Alibre Design Pulls Croft Trailer Supply to New Level of Productivity with Move to 3D; Even 65 Year Old Company Can Still Learn New Tricks.RICHARDSON, Texas Richardson is a suburb in Dallas County and Collin County, Texas. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 91,803, while according to a 2006 estimate, the population had grown to 99,200. -- Croft CROFT, obsolete. A little close adjoining to a dwelling-house, and enclosed for pasture or arable, or any particular use. Jacob's Law Dict. Trailer Supply, Inc., a Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). manufacturer of flat bed, utility, and equipment trailers recently made the move from 2D paper and pencil drawings pencil drawing Drawing executed with a pencil, an instrument made of graphite enclosed in a wood casing. Though graphite was mined in the 16th century, its use by artists is not known before the 17th century. to 3D solid modeling by choosing Alibre Design Alibre Design is a parametric feature-based three-dimensional Solid modeling CAD software created by Alibre, Inc. Overview Alibre Design is a mechanical engineering and design CAD tool capable of creating complex 3D models, assemblies, and 2D drawings. , the easiest to use and most accessible 3D mechanical CAD software. In order to improve the automation of their business, Croft Trailer Supply asked engineer Rick Stephens to research and recommend a 3D CAD program. He initially considered AutoCAD and SolidWorks, but found that Alibre Design Professional delivered the needed features, yet the price was similar to that of AutoCAD LT. "Sure I was a little skeptical -- at that low price I was concerned that there had to be a major hole someplace some·place adv. & n. Somewhere: "I didn't care where I was from so long as it was someplace else" Garrison Keillor. See Usage Note at everyplace. ," said Stephens, "However, we went ahead and made the decision to purchase Alibre Design Professional. Well, I have used it almost every day since and haven't found any holes." In fact, in a few short months, Stephens has already built the company's utility trailer line in Alibre Design and plans to move on to the other product lines, a testament to the program's ease of use. He also credits this rapid rise in productivity to Alibre's excellent support, which was available both over the phone and via the program's integrated collaborative web capabilities. The availability of fully detailed associative as·so·ci·a·tive adj. 1. Of, characterized by, resulting from, or causing association. 2. Mathematics Independent of the grouping of elements. 2D drawings has led additional productivity increases on the manufacturing side of the business as well. Contract welders hired to supplement the regular crew no longer need the attention of a full-time worker to be productive; all the information is already provided in the 2D drawing. "We jumped in with both feet, and I'm glad we did," Stephens continued. "With 3D modeling and communication tools that were not available before, we are realizing productivity gains with Alibre Design we didn't think were possible. It shows that even a 65-year old company can learn new tricks." Alibre develops and markets Alibre Design, a parametric See parametric modeling, parametric symbol and PTC. 3D solid modeler for mechanical design and manufacturing. One-fifth the cost of comparable software, Alibre Design delivers ease-of-use, rich functionality, extensive tutorials and unique real-time support via the Alibre Assistant. Customers may also share and edit product designs in real time with integrated online tools. Alibre Design is available in seven languages and distributed around the world. Founded in 1997, Alibre Inc. is privately funded and based in Richardson, Texas. For more information, visit www.alibre.com. Attention media: the full story, including images, may be downloaded from http://www.alibre.com/news/mediaroom/ Alibre and Alibre Design are trademarks of Alibre Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective holders. |
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