SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual – the Future of Collaborative Design

3D CAD tools have been around for a couple decades now, but old-school techniques are alive and well when it comes to conceptual design. With SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual, there is finally a proper tool for capturing quickly evolving designs and collaborating with multiple team members in the important stages of conceptual design.

So, why is SOLIDWORKS focusing on mechanical conceptual design? Well, in a typical design process there are many teams involved in producing the final product. Many processes can run in parallel, but certain activities – such as building prototypes, testing those prototypes, and creating technical communication deliverables – need to wait until the detailed design is finished.

One area that is often overlooked in the complete, end-to-end process is the conceptual design stage, where ideas are created and discarded in rapid succession, and many people are involved. By using SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual up front in the design process to capture and test numerous concepts quickly, the entire design process is compressed even further.

Through research with their customers engaged in mechanical conceptual design, Dassault Systèmes found some interesting statistics that are common across many industries: 

• In a typical design project, up to 31% of the entire project time is spent on mechanical conceptual design. A reduction in time here could have a significant impact on the overall design process.
• On average there are six conceptual and four design iterations per project. That’s 50% more design iterations than during the detailed design stage.
• Three out of four engineers working on the project get involved in this conceptual design. That’s a lot of hours spent on this activity.
• And 98% of customers collaborate during conceptual design – input from customers, suppliers, and colleagues.

Traditionally ideas are captured with pen and paper, a whiteboard, 2D CAD, or even 3D CAD. Even quick and dirty models made from Popsicle sticks, cardboard, and rubber bands are surprisingly common. Each of these methods has its strengths and weaknesses – for instance, hand drawn concepts are quick to create but difficult to validate, while 2D and 3D CAD tools are more accurate but are for detailed design, not for capturing and testing multiple concepts quickly.

With collaboration being a key element of conceptual design, what’s needed is more than just a conceptual modeling tool. To address these issues, Dassault Systèmes created the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, an internet backbone to bring their powerful technologies onto one common platform.

These technologies come in the form of specific applications. The Information Intelligence apps connect people, data, solutions, and ideas, from within and outside the enterprise in a single visual and intuitive environment creating a comprehensive business picture. The Social and Collaborative apps enable you to create online, internal and external communities, connecting people in your business ecosystem, and 3DSpace to share content online. The 3D modeling apps, including SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual (and SOLIDWORKS Industrial Conceptual next year), and the Content & Simulation apps from SIMULIA help you create and validate your design ideas.

SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual is a brand new complementary software application designed specifically to solve the issues surrounding mechanical conceptual design. It delivers tools to address the four key elements of mechanical concept design: Conceptual, Social, Instinctive, and Connected.

Conceptual
You can rapidly evolve your ideas digitally, creating concepts the way you want without design barriers, and automatically capture your ideas for use anytime in the future.

Instinctive
The workflow for creating your conceptual designs is very natural, almost instinctive, enabling you to design the way you think with agile, instinctive design tools in a structure-less modeling environment. Design elements exhibit real world behavior, and the flexibility of mixed history and direct editing delivers the freedom you need to explore your ideas.

Social
Use familiar social collaboration tools in an interactive environment to harness the collective intelligence of your company, customers, and vendors. Gather early feedback from all project stakeholders, from anywhere on any device, so you can make informed decisions faster and deliver a better experience for your customers.

Connected
All design and collaboration data is stored online, giving you safe secure access to the information you need fast. With multiple users connected to the same collaborative space, real-time updates and real concurrent design is a reality all with transparent, zero-overhead, and zero-setup data management.

Be sure to watch this space, our YouTube channel, and Webinar Wednesday events for more information on SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual as it rolls out this year. You can also watch this YouTube series from the SOLIDWORKS team: Concept Before CAD.