2D CAD system eases product design

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 2, 2007

Stheno/Pro provides the productivity and flexibility Defendi needs as it develops and adapts to meet new demands in the household appliances market.

When Defendi's design team switched to Pro/Engineer for parametric component modelling, it also needed a sophisticated 2D solution for the complex drawings it creates for customers and design studies.

The manufacturer of gas stoves chose Stheno/Pro, CAD Schroer's drafting system, designed to work with PTC's modelling solution.

Stheno/Pro provides the productivity and flexibility Defendi needs as it develops and adapts to meet new demands in the household appliances market.

Defendi engineers and manufactures a range of gas burners of different materials, types and ratings, as well as valves, injectors and other accessories.

Its burners include standard as well as specialised products, such as easy-clean, sealed burners for glass or steel cook tops, caravan burners for use in small spaces, and four-ring wok burners made to distribute heat properly to large pans.

"This is a critical time for us", explains Sales Manager Hans Elling.

"We've been looking inward as well as outward, expanding the business in Italy and abroad, and developing eight new product lines to be launched shortly".

"Stheno/Pro has played a major part in our expansion".

"Computer aided design has been an important element of Defendi's product design process since around 1994", explains Lorenzo Bratti, a member of the company's CAD team.

"Our department initially used an Italian 2D package, which was acquired by think3".

"That was the product I started using when I joined".

"But in 2003 we switched to Pro/Engineer, because the software was more powerful and better for modifying models and assemblies".

"It allowed us to work parametrically, and saved a lot of time".

"But we still had the issue of what to do with all our 2D drawings; we needed a system that could easily edit existing designs, and create new ones to our exacting standards".

Marco Destefani, who heads up CAD Schroer's Italian office near Milan, said "A compatible drafting solution was key to Defendi's Pro/Engineer buying decision, so I arrived to demo the very first release of Stheno/Pro, the only integrated 2D solution for Pro/E".

"CAD Schroer group (CSG) and PTC maintain a close development partnership to ensure that Stheno/Pro is tightly aligned with PTC's Pro/Engineer development strategy".

"Defendi did the right thing by sorting out an integrated 2D/3D strategy straight away".

"I know of many large accounts that went down the same route as Defendi, replacing legacy systems with a powerful 3D tool".

"They were convinced everything could be done in 3D".

"Months or years later they come to us, realising that the need for easily editable, accurate and informative 2D drawings has not gone away".

To read the entire case study and view photographs of Defendi's work, please visit the CAD Schroer website, click on Stheno/Pro, then on Case Studies.