percent reduction in the company’s machine development process. “SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer has not only enabled us to more efficiently and completely create machine concepts, share our ideas, and discuss solution options with our customers, it has also allowed us to more easily bring initial concepts into SOLIDWORKS CAD software and more quickly introduce innovations to market,” Rettich says.

“SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software has helped us shorten our sales process as well as save time later in the development cycle,” Rettich adds. “SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer lets us share concepts with customers through an online design community, so our customers have a better understanding of how their custom machine will work. This capability helps us obtain faster purchasing decisions because we only need days to brief the customer and can interact with customers online no matter where they are located. Customers now have the necessary information to validate

Challenge:Accelerate design concept development to shorten sales cycles while improving customer communications.

Solution:Implement SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software.

Benefits:• Reduced design time by 15 to 20 percent• Shortened sales approval cycle from weeks

to days• Improved communications with

customers worldwide• Resolved vibration issues early in development

“SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer has not only enabled us to more efficiently and

completely create machine concepts, share our ideas, and discuss solution options with our customers, it has also allowed us to more easily bring initial concepts into SOLIDWORKS CAD software and more quickly introduce innovations to market.”

— Thorsten Rettich, Managing Director, General Manager, Technology & Engineering

J.G. WEISSER SÖHNE GmbH & Co. KG is a leading global manufacturer of multifunctional precision turning machines and turning centers. From its facility in St. Georgen, in the Black Forest of Germany, the company develops and manufactures high-quality automation systems and tailor-made, process-optimized system solutions with a focus on technology integration and the goal of supporting complete machining in a single setup.

The WEISSER brand has had a reputation for implementing cutting-edge technologies for more than 150 years and is currently among the world’s top suppliers of machining systems to the major car manufacturers, their suppliers, and other metalworking industry sectors. Today, WEISSER focuses on developing complete turnkey manufacturing systems that meet customer-specific requirements, support faster operating speeds, and increase process productivity and reliability. By supporting shorter cycle times and the associated lower unit costs, WEISSER provides its customers with competitive advantages, especially in high-volume manufacturing.

WEISSER has used the SOLIDWORKS® design platform to develop its machines for a number of years. However, in order to better evaluate customer challenges, advance the development of design concepts early in the sales cycle, and work more closely with customers located all over the world, WEISSER needed to leverage the Internet and more agile concept development tools to accelerate the design and validation of machine concepts prior to winning an order, according to Managing Director, General Manager, Technology & Engineering Thorsten Rettich.

“We’ve struggled with using pen and paper sketches to communicate how a machine works to prospective customers, many of whom speak a different language,” Rettich explains. “When I heard about a new application called SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer at the 2013 SOLIDWORKS World Conference and Exhibition, I was intrigued by its possibilities for resolving our concept development and communication challenges.”

their purchasing decisions almost immediately, when in the past these decisions usually took at least two weeks.”

DETERMINING NATURAL FREQUENCIES EARLY ONBecause SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software includes integrated finite element analysis and simulation tools, early WEISSER machine concepts are also better validated. “We primarily use the simulation tools in SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer to check the natural frequencies of machine work pieces,” Rettich notes.

“Our machines involve rotation, and we need to avoid resonant frequencies and achieve harmonic frequencies to keep them running smoothly,” Rettich continues. “These simulations help us avoid vibration, rumbling, and chattering in the work piece by providing insights on where to install chucks, grips, and clamps. By validating early concepts, we have a better understanding of exactly what’s required for a machine, which improves the accuracy of our cost and pricing structure.”

IMPROVING CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONSWith its social-networklike communication capabilities, SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software supports WEISSER’s efforts to improve communications with both its customers and sales force. The company can share new machine concepts and project information with customers and sales personnel in realtime via secure web access to an online, blog like design community.

“We can take a customer’s shop floor layout into SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software and arrange new machine concepts to fit the customer’s particular factory footprint,” Rettich says. “Visual information such as this allows us to overcome language barriers and incorporate customer input without having to travel, hold a meeting, or schedule a call. SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software lets us work both faster and smarter.”

With SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer software, WEISSER can more effectively create and communicate early design concepts to customers, as well as run early simulations to avoid resonant frequencies and achieve the harmonic frequencies required for smooth operation.

Our 3DEXPERIENCE® platform powers our brand applications, serving 12 industries, and provides a rich portfolio of industry solution experiences. Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE® Company, provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systèmes’ collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. The group brings value to over 190,000 customers of all sizes in all industries in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com.

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J.G. WEISSER SÖHNE GmbH & Co. KG VAR: Solidpro, Vöhringen, Germany

Headquarters: Bundesstraße 178112 St. Georgen GERMANYPhone: +49 7724 881 0

For more informationwww.weisser-web.com