U.K.’s largest screw jack provider creates interactive online catalog
for motion control parts in millions of configurations

CONCORD, Mass., August 2006 — U.K. linear motion device provider Power Jacks is using SolidWorks 3D PartStream.NET ® service to create an interactive online catalog that lets customers quickly and easily configure the exact screw jack, gear box or other product for their designs.

3D PartStream.NET will let the company reduce the costs of producing paper catalogs, increase sales and free engineers to focus on new product design instead of helping customers configure parts.

Since the 1930s, Power Jacks or its forbears have pioneered screw jack technology to help companies in a variety of industries with their manufacturing processes. Today the company is the leading screw jack provider in the U.K., and it supplies a broad range of motion control devices to global firms such as Airbus, ALCOA, Nestle, Siemens, and Volkswagen. Power Jacks had been using thick paper catalogs and static Web sites to market its products to customers. It chose 3D PartStream.NET to deliver more dynamic content that gives customers greater control over how they choose and purchase Power Jacks products. Customers can configure the product they need and download it into their designs to check form and fit.

“We often had to walk customers through parts configuration to make sure they had the right screw jack with the right specifications for their designs,” said Bruce Hamper, Power Jacks product and marketing director. “3D PartStream.NET’s self configuration capabilities give customers more control over the process, faster answers about the parts they need, and more confidence that the part they’re selecting will work in their equipment.”

Power Jacks also chose 3D PartStream.NET because the company was already using SolidWorks ® 3D CAD software to reduce product development time and design better products. “Our customers demanded that we switch to a 3D CAD system as most are now w orking in this environment. We chose SolidWorks because it is the best system for our products throughout their life cycle and gives the fleixibility to quickly and accurately exchange models with all major CAD systems. it’s the software many of them use, and presenting our products in familiar 3D formats is an extension of that,” said Hamper. While SolidWorks is the CAD format for most many Power Jacks customers, 3D PartStream.NET lets users configure and download product models in the CAD format of their choice.

Power Jacks products are listed on SolidWorks’ 3D ContentCentral ® (www.3dcontentcentral.com) service, which provides an online directory of downloadable 3D CAD models. 3D ContentCentral is available to hundreds of thousands of SolidWorks 3D mechanical design software users via a link within the SolidWorks window. The integration of SolidWorks and 3D ContentCentral gives customers fast access to the Power Jacks catalog from within the SolidWorks environment so they can incorporate solid models of screw jacks and other products into their designs.

“In an industry where competition is fierce and differentiation is a matter of degrees, Power Jacks distinguishes itself by paying attention to its customers’ needs,” said Timo Brueggemann , European manager for 3D PartStream.NET at SolidWorks Corporation. “Deploying 3D PartStream.NET and SolidWorks is evidence of that dedication, and helps explain why Power Jacks is a market leader.”