Case Study: Senior & Dickson achieves rapid prototyping and cuts tooling time from weeks to days with Vero Software (VISI)

Let it snow VISI Key in Snow Shovel Development

Senior & Dickson, a UK plastic injection, rubber moulding and die casting specialist established in 1981, set out to design a lightweight, two-hinged collapsible snow shovel with interchangeable heads for motorists and household use. The challenge was to move quickly from concept to robust production tooling while resolving part failures discovered during stress testing and keeping the design easy to modify.

Using Vero Software’s VISI CADCAM, the team rapidly modelled and iterated the shovel and handle (adding reinforcing ribs and larger radii), produced 3D tooling and generated shopfloor CNC toolpaths, with electrode extraction feeding EDM machining. The result was faster turnaround (tooling time cut from weeks to days), easier post-test revisions, more efficient shopfloor CAM, higher-quality output with fewer staff, and a compact, foldable product ready for retail.

Senior & Dickson

Chris Hodgson

Technical Director