Challenge

Quickly and cost-effectively develop advanced air-quality monitoring systems—across a distributed design team—for use in harsh industrial environments and crowded venues.

Solution

Implement cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE® Works solutions, including Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS®, Collaborative Business Innovator, and Collaborative Industry Innovator.

Results

  • Accelerated innovative air-quality sensor development
  • Avoided substantial IT hardware costs for data management
  • Streamlined development workflows
  • Realized automated data management and revision control

Remote Work Vital to Success

When Vortex was founded in 2017, it implemented SOLIDWORKS to design and engineer its products. However, in early 2020 the innovative startup needed to find a way to continue product development during lockdowns, according to Senior Product Design Engineer Bryce Davey.

“We were already looking at doing product development on a cloud-based platform to remain on the cutting edge of innovation when COVID hit,” Davey recalls. “A cloud-based system suddenly became vital to keeping product design on track and on schedule. In short, we needed to quickly implement a cloud-based development system that enabled us to work remotely and exchange CAD data while also integrating our existing CAD designs.” Vortex implemented cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE Works solutions in 2020.

 

Vortex 3DEXPERIENCE Works design in a street

 

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Data Management & Workflow Matters

“SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD seamlessly connects with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, making SOLIDWORKS CAD data accessible to team members working from home, and the platform provides automated revision control and the ability to work in the cloud without the need for [building an internal] server infrastructure,” Davey continues.

Vortex was up and running within a few days. The platform also enabled the company to quickly replicate and streamline its workflows with distinct dashboards that helped make working remotely more efficient.

Data management was the biggest issue we faced in the cloud, and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform takes care of that without having to spend thousands on server infrastructure and administration.

Bryce Davey
Senior Product Design Engineer

"The system is safe and secure, and all that we need to worry about is who can access the system by managing user access rights, which creates opportunities for working more productively with vendors and partners by giving them access only to the data they need," continues Davey.

 

3DEXPERIENCE Works screenshot for Vortex project

 

Looking Forward

Since implementing 3DEXPERIENCE Works solutions, Vortex has continued developing and transitioning to mass production of a next-generation sensor for its air quality monitoring system. “In the future, we plan on leveraging the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for efficiently managing engineering change orders and effectively communicating with manufacturing and assembly partners,” enthuses Davey. “As our product development efforts expand, we are confident that our use of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will also increase to support and maintain business growth.”

 

Vortex 3DEXPERIENCE Works design in a street

 

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