Case Study: Cisco Consumer Business Group achieves rapid prototyping and elegant consumer‑electronics design with SolidWorks

Setting New Consumer Electronics Design Standard With Support From Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. And Z Corporation 3d Technologies

Cisco Consumer Business Group, responsible for consumer electronics like wireless routers and media hubs, faced the challenge of bringing Scandinavian-inspired aesthetic and ergonomic standards to fast-moving product cycles. Designers needed intuitive yet powerful tools to create complex surfaces and physical prototypes quickly; Cisco adopted SolidWorks 3D CAD software to support detailed design work while grappling with slow, costly traditional prototyping.

To accelerate iteration and preserve design quality, Cisco combined SolidWorks 3D CAD with Z Corporation’s ZPrinter 450 multicolor 3D printing—printing directly from SolidWorks files as STL—so designers could produce physical models in hours instead of weeks and at about one-fifth the cost. The approach enabled roughly 10 models per week, richer global design reviews (up to 14 reviewers via TelePresence), faster refinements, and improved time-to-market; SolidWorks remained central to the workflow for creating and refining the 3D designs.

Cisco Consumer Business Group

Sandro Klein

Senior Manager