SolidWorks Success at WOW! Stuff

SolidWorks has played a pivotal role in the success of Virgin Fast Track 100 listed WOW! Stuff. The company invents and takes to market gifts, gadgets and big boys toys. Its client portfolio includes prestigious retailers such as: Hamleys; The Science Museum; Argos; Toys R Us; and Sainsbury’s.

Advantage by design
Design is a core differentiator for WOW! Stuff. As company Director Kenny McAndrew says, “We invest heavily in product design. SolidWorks is absolutely fundamental to that.” The software not only empowers the business to design, render and deliver prototypes ahead of its rivals; it also enables it to share ideas with the sales team and customers at a very early stage.

Greater business efficiency
SolidWorks enables WOW! Stuff to share information quickly and accurately with overseas partners. This is “Hugely beneficial,” according to designer Matt Isted, driving the company’s efficiency, cost control and time to market goals.

Prior to using SolidWorks, WOW! Stuff had to rely on rough prototypes and 2D illustrations to convey a concept. “Now we are able to provide 3D diagrams and fully working models,” says Kenny McAndrew, “these massively reduce the chances of costly problems arising.”

Product development process
WOW! Stuff invests a lot of design time to get its products looking great, and Kenny McAndrew says he finds it, “impossible to think of us not having SolidWorks. It has speeded up our product development process by a couple of months, and saved us a lot of money on the reduced number of prototypes required.”
 

Training helps double design team productivity
WOW! Stuff Designer Matt Isted estimates that the toy company has gone from designing 20 new products annually to around 120: a six-fold increase. Yet to achieve this it has only been necessary to increase the product design team from one to three people – effectively a doubling of productivity. “We’ve reduced costs hugely at the prototyping stage,” says Matt.

With their SolidWorks skills enhanced by attending NT CADCAM training, WOW! Stuff’s design team has been able to accelerate performance. Matt Isted confirms, “The level of training provided by NT CADCAM has benefited us massively. They’re our first port of call on anything SolidWorks related.”