Case Study: Assembly & Test Worldwide cuts design costs and steel usage, boosts throughput with SolidWorks

Accelerating automotive assembly and test system design with SolidWorks Premium

Assembly & Test Worldwide (ATW), through its Advanced Assembly Automation (AAA) division, builds large automotive assembly and test systems with assemblies of 1,000–5,000 components. Seeking better large‑assembly capabilities, process standardization and reduced rework/material overbuild, AAA evaluated CAD platforms and moved from Autodesk Inventor to SolidWorks, including seats of SolidWorks Premium and use of integrated SolidWorks Simulation.

AAA deployed more than 30 seats of SolidWorks and used integrated SolidWorks Simulation to run assembly analysis on press frames and optimize weldments and ribbing. The SolidWorks implementation cut design costs by about 10%, increased throughput by ~10% through less rework, reduced steel usage by 10–15% on large frames, and improved design visualization and communication via SolidWorks eDrawings.

Assembly & Test Worldwide

Bill Budde

General Manager