ZW3D, one of the world's leading suppliers of advanced CAD/CAM solutions for the manufacturing industry, announced the 30th anniversary of ZW3D CAD/CAM. It’s an occasion to step back and record and also an occasion to muse on the next thirty years ahead.
“30 is an age of vitality and energy for humans, almost vintage for a car, an eternity for an ant and next to nothing for a star…” said Mark Vorwaller, President of ZWSOFT America. “I think, what 30 means to us is the amazing amount of experience that we’ve gathered - 30 years of global partnerships, 30 years of services & 30 years spent on collaboration and invention.”
Back in 1986, ZW3D, developed by Mark as ModelMATE, was one of the 1st commercial PC-based solid modelers. In 1999, Solid-Surface Hybrid Modeling technology, one of the most revolutionary developments in ZW3D, was added, bringing the first hybrid modeler to the industry. This technology eliminates the boundaries between solid and surface modeling, making solid features feasible on surface as well.
“Aesthetics are becoming increasingly important even with industrial products. The ZW3D hybrid modeling is packed with surfacing capabilities we need for the smoothly-contoured designs required for a product like the Power Cap,” said Mark Williams, R&D Manager at Johnstone Safety Products Ltd. “ZW3D really helped us to design this product to not only work well but look best.”
Later on, via a successful alliance with SNK (SHIN NIPPON KOKI CO., LTD. ), a machine tool company, a turnkey solution for manufacturers was integrated. ZW3D had developed into one of the first design-through-manufacturing packages and was awarded “Gold Winner & Product of the Year” by NASA Tech Brief in 2002.
“With our purchase of ZW3D software, we are now designing parts in-house, which offers our customers a turnkey solution from product idea to manufacturing,” said Everton Cope, President of American Stove Parts.
Then, seven years later, OverdriveTM, ZW3D’s unique engine, was developed. “When it comes to modeling, the OverdriveTM kernel of ZW3D is among the fastest that I’ve ever seen,” said Atom Zhou, Product of Matsuya Machinery. “As for CAM functions, ZW3D reduces working hours and the amount of material consumed in production.”
Today, ZW3D incorporates with various partner applications, like TraceParts for parts library, FTI for sheet metal, Keyshot for rendering, Simwise for FEA & Eureka for machining etc., to break the limits of CAD/CAM.
“One of the greatest part of being involved in a company watching it grows is to see how ZW3D is used in every day work. It’s all around us and used to design and machine auto parts, consumer products, electrics, molds…” Said Colin Lin, Director of ZW3D Overseas Business. “It’s very exciting to know that we’ve been part of that.”
“The development process we are and will be using is similar to what we used 30 years ago: to listen to our users and partners, fillet out the good ideas from bad ones and make our software better,” added Colin. “In the years to come, ZW3D will be developing towards an ideal solution for middle CAD/CAM market.”
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