In order to improve the automation of their business, Croft Trailer Supply asked engineer Rick Stephens to research and recommend a 3D CAD program. He initially considered AutoCAD and SolidWorks, but found that Alibre Design Professional delivered the needed features, yet the price was similar to that of AutoCAD LT.
"Sure I was a little skeptical -- at that low price I was concerned that there had to be a major hole someplace," said Stephens, "However, we went ahead and made the decision to purchase Alibre Design Professional. Well, I have used it almost every day since and haven't found any holes."
In fact, in a few short months, Stephens has already built the company's utility trailer line in Alibre Design and plans to move on to the other product lines, a testament to the program's ease of use. He also credits this rapid rise in productivity to Alibre's excellent support, which was available both over the phone and via the program's integrated collaborative web capabilities.
The availability of fully detailed associative 2D drawings has led additional productivity increases on the manufacturing side of the business as well. Contract welders hired to supplement the regular crew no longer need the attention of a full-time worker to be productive; all the information is already provided in the 2D drawing.
"We jumped in with both feet, and I'm glad we did," Stephens continued. "With 3D modeling and communication tools that were not available before, we are realizing productivity gains with Alibre Design we didn't think were possible. It shows that even a 65-year old company can learn new tricks."
Alibre develops and markets Alibre Design, a parametric 3D solid modeler for mechanical design and manufacturing. One-fifth the cost of comparable software, Alibre Design delivers ease-of-use, rich functionality, extensive tutorials and unique real-time support via the Alibre Assistant. Customers may also share and edit product designs in real time with integrated online tools. Alibre Design is available in seven languages and distributed around the world. Founded in 1997, Alibre Inc. is privately funded and based in Richardson, Texas. For more information, visit www.alibre.com.
Attention media: the full story, including images, may be downloaded from http://www.alibre.com/news/mediaroom/
Alibre and Alibre Design are trademarks of Alibre Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective holders.
Contact:
Alibre, Richardson Jessica Formosa, 972-671-8492 ext. 257 Email Contact.