CAD software gets car audio to market faster

An Autodesk product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jan 29, 2002

Using Inventor software, Phoenix Gold reduced the production cycle time on a product by 71 percent, cutting a three-and-a-half-year project down to one year

Phoenix Gold, a manufacturer of high-fidelity car audio electronics and accessories, has reached a significant milestone with its deployment of Autodesk Inventor software.

Using Autodesk Inventor software, Phoenix Gold recently reduced its production cycle time by 71 percent, cutting a three-and-a-half-year project down to one year.

Phoenix Gold chose Autodesk Inventor software for its ability to deliver enhanced design visualisation, automated drawing production, and increased accuracy in design revisions.

"The dramatic reduction in cycle time that has been achieved using Autodesk Inventor presents us with an incredible opportunity to deliver products to market faster, as well as the ability to develop the most cutting-edge designs available in car audio today," said Bill Hasbrook, Acoustics Engineer at Phoenix Gold.

"The opportunity costs of a three-year product development cycle were tremendous.

Over the course of the next few years, we are really going to start seeing the benefits, both from a design and revenue point of view, of getting our products out the door so quickly.

At Phoenix Gold, car audio speaker sales make up approximately 20 percent of the business.

Getting products to market faster is essential for keeping an edge in a market where competitors are always introducing new products and customers are continually looking for the most sophisticated equipment.

With Autodesk Inventor the company has been able to diminish costs by eliminating expensive prototypes that typically have been used to design speakers.

The entire company has felt the positive impact of using Autodesk Inventor software.

Product review meetings at Phoenix Gold have changed into interactive brainstorming sessions where everyone is free to explore ideas and contribute individual creativity.

Now, even non-engineers can participate in the product development process.

In addition to the improved product review meetings, the creative team can now access the drawings that are developed with Autodesk Inventor software.

The creative designers can then import the drawings into marketing collateral, owner manuals, and catalogs, enabling them to generate the most impressive customer materials Phoenix Gold clients have seen to date.

The marketing team is now able to craft the speakers that they envision, while allowing the engineering team at Phoenix Gold to focus on its goal of manufacturing an audio speaker that produces the highest quality sound on the market.

"We are pleased to see that leading companies like Phoenix Gold are recognising the need for a sophisticated 3D design system like Autodesk Inventor, which provides unmatched visualisation and collaboration capabilities," said Robert Kross, Vice President of the Manufacturing Division at Autodesk.

"What really sets Autodesk Inventor software apart from the competition and makes it such a valuable design tool is its ability to let customers create design information that is easily shared beyond the engineering department, benefiting the entire organization and, ultimately, its customers and partners.

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