Combining the Best of Both Worlds: SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE Works

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[D]dddrop B.V. takes its name from a popular Dutch drop licorice candy and 3D. The company has launched innovative advancements in 3D printing systems since it introduced its first 3D printer, the Recon, in 2012. At that time the market offered only two categories: large machines that delivered industrial results but were out of budget and smaller affordable machines unable to deliver reliable results.

“Rather than imagining the printing functionality and features that our customers need, we decided to quickly develop and deploy the Recon 3D printer as a way to survey our customer base,” dddrop owner and CEO Alfred Uytdewilligen explains. Since then, dddrop has continued to push 3D printing technology forward, introducing the dddrop Leader single-head 3D printer in 2015, the dddrop Leader TWIN dual-head 3D printer in 2016, and the RAPID ONE industrial 3D printer in 2020.

Development Challenges

When COVID hit in early 2020 dddrop was already considering adding cloud-based solutions to the SOLIDWORKS® product development ecosystem to integrate its geographically dispersed development team.

Uytdewilligen notes, “We needed a solid method for collaborating remotely on product development and for launching products, both of which 3DEXPERIENCE solutions provide. With these solutions, we were able to meet all of our development deadlines despite the pandemic.”

A New Way to Work

“The 3DEXPERIENCE platform represents an entirely new way of working that has allowed us to reshape the company to support greater collaboration, innovation, and productivity,” Uytdewilligen enthuses. “It’s much more than a development platform. It’s a product launching platform in which not everybody is using a SOLIDWORKS seat.”

Instead, each team member has access to the tools and portions of the process that affect them. In essence, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform stretches out the SOLIDWORKS portfolio for use in collaborative spaces in the cloud. [D]dddrop now collaborates in a way that was simply not possible before. Using the combination of SOLIDWORKS desktop tools and 3DEXPERIENCE solutions provides the company with the best of both worlds.

Real Results

With its optimized product development platform, dddrop continues to develop and introduce useful innovations in industrial 3D printer technology to consistently provide the 3D printing functionality and capabilities that engineers need to leverage 3D printing for prototyping and production.

By using SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE solutions, dddrop cut its development cycle in half; streamlined production of modular configurations; completed development despite COVID-19 lockdowns; and added innovative printer capabilities and features. If you want to learn more about how to cut your product development timeframes, contact your local reseller to learn more. Read the full case study here.

SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. offers complete 3D software tools that let you create, simulate, publish, and manage your data. SolidWorks products are easy to learn and use, and work together to help you design products better, faster, and more cost-effectively. The SolidWorks focus on ease-of-use allows more engineers, designers and other technology professionals than ever before to take advantage of 3D in bringing their designs to life.
SOLIDWORKS

@SOLIDWORKS