SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service Helps Team to load Assemblies 96% Faster

Assessment Service

Recently one of our customers reported that their large assemblies and related drawings were taking a long time to load (in some cases 6.5 minutes, yikes!) and asked for assistance in speeding up the load time especially in situations when they just wanted to review the assembly. The customer wanted to know if this was a problem with their SOLIDWORKS software? An issue with their current hardware build? Or how they actually use SOLIDWORKS? One of our SOLIDWORKS Experts was happy to investigate this through our SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service.

Findings from a SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service

• We reviewed the machine build and determined that the hardware was more than capable of loading the assemblies quickly, but there were hardware settings that could be adjusted to increase performance.
• We reviewed the SOLIDWORKS settings and realized that the Large Design Review Tool was not being utilized to open their large assembly files which would still retain the capabilities they needed when conducting design reviews.
• We reviewed their usage techniques and witnessed that users were not aware of the specialized assembly performance tools including SpeedPak to create lightweight configurations, and AssemblyXpert to diagnose the performance of their assemblies.

Carrying out the Service

As part of the service our expert worked on-site at the customer’s office to set up their SOLIDWORKS software and applied the adjustments to the system settings to significantly increase load performance. Our expert also delivered one-on-one training with each of the users in the design team and taught the latest assembly best practices to utilize functionality that was introduced in previous releases of SOLIDWORKS software.

The Result: A 96% Faster Load Time for Assemblies

The overall result was the assemblies that previously took 6.5 minutes to load could now be loaded in 15 seconds. Making the task 96% faster! And the customer was able to apply what they had learned to other projects.

What is a SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service?

Our customer got the help they needed through a SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service, which is a tried and tested solution designed to improve your SOLIDWORKS team skills and optimize your processes and hardware systems to maximize the return on your software investment.

A Three Step Process

The Assessment is a three step process where a Javelin SOLIDWORKS Expert will work with you on-site at your facility to identify areas of improvement with your current SOLIDWORKS practices, help your team to adopt the latest SOLIDWORKS techniques, and provide recommendations to further increase team productivity. Here is a breakdown of the process:

Assessment Process

Step #1: Skills & Process Discovery

Prior to visiting your facility and working with your team an outline of the service and a Pre-Assessment Survey is sent to the entire team. This allows us to gain an insight into how your team currently use SOLIDWORKS and their design process. Assessing your team’s current skills is essential in determining where productivity can be improved and the type of training your team members require. Survey results will help us to identify the best ways in which your business can use SOLIDWORKS.

Pre-assessment Survey

Step #2: On-site Training Delivery & Process Improvement

After gathering information through our pre-assessment survey a Javelin SOLIDWORKS Expert will visit your facility. Ideally we like to take a tour of your facility first to better understand your business. Then meet with your business leadership to finalize the goals for your service.

Next we meet with your entire SOLIDWORKS team for the critical one-on-one time to observe, troubleshoot, provide tips and techniques to each team member. The one-on-one time is typically 20 minutes per person. Each team member will learn something new and be able to get answers to their questions about SOLIDWORKS with hands-on advice to adopt the latest techniques to get their job done quicker and easier.

Assessment Training Session

Step #3: Assessment Review & Next Steps

After the service has been completed we will meet with the entire design and leadership team to report our findings from the survey and the results obtained from one-on-one training sessions.

You will also receive a comprehensive report which contains recommendations to improve your business productivity plus suggestions for further education to develop your individual team members.

Assessment Finding Meeting

Does my business need an Assessment Service?

Typically customers contact us when they have a problem with their software or process and need on-site assistance from a SOLIDWORKS Expert. However the best application for the service is being proactive with your team to improve skills and making sure your business is using the latest release of SOLIDWORKS software to it’s fullest.

Updating your team’s SOLIDWORKS skills and using the latest best practices will dramatically improve their productivity. After implementing our recommendations many users have realized a 75% increase in productivity because they are able to use the software more effectively.

• An Assessment Service from Javelin will identify the most effective ways your business can use SOLIDWORKS.
• Users tend to work with tried and tested features they are most comfortable with, but we can bring them up-to-date with the latest techniques.
• Your team will also learn the enhanced functionality from previous releases that they may not be using currently.

Getting an Assessment Service for the upcoming SOLIDWORKS 2016 release

Updating your SOLIDWORKS software to the latest release has a big impact on your business and every member of your team has an opportunity to benefit from the new technology. The Assessment Service is aimed specifically at educating your SOLIDWORKS users; to unlock the power of your new software and ensure that your team becomes more productive and use the enhancements to their full potential.

• With an update plan in place users will have a consistent approach to making the best use of the new SOLIDWORKS features.
• Your team can focus on design rather than researching new functionality.
• New SOLIDWORKS skills are often not easily shared by the whole team and power users are often too busy to develop other users.
• Our experts will work with your team to ensure they are up to speed quickly.

Recent Assessment Service recipient comments:

Our customers have experienced tremendous success with the SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service, and over the past few years we have refined the process of helping customers to identify significant time savings, increased efficiencies, and eliminate frustrations.

I just wanted to extend my appreciation for the wonderful work Javelin did involving individual and group training over the last few weeks. Training with Smart Mates & Mate References is a huge time saver for us and was worth the cost of training alone. I know each employee has learned new ways to improve their overall use with SOLIDWORKS and I foresee a better product designed.

— Bryan Januszkiewicz,  CPC Pumps International

From an Assessment service conducted last month:

L-3 Wescam recently went through the SOLIDWORKS Assessment Process in an effort to understand the current state of user knowledge and to seek feedback from Javelin on how we can optimize our use of SOLIDWORKS and Enterprise PDM.

A Javelin SOLIDWORKS expert interviewed and watched ten of our engineers and designers work and then de-briefed engineering management at the end of the day.  I found the assessment was very helpful in showing current weaknesses and also identifying areas of improvement that we didn’t know about.  Several of the improvements we implemented immediately, and some of them will require a level of training investment to recognize the benefit.

In the end I was happy with the professional way that Javelin conducted the assessment, and I believe that we will see an improvement in our design and development efficiency as a result.

— Nick Moore, L-3 Wescam

Interested in a SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service?

Contact your local Javelin Technologies office and speak to a technical representative to learn how to get started with a SOLIDWORKS Assessment Service for your business.

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