SolidWorks unveils New Routing tool to automate 3D design

New Delhi: SolidWorks Corporation (www.solidworks.com), the 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software company, has unveiled SolidWorks Routing in India, an easy-to-use tool that gives automated tube, pipe, and cable route design capabilities in one application.

With SolidWorks Routing, customers can now complete their entire product design in one application, faster and with fewer errors than ever before. The software package will be shipped as part of the recently launched SolidWorks 2004 3D design software at a price of $4,000.

SolidWorks Routing is fully integrated with the company''s recently announced SolidWorks 2004. SolidWorks Routing targets machine and equipment designers who have traditionally been forced to choose between barely functional tools and expensive, highly specialised applications that don''t meet all of their needs.

Says SolidWorks Corporation director (Asia Pacific operations) Ved Narayan: "The Routing tool is a reflection of our efforts in making our customers'' lives simpler. Features such as intelligent routing and updating are novel and help our customers to further push the boundaries in 3D CAD design. We are confident that the time and cost-saving benefits of SolidWorks Routing will be instantly recognised by our customers, both in India and abroad."

SolidWorks Routing is an all-inclusive package for customers who need to incorporate a variety of different routes into their product designs and eliminate much of the manual work that other routing software requires. For example, SolidWorks Routing allows customers to develop various route types in 3D designs including pneumatic, hydraulic, piping, and cable routes for power and control functions, all without leaving the SolidWorks design application. This integrated approach ensures design and bill of materials (BOM) accuracy and helps customers complete designs quickly to speed products to market.

"Meeting customer deadlines is imperative, so we''re constantly looking for ways to save time," says Wes Mosier, designer, Edwards Air Base, California. "For the first time, we''ve got one application to design all of the tubes and pipes carrying fuel, engine coolant, and other vital fluids, as well as the electrical conduits, for the mechanisms we use to test these engines. SolidWorks Routing increases our productivity because we can design all routes at once, rather than piecemeal. That helps us meet strict Department of Defense schedules."

"Until now, engineers had to rely on a patchwork of different applications and a fair amount of manual tasks to accurately configure tubes, pipes, and cables in their product designs," says Chris Garcia, SolidWorks vice-president of research and development. "SolidWorks Routing addresses an industry need for one tool that automates routing design regardless of material, dimension, or complexity. Engineers can now quickly develop routing designs that otherwise would have taken hours to complete and required even more time to fix errors."