CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
30 April 2009
Product News
DS SolidWorks Surpasses One Million Licenses
Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. announced that an athletic equipment company has bought the one millionth license of its 3D CAD software. In the 14 years between this landmark and DS SolidWorks’ first sale to a robotic arm designer, thousands of innovative products have been developed with SolidWorks® software.
Utah-based OGIO International, Inc. bought license number one million for aluminum design engineer Sean Peterson, who is working on OGIO’s new line of motocross racing accessories. Peterson will use SolidWorks software to design products such as ramps, stands, and hardware for motocross bikes. OGIO is famous for designing creative and edgy athletic bags with innovative features like the zipper-less ball pocket on its golf bags. The company’s designers use SolidWorks software to model injection-molded plastic pieces such as carrying handles, wheels, and golf bag frames.
OGIO has been a SolidWorks customer for four years. From its founding by Michael Pratt in 1987 until about five years ago, OGIO’s design staff relied on manufacturing partners to help them create the 3D models needed to produce injection molds for parts. The company brought CAD in-house so its designers didn’t have to rely on a third party’s interpretation of a sketch to produce a 3D model. SolidWorks enables OGIO’s designers to freely experiment with new ideas without the constraints of working with an outside vendor.
“SolidWorks allows our designers to innovate freely and quickly,” Pratt said. “We want them using their imaginations, trying out all kinds of solutions and innovative ideas that can turn into winning products. SolidWorks is the right software for that. It’s powerful but easy to use, so our designers can concentrate on being creative instead of constantly figuring out the software. In today’s super-fast-paced competitive environment, we need to give our designers tools like these to realize our ideas better and faster, because it’s all about who has the best product right now.”
Creativity like OGIO’s is indeed the hallmark of the products designers and engineers have conceived with SolidWorks software – everything from medical instruments, to children’s toys, to windmills, to solar cells, to components of NASA’s Mars rover. Jon Hirschtick founded the company in 1993 to provide Windows-based 3D CAD software that offered sophisticated features and functionality in a reasonably priced, easy-to-use format. Dr. William Townsend’s then-new company, Barrett Technology Inc., was SolidWorks’ first customer. Fourteen years later, Barrett’s WAM™ robotic arm is now in every major university and has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most advanced robot, while SolidWorks has become the world’s most widely used 3D CAD software.
“We are excited to reach the million mark and very grateful for each customer that has trusted SolidWorks software to help drive his or her organization’s success,” said SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray. “Because of this responsibility, we’re constantly working to make SolidWorks products worthy of customers’ loyalty by supporting their creative visions. As companies such as OGIO push the boundaries of products, we are using their input to push boundaries of 3D computer-aided design. This milestone is really only the beginning. The future holds some very exciting possibilities.”
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