Benefits that only a partnership with an engineering firm can provide

As a large enterprise, commercial company, or startup, there may be a number of situations in which there is a shortage of engineering capacity due to a sudden increase in workload. In this case, the company can choose from several options: you can oblige your existing engineers to work overtime, you can hire new staff, or you can choose temporary employees. However, there is an option that is hardly comparable to the previous three options in terms of benefits. And that is to “rent” an entire engineering team with a wide range of experience – either in the short or long term.

In our article, we are going to show in which cases this type of partnership is worth it, why it stands out from the other options in terms of both quality and cost-effectiveness, and what pitfalls we can avoid with its help. Through concrete examples, we show how we support the work of our partners through quality engineering services and the related project management, and also summarize the exact steps of the workflow.

Overtime, new staff, temporary employees: is there a better solution?

Whether it’s product, tool or custom machine design, prototype building, or effective reverse engineering, there will come a moment in the lives of many companies when they can no longer solve tasks in-house. The problem may stem from a lack of capacity, but it may also be that the task goes beyond the knowledge and experience of existing staff. Moreover, the process has often stalled at the beginning due to the lack of fresh eyes and ears. So how can you still win in this situation? So how can you still win in this situation?

The company in trouble may oblige colleagues to work overtime. This way, all work can continue flexibly, without interruption, the extra costs will be predictable, but no new knowledge and experience will be transferred to the company. Consequently, instead of the necessary innovative ideas and solutions, only a high level of employee dissatisfaction will emerge. It is better for the company to solve the problem by hiring temporary employees or new staff, as they will provide more capacity and the existing colleagues will not complain either. However, it will be much more difficult to calculate the costs involved, and – by the time new employees get fully trained and familiar with the company, the processes, the specific problems – the project can be long overdue. However, it will be much more difficult to calculate the costs involved, and – by the time new employees get fully trained and familiar with the company, the processes, the specific problems – the project can be long overdue.

Is there a better solution?

More than just a rental service

“Renting” an engineering team with extensive experience offers a unique opportunity: such an engineering firm is not present in the life of the company as a simple supplier or a sub-contractor team but as an extended part of the company’s own team. The members of the team work closely with the company’s employees and the design team, practically integrated. They get familiar with the company, their working methods, technology, resources, challenges and opportunities, both externally and internally. From this point on, they become one with the company’s team, thinking together and sharing their innovative ideas, extensive experience and knowledge. In this way, the company not only gets fresh, flexible and immediate capacity but new knowledge and experience as well. Moreover, the cost of labour is even more predictable compared to the previous two options. And existing employees can continue from exactly where they left off to work much more efficiently and quickly – without overtime.

It is no coincidence that the CAD-CAM 3000 team works partly in its own engineering office and partly at the customer’s site on a given project – along with constant contact and coordination. This is how our team can adapt to the needs and expectations of the company as flexibly as possible, using efficient, unique and tailor-made solutions.

When is it worth to work together?

CAD-CAM 3000 offers a wide range of engineering services in any collaboration. Whether you need product, tool, or custom machine design, technical drawing, modelling, 3D optical measurement, simulation, or even prototyping, nothing is impossible for our engineering team.

But how much can we help you in the framework of our cooperation? We illustrate with examples.

Product range development

The development of a new product range is usually a recurring task; therefore, it requires a large amount of capacity. Our engineering office is a reliable partner from the development of the concept to the adaptation phase.

When it comes to adapting a product (e.g., a refrigerator) to a new production technology (e.g., new insulation thickness, a new type of lighting or shelves), after designing the different sizes and designs, we will work out every detail, then prepare the production documentation (3D models and drawings).

Another example is to redesign a caravan for more efficient production and even better use of space. In this case, based on the method developed on the first prototype floor plan, it was necessary to develop further floor plan layouts; for this, we prepared ready-to-manufacture documentation (3D models and drawings).

