S-Concept Merges Traditional Craftsmanship with Modern Technologies

Lucas Saden, founder of S‑Concept, began with a vision to create custom furniture and prototypes using the finest materials. Often referred to as artisanal manufacturing, which implies handmade production, he Paris-based company combines craftsmanship with modern technology such as digital milling or 3D printing to enhance precision and efficiency. This ensures efficient production of high-quality products that can be sold at competitive prices.

S‑Concept wanted to design and manufacture products in house to enable complete control over every step from concept through production. “I wanted to make quality products all in house right here in my Paris workshop,” effuses Saden. One of his key challenges was finding a way to combine the intricacies of traditional craftsmanship with the speed and precision offered by digital manufacturing. Without the right tools, producing certain products would have taken too long, making them unaffordable, and therefore unmarketable.

Saden was already using Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS®. “It was an obvious choice for me to use their digital milling solution, NC Shop Floor Programmer,” he explains. “By modeling in 3D with SOLIDWORKS, I can now create products that were previously impractical to make because they would have taken too much time, making it impossible to sell them at reasonable prices.”

By integrating these tools, Saden could design complex products in SOLIDWORKS and seamlessly transition them to manufacturing using NC Shop Floor Programmer. And, by leveraging digital milling and 3D printing it became feasible to drastically reduce production times and costs.

“The benefit of digital milling and 3D printing is being able to run the machines automatically while I fabricate something else,” Saden observes. This can result in shorter lead times and quicker iterations, enabling faster product development. Another key benefit is the ability to meet specific customer demands for customization without disrupting the overall manufacturing workflow.

NC Shop Floor Programmer provided S‑Concept with several distinct advantages, including:

Automated Hole Recognition: Drilling hundreds of holes is a common task in furniture manufacturing. NC Shop Floor Programmer’s automated hole recognition streamlined this process, allowing Saden to set up programming in a fraction of the time.

Efficient 2.5D Milling: The tool’s ability to generate machine code and define tools quickly made machining operations fast and accurate, enhancing productivity.

Simultaneous Operations: Saden could maximize productivity and minimize downtime by focusing on other high-value tasks while the machines ran automatically.

The integration of SOLIDWORKS and NC Shop Floor Programmer enabled S‑Concept to manufacture high-quality, complex products that combine modern technology with traditional craftsmanship. The seamless and rapid transition from design to production along with the ability to efficiently set up and run programs on machines unattended enabled S‑Concept to deliver custom products at affordable prices while maintaining artisanal standards.

“Programming the part, defining it, generating the machine code, defining the tools, is all incredibly fast and seamless [with NC Shopfloor Programmer],” notes Saden. “Combining traditional craftsmanship with modern manufacturing gives me an edge. You can make extremely complex products quickly, and that is essential [to remaining competitive].”

By embracing digital manufacturing solutions like NC Shop Floor Programmer and SOLIDWORKS, S‑Concept successfully bridges the gap between traditional craftsmanship and advanced modern technologies for design and manufacturing. These tools offer the efficiency and flexibility needed for the S Concept team to consistently deliver high-quality products while staying competitive in the ever-evolving custom manufacturing market.