UK design consultancy Hyphen Design Ltd. is using SolidWorks 3D CAD software to develop a broad range of consumer, medical, and industrial products - including everything from hardware tools to mobile phones, and respirator masks for premature babies. SolidWorks allows Hyphen to cut weeks out of product development while exploring more design options for customers such as Virgin Mobile, GlaxoSmithKline, Speedo, and Hasbro.
Design creation for globally recognized brands means Hyphen usually has to push innovation to its limits in a short timeframe. After standardising on SolidWorks software for 3D design, the company has cut weeks out of product development, completed more complex customer projects, and reduced prototyping costs.
“Fifty percent of the geometry we create never gets used because we have to try myriad approaches to get the design just right,” said Hyphen Design Director Cameron Treeby. “SolidWorks is an invaluable exploration tool that lets us quickly see the best path to take. It also allows us to do complex surfacing, detailing, filleting, and other finite work with ease. That’s why we love it. It does what we want it to, without a lot of unnecessary steps or errors to fix. It doesn’t hold us back.”
Hyphen recently put SolidWorks to the test when the consultancy had to design a digital TV handset for Virgin Mobile in two weeks. The sleek, ergonomic profile and complicated organic shapes, including the buttons, presented a challenge. Treeby and his team completed the solid modeling in five days with SolidWorks, a process that would have taken up to three weeks with the company’s previous software.
Hyphen exports 3D models from SolidWorks to prototyping partners who quickly generate models that customers, designers, and manufacturers can review. SolidWorks helps Hyphen ensure that its designs are accurate before prototyping begins, reducing costs and the time to pass changes back and forth with prototypers and manufacturers.
“Hyphen boasts an impressive client list and an even more striking list of innovative products designed,” said SolidWorks Marketing Manager of Europe, Simon Booker. “It is a strong example of a design shop whose reputation is built on creativity, fast turnaround, and designing better products - enabled by SolidWorks software".
Hyphen Design Ltd. relies on authorized SolidWorks reseller Cadtek for ongoing software training, implementation, and support.