6 Reasons Why Companies Using SOLIDWORKS Should Consider Shop Floor Programmer

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Using SOLIDWORKS for CAD? Here’s Why You Should Consider DELMIA for CAM.

With the engineering industry ever-evolving, adopting top-tier, innovative solutions is crucial to keeping up with the competition. If your company uses the industry-standard SOLIDWORKS for its engineering, it may be time to consider trying Shop Floor Programmer for manufacturing.

Shop Floor Programmer, developed by DELMIA, a Dassault Systemes company, is a brand trusted by industry giants for decades. Companies like Ford, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, John Deere and Caterpillar use DELMIA’s proven manufacturing solutions. Today, those same DELMIA solutions are available to companies of all sizes, so all companies can reap the benefits of advanced machining, robotic programming, and virtual factory simulation solutions tightly integrated with SOLIDWORKS.

Shop Floor Programmer Now Included with SOLIDWORKS

That’s right! You didn’t misread it. Starting in November 2024, all licenses of SOLIDWORKS CAD, desktop or 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS, will include DELMIA Shop Floor Programmer at no additional cost.

Shop Floor Programmer enables engineering teams to validate designs for manufacturing earlier in the development cycle, significantly reducing revisions and change actions as products are brought to market, enhancing productivity and lowering development costs. With Shop Floor Programmer, Manufacturing engineers and CNC programmers benefit by always working in lockstep with Engineering, leaving “throwing it over the wall” thinking in the past.

SOLIDWORKS is now providing value offers for our CAM solutions. You can find more detailed information about these value offers here.

What our customers are saying…

You don’t have to take our word for it. We recently visited with a SOLIDWORKS customer, Highland Vans, to learn why it moved away from Fusion 360 and is now committed to DELMIA Shop Floor Programmer for its CAM.

We recently spoke with Umair Yusufi, an industrial designer at Highland Vans, who shared the key reasons why Shop Floor Programmer should be your go-to for CAM:

  1. Enhanced Manufacturing Capabilities: According to Yusufi, Shop Floor Programmer significantly refined Highland’s manufacturing process to consistently produce accurate parts. It has also streamlined the process of nesting parts, a huge time-saver for Highland.
  2. Improved Turnaround Cycles: Shop Floor Programmer has the power to boost operational efficiency, reduce the risk of errors, and speed up turnaround cycles. The ability to make changes before cutting, nested on Shop Floor Programmer, is a game-changer for efficiently managing manufacturing workflow.
  3. Material and Time Saving: Nesting had to be done manually on the company’s previous CAM software, Fusion 360, leading to an inefficient use of time and materials. Conversely, DELMIA allows the design of one part and the nesting of the same part multiple times, leading to material conservation and time savings due to automatic nesting.
  4. Real-Time Reflection: Shop Floor Programmer offers a real-time reflection of changes made, whether they involve orienting a part or adding a feature. It automatically nests according to your requirements, increasing overall efficiency.
  5. Cost Efficiency: Unlike Fusion 360, where manual part placement on the sheet is required, Shop Floor Programmer automatically nests based on sheet size and machine capability. It calculates the cost associated with each part to be cut, contributing to effective cost management and resource planning. By choosing Shop Floor Programmer, you’re making a financially prudent decision that maximizes your resources.
  6. Collaboration and Feedback: Finally, Shop Floor Programmer is built on the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform that facilitates effortless design feedback without disrupting the original design, promoting improved collaboration within the team.



Shop Floor Programmer’s innovative features and capabilities elevate your manufacturing process, streamlining operations and providing significant returns in time, cost and resource efficiency. So, if you’re already using SOLIDWORKS for engineering, consider the added benefits of incorporating Shop Floor Programmer into your manufacturing process.

“Previously, on Fusion 360, we had to nest manually. Imagine that we’re building five vans at one time, and we need to cut a hundred drawers…. With Shop Floor Programmer, I don’t have to nest the parts manually five times. I can design one part and automatically nest the part to be cut for all five vans, saving time, material, and money. I recall spending four hours nesting parts for one van with Fusion 360. With Shop Floor Programmer, it takes about 10 minutes.”
Umair Yusufi, Lead Industrial Designer, Highland Vans

Watch your manufacturing operations transform and experience the power of a unified platform for your engineering and manufacturing needs. With engineering and manufacturing working off the same real-time data safely stored on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, both teams can work in lockstep, making errors and miscommunications a thing of the past.

Watch the full video below to learn how Highland Vans moved away from Fusion 360 and now relies on Shop Floor Programmer and the collaboration advantages of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to design and build the custom adventure vans its customers demand.

Check out our amazing value offers for CAM here.

Barb Schmitz

Barb Schmitz

Senior Marketing Communications Manager at SolidWorks
Barb Schmitz is a Senior Manager in Marketing Communications with BA in Journalism and over 30 years of experience in the CAD software industry. She started her career as a journalist covering technology and served as an editor for several leading industry publications for over 20 years. Besides being a sleuth of tech, she is a loyal dog owner, travel bum, mom, lover of hoppy IPAs, red wine, and alternative music lover living in the great city of Chicago.