Aerosport Modeling & Design, Inc.

The Challenge

Geoff Combs’ passion for models, design, and aero sports—he once competed as a sponsored radio-controlled aircraft flyer—led him to found Aerosport Modeling & Design, Inc., in 1996. The firm produces high-quality prototypes, appearance models, working models, and machined parts for customers in a variety of industries, and also serves as an extension to its clients’ design and engineering teams. Aerosport needed a solution for automating the creation of flat patterns for upholstering seats for use in aircraft and automobiles.

The Solution

Aerosport chose the combination of SOLIDWORKS® Professional design software and ExactFlat® Design Studio 3D-to-2D flattening software because the solutions are completely integrated, are easy to use, and improve the accuracy of upholstery patterns. Using the combined SOLIDWORKS and ExactFlat solution, Aerosport has reduced time-to-market by 50 percent, cut seat upholstery production costs by 30 percent, shortened seat upholstery pattern creation from a week to an hour, and improved the accuracy and quality of complex seat upholstery.