Autodesk awarded the title of "Inventor of the Month" to Craftsmen Industries

Autodesk, the global leader in 2D and 3D design software for manufacturing, construction, media, and entertainment, has recognized Craftsmen Industries, a leading manufacturer of custom mobile displays for promotional and other marketing purposes, with the title of “Inventor of the Month” for December 2007. This award was received by Craftsmen for its use of digital prototyping as an innovative way to visualize, simulate, and analyze three-dimensional design even in the pre-production stage. Through the “Inventor of the Month” program, Autodesk honors the most interesting designs and technical innovations created by the customer community of Autodesk Inventor, which is a key solution for digital prototyping.

Craftsmen Industries offers a range of mobile marketing products from standard mobile units to sophisticated pop-up complexes. Additionally, the company manufactures unique custom mobile units with a traditional look that can be transformed at any time into visually striking mobile advertising. Given the size of these units, building physical prototypes in the pre-production stage is not a viable option. Instead of constructing, modifying, and then redoing physical prototypes, Craftsmen uses digital prototyping as a modern way to visualize, simulate, and analyze three-dimensional design before the actual production begins.
The specialized “Sheet Metal Design” tools within Autodesk Inventor allow Craftsmen to easily design metallic body components, define and optimize the design parameters of the display at the level of the digital prototype. This enables employees to assess all the qualities of the design, thus preventing the risk of costly changes that would occur if an imperfect design were handed over to production.
“Autodesk Inventor, as a fundamental tool of digital prototyping, allows us to fully design and optimize a 3D digital model,” said Tim Matejka, Design Engineer at Craftsmen Industries. “Digital prototypes enhance our productivity in several important ways. This tool allows us to quickly and easily make changes to our designs and then effectively and visually interpret these designs to our manufacturing department.”
By using Inventor to create digital rather than physical prototypes, Craftsmen has reduced its average production time by 30%, allowing the company to successfully fulfill its orders on schedule and consequently take on more contracts simultaneously.
“Innovative companies like Craftsmen realize that digital prototyping helps reduce the number of errors, improve quality, and save time - even in cases where very complex projects are implemented,” stated Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions. “It is an honor for us to name Craftsmen our ‘Inventor’ for the month of December.”

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About the “Autodesk Inventor of the Month” Program
Autodesk selects this award monthly from over 700,000 users of the Autodesk Inventor application worldwide. Winners are chosen based on outstanding engineering work and groundbreaking innovations. For more information about the “Autodesk Inventor of the Month” program, interested parties can contact via email: IOM@autodesk.com.

About Craftsmen Industries

About Autodesk
Autodesk is the global leader in 2D and 3D design software for manufacturing, construction, media, and entertainment. Since the introduction of AutoCAD in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of cutting-edge digital prototyping solutions that help customers practically test ideas before actual implementation. Fortune 1000 companies use Autodesk tools to visualize, simulate, and analyze the real-world performance of their designs even in the early stages of development, helping them save time and money, increase quality, and foster innovation. More information about Autodesk can be found at www.autodesk.com or www.autodesk.cz.

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