Case Study: Access Automation Limited achieves faster, more accurate contour‑hugging lifts and trouble‑free installations with SolidWorks

Innovating contour-hugging cable cars and inclined lifts with SolidWorks

Access Automation Limited, a New Zealand firm that designs and installs contour‑hugging cable cars, inclined lifts, and monorail systems, needed a better way to develop complex, direction‑changing track systems and communicate 3D designs to architects, engineers, and municipal planners. Previously using manual drawings, the company adopted SolidWorks, implementing SolidWorks Professional and SolidWorks Premium to handle topographic data, visualizations, and analysis.

Using SolidWorks Professional and Premium (with FEA and simulation), Access Automation accelerated and improved its design-to-install workflow: design time for large rail bend sections dropped by about 50%, fabrication time fell 25–30%, ride quality and fabrication accuracy improved, and on‑site rework was reduced. SolidWorks’ simulation tools also let engineers optimize strength‑to‑weight and validate performance, giving the company confidence to deliver complex jobs—such as twin 140 m inclined lifts in Vietnam—on time and on budget.

Access Automation Limited

Mark Galvin

Director