As technology and innovations continue to rule the furniture manufacturing industry trends, it’s becoming more crucial to work with the right tools than ever to meet customer expectations. For some, pen and paper may still be the most significant design tool, especially with the furniture manufacturers taking rough sketches of customer requirements in real time. However, it is also true that those paper designs won’t last long and would need to undergo 2D to 3D conversion for a longer stay.
Furniture manufacturers today are no strangers to CAD files. However, most of them hire paper to CAD conversion services and do not convert 2d to 3d in-house, due to the following challenges:
Challenges with paper and sketch design approach
• Hard to pass the right intent across teams
It’s always challenging to convey detailed design intent through a piece of paper. Even the best designer may miss on details and design specifications when using paper and sketch designs, leading to communication gaps, manufacturing rework, and operational inefficiency.
• Design iterations are time-consuming
Updating a design on paper means starting everything from scratch, which is a highly time-consuming, inefficient, and frustrating for a designer. The more the iterations, the longer the design cycle will be. Overlong design cycles, in turn, impact the entire furniture manufacturing process.
• Managing documentation is challenging
It’s practically impossible to save a furniture design (a paper copy) permanently. Additionally, such piles of paper designs take up too much office space, which makes managing paper drawings difficult for designers and manufacturers.
6 ways Paper to CAD modeling in SolidWorks empowers furniture manufacturers
1. Improves design communications with 3D SolidWorks modeling
Paper to CAD conversion using a professional tool such as SolidWorks enables manufacturers to improve design communications across the teams. The detailed 3D views of drawings are simple and easy to understand. They clearly show and explain the intent behind each design feature, such as curves, holes, and even manufacturing material. This eliminates the need for designers to explain every design in detail and saves time.
Manufacturers are less likely to misinterpret design intent with 3D models developed by way of 2D to 3D conversion. Few or no manufacturing mistakes mean a better and more efficient manufacturing cycle with greater operational efficiency.
2. Eliminates piles of documents
Everyone prefers a clean, organized workspace that is a single truth source for day-to-day tasks. Working with documents stored in multiple places and folders makes things sluggish and inefficient to work upon. SolidWorks modeling services save designers from juggling between piles of furniture design documents.
Paper to CAD modeling allows manufacturers to organize all the secondary drawing information such as geometrical and curvature specification, material and tools details, surface modeling, angle, pressure, surface tension, etc. in a single file. This single CAD file is easier to manage and share than dealing with a pile of documents for each 2D furniture drawing.
3. Offers ease in design customization for disruptive trends of personalization
2D to 3D conversion of furniture drawings is part of the workflow in 3d furniture modeling services. It allows designers and engineers to implement iterations in the drawing as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
3D CAD modeling services enable designers and manufacturers to move beyond standard paper and sketch drafting. It empowers them with an interactive and collaborative 3D drawing platform to deliver a personalized customer experience. Iterations can be implemented with the click of a mouse several times without spending hours and laborious efforts. The need to revisit the entire design for small iterations is completely eliminated.
4. Reduces turnaround time
A designer may take a few days to months to design a simple furniture model using the conventional method. The more complex the designs are, the longer the design cycle will become. Additionally, the review process and quality assurance of designs add up to increase the go-to-market time of the product.
Paper to CAD conversion has proven to reduce the turn out around time for complex product designs significantly. From a 3D CAD model, the manufacturer can easily extract the detailed product design along with other necessary documents in a fraction of a second.
Any design iterations or necessary permits can be passed instantly to expedite the overall process. This makes 3D CAD modeling a more direct and quick mode to launch the product into the market. Faster time to market means a greater competitive edge.
Detailed CAD drawings help Netherland-based retail furniture manufacturer reduce TAT by 50%
A Netherland-based retail furniture manufacturer was dealing with an overlong design cycle and in-efficient manufacturing process. With 3D CAD modeling, the manufacturer experienced a drastic improvement in manufacturing cost and time. Detailed 3D designs created using rough inputs shared by the designer were converted into detailed 3D models, leading to faster approvals. Clear design intents led to seamless communications across stakeholders due to which the complete transformation of conceptual sketches took place in just 72 hours.
5. Eases assembly and installation
Going from a 2D image to a 3D model also helps in more efficient design reviews. The designer can explore more “What-if” scenarios to smartly identify all the possibilities an external team might face while working with the product.
Using professional 3D CAD modeling software like SolidWorks enables testing of part assemblies through a full notion to detect and avoid on-site assembly accidents. The parts can be tested for tentative collisions or errors, ensuring a seamless installation and assembly. Additionally, the ability to add important assembly notes in the drawing further ensures the installation happens without any losses.
6. Helps save operational costs
Design misinterpretations may cost you more than just money if the product has already stepped into production. Multiple resources are wasted on identifying faulty designs and quality issues at a later stage of production. Paper to CAD conversion allows you to save those valuable resources and operational costs by enabling you to identify design errors at an early stage.
With 3D CAD modeling, designers can revise furniture models and analyze them from multiple angles. They are no longer required to redraw incorrect or missing components to implement design iterations. Even, the costs linked with design iterations in 3D models are much lower than the costs linked to 2D design revisions.
Paper to CAD conversion enables leading furniture manufacturers to save on operational and resource costs.
A UK-based retail furniture manufacturer was facing challenges with design misinterpretations in existing 2D drawings. Hitech CADD Services’s team of skilled designers and engineers generated detailed CAD drawings out of shared paper sketches and pdf files. 3D models with accurate geometry were developed for a fitting room of the retail store using the SolidWorks 3D CAD platform. Switching to detailed 3D models and CAD drawings with manufacturing information helped save design costs by 60%. The transition from rough, 2D sketches to detailed CAD drawings reduced the overall design cycle by 70%.
Conclusion
Although paper drawings have long led the furniture manufacturing industry, they pose significant challenges for new-age customer trends. The limitations of paper-based drawings cost manufacturers in terms of time and money, while causing challenges in meeting market demands.
Converting legacy paper drawings to SolidWorks CAD drafting and drawing brings to the table a plethora of advantages. SolidWorks powers the entire design cycle with greater operational efficiency. The clarity it brings to conventional 2D drawing components saves manufacturers from making critical manufacturing mistakes. The improved team communication contributes to faster TAT with accurate product installation & assembly.
Authored by:
Usha B. Trivedi is an engineer and she contributes in-depth articles for mechanical and industrial equipment designs, furniture designs, and the fabrication sector. Her contributions are primarily focused on enabling engineering professionals, furniture manufacturers, and fabricators to optimize design outcomes through CAD and CAE tools.
