Inventor of the Month - January 2013

Autodesk has named Combat Group as the Autodesk Inventor of the Month for January 2013. Combat Group, a Malaysian-based manufacturer of automotive and industrial paint systems, has improved its accuracy of design and delivered products to market quicker as a result of using Autodesk Product Design Suite and other Autodesk digital prototyping tools.

Combat Group supplies painting line systems to a variety of major automotive, two-wheeler and industrial companies with assembly plants in developing nations. Using Autodesk software, Combat Group has increased design accuracy to close to 95 percent, reduced development time by two months and increased customer satisfaction by more than 45 percent.

Building off its 35-year foundation leveraging 2D CAD solutions for drafting to AutoCAD, AutoCAD Mechanical and AutoCAD LT, Combat Group saw incorporating 3D design into its processes via Autodesk Inventor software featured in Autodesk Product Design Suite as a way to increase its competitiveness.

Since the company frequently deals with automotive and industrial factories, it has to take into consideration how to incorporate a variety of machines and equipment within each facility. Space is a critical factor, and having 3D rendering allows Combat Group to seamlessly integrate the complete paint system with precision equipment placement and manage complex process piping and cable routing in the overall building layout.

When designing for the fabrication stage, Autodesk Inventor software reduces a lot of the missteps that can occur later on in the work process if the initial design has some flaws. Combat Group has found that with more detailed and accurate 3D models, it spends significantly less time engaged in back and forth with the customer trying to get the fabrication right.

Partly due to this increased workflow efficiency, Combat Group has seen customer satisfaction rise from 45 percent to 78 percent since adopting Autodesk Product Design Suite and 3D design processes.

 Image Credits: Autodesk, In The Fold