Who is DriveWorks Solo for?
DriveWorks Solo is designed primarily for companies and individuals who use SOLIDWORKS to design products with variable parameters. It is ideal for design engineers who need to produce recurring product designs quickly, where only the parameters change. If you regularly create similar models with different specifications (e.g. different sizes, materials or configurations), DriveWorks Solo is an excellent tool for automating that process. Companies in mechanical engineering, manufacturing and design can save a huge amount of time and money through this kind of SOLIDWORKS automation. Put simply, DriveWorks Solo is built for organisations that want to streamline their design processes, eliminate errors caused by manual edits and shorten order lead times. It suits small and medium-sized businesses that aren't yet ready to automate their entire business process, but want to significantly improve their design and manufacturing workflows.
How does it work?
DriveWorks Solo is a rules-based design automation tool. Users set up rules that define how individual parts or assemblies should respond to changes in the input parameters. When you enter specific requirements (e.g. dimensions, materials or other product parameters), the automation updates the models and drawings in SOLIDWORKS to match those inputs.
Thanks to its intuitive user interface, users find their way around quickly and can configure products without having to edit the design by hand. The process is driven by configurators accessed through user-friendly forms that customers or engineers can fill in easily. Once all parameters have been entered, the automation generates the final result in SOLIDWORKS and creates the corresponding drawings, bills of materials and other documents.
What can DriveWorks Solo do?
One of the biggest advantages of DriveWorks Solo is its automation capability. The software can greatly simplify repetitive design and engineering processes by generating products based on rules defined by the user. Besides creating models and drawings, it can export outputs to a range of formats such as PDF, DXF and Excel, which makes communication between departments much easier.
Key features include:
- Automatic creation of models and drawings based on the parameters entered
- Generation of bills of materials and other manufacturing documents
- Easier creation of product variants – for example different sizes, materials or configurations
- Data entry forms that simplify the whole process for users
- Fewer errors caused by manual design changes
How much money can DriveWorks Solo save?
Saving time and eliminating errors are the two main areas where automation can save companies a significant amount of money. Case studies published by DriveWorks describe companies that introduced this SOLIDWORKS add-in significantly cutting the time otherwise spent on manually editing models and creating documentation. Eliminating the errors that occur during manual edits also reduces the cost of corrections and revisions. Fewer errors mean less rework and better productivity across the whole team. Companies that have introduced this automation often report a significant drop in documentation errors, leading to smoother production and fewer delays.
The DriveWorks ROI calculator lets companies calculate the return on investment in design automation. Based on inputs such as design times, the number of product variants and the cost of manual edits, the calculator estimates how much time and money a company will save by implementing the software. The tool is freely available on the developer's website and can help companies better understand the benefits of automation in SOLIDWORKS.
How hard is it to learn DriveWorks Solo?
Learning to use the application is relatively easy, especially for those who already have experience with SOLIDWORKS. The software is designed to be user-friendly and includes detailed guides and tutorials that help you master the basics quickly. The configurator has an intuitive interface that lets users create forms, set up rules and generate outputs quickly.
Even though the learning curve is gentle, companies often recommend that users take a basic training course. Training helps users understand all the features faster and make full use of the software's potential, which is then reflected in efficiency and savings. We naturally also offer complete, tailor-made implementation of the automation, or can lead a pilot project in which our experienced engineers guide you through your first automation project.
What benefits will design automation bring to your company?
- Higher productivity: Automated processes mean less time spent on manual design changes, which makes the team more efficient.
- Improved design quality: Automation eliminates the errors that often creep in with manual design changes, raising the quality of the final products.
- Flexibility in creating product variants: Companies can respond to customer requirements faster, leading to higher customer satisfaction and greater competitiveness.
- Time and cost savings: Less need for human intervention means savings in time and money. Designs can be completed and released to production faster.
- Easier handling of documentation: Automated generation of bills of materials and other documents reduces the administrative burden and speeds up the production process.
DriveWorks Solo is therefore an excellent tool that brings companies both time and cost savings, and lets design engineers focus on innovation instead of repetitive tasks.
How will DriveWorks Solo change a design engineer's work in SOLIDWORKS?
DriveWorks Solo fundamentally changes a design engineer's work in SOLIDWORKS by automating repetitive tasks and configurations. Instead of creating product variants by hand, the engineer simply enters parameters into a form and the software automatically generates the updated models, assemblies, drawings and bills of materials. This reduces the risk of errors and speeds up the design process. Engineers save the time they would otherwise spend on manual edits and can concentrate on more complex tasks, which increases both efficiency and accuracy.
DriveWorks comes in three main editions offering different levels of automation and configuration:
- DriveWorks Xpress – The free entry-level version integrated into SOLIDWORKS. It automates basic designs and creates simple product variants.
- DriveWorks Solo – A more advanced version for rules-based design automation, form creation and the generation of drawings, assemblies and bills of materials. Designed for small and medium-sized companies.
- DriveWorks Pro – A complete solution for enterprises, offering full design automation, approvals and online configurators. It enables extensive integration with company systems and supports multiple users.
