SOLIDWORKS

• 3D layouts of systems.
• Verify equipment fits in the environment, access to other equipment, ergonomics of the system, etc.

[It's] Used by the engineering department. We do not use the majority of the software's features at this company. When I was with another company, we used it to its full potential. This company does not need some of the features it has. Still the best software for the company.

The Engineering department is using SOLIDWORKS. It is effortless to use, user-friendly and fast you can do a lot of things in it. Complex assemblies are easy to make, user-defined drawing paper, good quality rendering, realistic simulation, suitable for designing small parts, for 3D print, realistic-looking rendering, materials, scene, animation (motion) is good, and decent report of simulation.

We use SOLIDWORKS to model our product from individual components up to full assemblies and how they will fit in with our customer's product, especially when we have to design bracketry for installation. As our customers provide us with the models of their vehicles, we can see that our signs will fit and line up with mounting positions and viewing apertures.

I have started using SOLIDWORKS during my college days, and from the experience I can say that it is the first software that a Mechanical Engineer requires to study for different mechanical components due to it's simple user-interface and placing of all the features in a concise manner that even a fresher can start without any prior experiecne. Using SOLIDWORKS we can make 3D design of parts from 2D, can make orthographic views from 3D model, we can make assembly by combining different parts. SOLIDWORKS also support various types of analysis like Static, Thermal, Flow, Fatigue, Linear, Non-linear, Drop test, Buckling, as well as Mold Simulation. With SOLIDWORKS Design Library, we can also import different standard mechanical components as per our design requirements based on different codes like ANSI, DIN, ISO, BIS, etc. Plus, we can also use the animation wizard of SOLIDWORKS to view the live results of deformation or stress distribution in the parts, hence allows us to study as per real time scenario.

As a long-time user of SOLIDWORKS, I have seen the progression from the beginning. In its infancy it was a good option at a good price for a stand-alone 3D program. It was occasionally unstable in the early years but has progressed to a very stable user-friendly platform for mechanical design applications. I have designed many complex progressive stamping dies using SOLIDWORKS Professional and continue to do so. The time saved by using toolbox and library features is one of the best benefits.