Sira Electro-Optics is a Sira Group company dedicated to the task of making ideas work by harnessing the power of light and information collection, processing and management.
Sira were spending several man-days of cad effort to convert dxf type files into 3D solid models. Even after all this effort, they were still only able to create a PCB board outline model and were not able to check on component envelopes, mechanical interfaces, etc. Another problem they were having was that, after spending this time converting the dxf files, they sometimes found the PCB design changes and the whole exercise has to be repeated.
Apart from the incurred time and cost penalty the designers were finding this process very dull and monotonous. Sira were finding that this process was a luxury that most projects could not afford and they needed to find a quicker, more cost effective way of converting their files to 3D solid models.
CircuitWorks was installed to overcome Sira's problems and to reduce their design time. "Since purchasing CircuitWorks, files are now processed in seconds, not hours, without the need for any extra mechanical input. Circuit-Works paid for itself in the first project it was used on and it is probably the most useful add-in for SolidWorks I have purchased," said Nigel Bates of Sira.
CircuitWorks creates 3D models of electronic components, not just board outline models. If the MCAD designer has previously built components in more detail (showing accurate body shapes, legs, mass properties, etc.) these components are now available to CircuitWorks. By overlaying plots from ECAD & MCAD it is very easy for Sira to spot errors in components, a costly error if not spotted until manufacture.
"We have found this to be a very good way of 'approving' parts in both ECAD and MCAD component libraries and we only continue with manufacture with parts that are from the approved library." Nigel commented.
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