Robert Welch Designs Turns Silverware into an Art Form With SOLIDWORKS
The humble spoon and its cutlery brethren are an everyday essential we often take no notice of at meal times. There are some, however, who have turned silverware into an art form, making us sit up and pay attention. Knives and forks that boast a luxury all of their own. Robert Welch Designs is one such company and It’s been achieving it with the help of SOLIDWORKS.
Who is Robert Welch Designs?
Producing the Rolls Royce of tableware, Robert Welch Designs has been making high-quality stainless steel cutlery in the same Cotswolds mill since 1955. That’s a lot of spoons. Elegantly crafted and solidly made, they’re used the world over professionally and domestically; the last word on utensil-based fabulousness.
New product, new materials, new CAD
As times change, so do product lines. RWD had been stoically stainless steel across its entire range for decades but chose to develop a new Signature Non-Stick Utensil range partly in tough nylon. In doing so it overhauled its approach to utensil design by seeking a higher standard of 3D CAD than it had previously been using. The upper-end simulation and surfacing tools it was seeking required a more advanced and intuitive software package. It turned to SOLIDWORKS.
Learning swiftly that it’s new engineering program was even more advanced than it anticipated, RWD shifted all its design to SOLIDWORKS. The team was able to build ever more intricate plans for its ranges, all whilst maintaining the intrinsically sleek and graceful curvature of the product for which it is renowned. The software was employed to design in 3D CAD, virtually every new line for the company, with the team citing the package’s level of depth and functionality as a game-changer.
Gold for silverware
The Signature range, fabricated entirely using SOLIDWORKS, proved incredibly successful. Taking full advantage of the program’s potential, the team used the Wizard Pattern design process to create the series’ own pattern specific to that brand. A cross of four ovals that adds lightness to the metal also serves as a uniquely prestigious identity for the range.
How successful was the software changeover? Award-winningly so. The Signature Cookbook & Tablet Stand from the range won at the Excellence in Housewares Awards; its crisp, chic and slender grace belying the robustness of the engineering behind its build.
What next for Robert Welch Designs?
With SOLIDWORKS providing a clear pathway to a simplified design process and shorter development times, Robert Welch Designs is sticking to the winning formula. Using advanced 3D CAD means that the physics of forks and everything else besides (literally) is ready for the team to use instantly.
The program accurately replicates the real-life stress of materials used in the design of everything the company makes. Whilst it’s led to a reduction in development time and material waste, it’s also enabled a faster time to market for award-winning products.
It’s just what SOLIDWORKS does, on a plate.
Be sure to check out the original case study by NT CADCAM, here.
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