Alfa Instrumentos, a Brazil-based industrial manufacturer of electronic components, has launched a new catalog of configurable 3D CAD models, built by CADENAS PARTsolutions. Featuring more than 100 product families and 10,000 individual products, the catalog will help
streamline the process for engineers looking to specify Alfa Instrumentos parts in to their designs. The configurable parts are available on-demand at Alfa Instrumentos website, ready for download in more than 150 formats.
Alfa Instrumentos, best known for their industrial weighing products, as well as weight transmitters, indicators, load cells and big bag loaders, was looking for ways to streamline the process for engineers specifying Alfa Instrumentos products into designs.
“Previously, we would get a drawing request from a customer over the phone,” says Breno Chvaicer, President and CEO of Alfa Instrumentos. “Once the sales team took the drawing request, they would send to engineering who would prepare a neutral drawing. Then the whole process would go in reverse, engineering would send back to sales, who would then send to the customer. Now, the process is much more user-friendly. Engineers have on-demand access to the 3D CAD models any time of day or night.”
Alfa Instrumentos not only sees the customer benefits of the digital part configurator, but also the benefits to their internal engineering team. “Now, without the need to respond to every drawing development request, our team has much more time to focus on their primary responsibilities,” says Paulo Ripoli, Mechanical Engineering Manager at Alfa Instrumentos.
In addition to on-demand access of 3D CAD Models, Alfa Instrumentos is now providing true native 3D CAD models in more than 150 formats.
“A common problem with neutral files is their lack of fidelity in today’s highly specialized CAD platforms,” says Tim Thomas, CEO of CADENAS PARTsolutions. “Neutral files often have translation issues when moving from one CAD system to the next. Also, they often lose important meta-data such as manufacturer name and part number when they’re imported into a CAD system. Without that information, there is no reference for purchasing to place the order, it’s just a generic part. Alfa Instrumentos has ensured their users will get the best possible data from their digital part catalog by providing parts in all of the major native formats.”