New product development

In manufacturing companies, the primary task of local engineers is usually production development. Our engineering team helps their work with new, innovative ideas that have already proven themselves in other sectors. In the course of working together, we combine innovative ideas that have already proven themselves in other sectors with solutions already used by your engineering team, creating a new, rock-solid concept without increasing the workload of the local team.

Designing and manufacturing new tools

When new products need to be manufactured, it is a common problem that the local design team has to design a lot of tools in a very short time. Of course, part of the task can also be outsourced to an engineering team. However, without knowledge of local specificities, much of the work cannot be planned successfully. In such cases, a long-term, close relationship – based on the success of previous collaborations – is almost invaluable. Complementing the capacity of the local team, we will greatly accelerate the development of new tools.

If the given company wants to use external production capacities, thanks to our extensive network, the production can be completed accurately, on time, in high quality. In this case, production and design do not take place within one company, therefore we can manage capacities much more flexibly. This is a key advantage for manufacturers who “incidentally” also undertake design, as their top priority is most often the efficient use of their own production capacity. Consequently, in their case, projects are unfortunately often getting delayed.

Redesigning tools

It is common that a factory that has started to produce a given product wants to produce a new product – this does not always require completely new tools, but modified tools. If the company wants to entrust a team of engineers with a particular task that is unfamiliar to the company, they will usually receive a proposal for a new tool. However, if the relationship is close, the engineering team is already well acquainted with the possibilities of the given company, therefore recognize when the modification of the existing tools can be an effective solution.

Our engineering team effectively assesses existing tools , and integrates the usable parts in the design, constantly keeping the quality of the end result in mind. The process ends with consistent documentation.

Although design is hampered by the need to adapt to an existing solution, the benefits are undeniable: reduced labour and cost requirements allow production to speed up. The resulting eco-friendliness of this solution is just the cherry on top.

Preparation of detailed documentation

Manufacturers of products that are mostly unique but can be partially standardized, sometimes only possess sketches that are essentially required for production. Moreover, we often find that some manufacturers do not have their own documentation system. The lack of a 3D model, however, has many disadvantages: no preliminary collision tests can be performed, and neither time nor material requirements can be calculated accurately in advance. In this case, the plans usually only exist in the minds of the particular engineers. Although this method may seem very effective at first – as it can save a very significant amount of time on design – it can cause several problems later: Although this method may seem very effective at first – as it can save a very significant amount of time on design – it can cause several problems later:

• Without detailed manufacturing documentation, even the lack of a few key people can cause a spectacular drop in efficiency. In addition, the time of others is spent by communicating with new professionals, who, in the absence of documentation, can only rely on the sayings of those who have seen it before. A solution, in this case, is to survey and model (reverse engineering) the products.
• Without detailed prior modelling, if any part cannot be realized as intended due to collision, it will only become apparent during manufacturing. It can also cause an inconvenience when it turns out that the specification agreed with the customer is not feasible. Moreover, the raw material requirement cannot be predicted either. As a result, production may even stop , and finding alternatives can be costly. But then what is the solution? Well, production should only be started after the complete preparation of a 3D documentation and consultation with the customer.
• Without modelling, even the order of assembly becomes an empirical question: the correct order is difficult to verify, the product often has to be semi-finished in order for the process to be transparent. Thus, the utilization of free capacities is difficult, and because only a few can work on one product at a time, it takes even longer to produce it. However, with a complete documentation, more people can work on the same product simultaneously, thus significantly reducing time and space requirements.

These are the pitfalls, that the CAD-CAM 3000 team helps you to avoid: whether it’s production documentation, model upgrades, reverse engineering or 3D optical measurement, our engineers always work with optimal precision, tailored to the task at hand.

Projects that make us proud

As our engineering firm has been assisting various startups, commercial companies and large enterprises as partners for more than eight years, it is not an easy task to highlight only a few projects. Let’s try it though: we’ll briefly present three high-volume collaborations that perhaps fill us with the most pride so far.

Electrolux Italy

Our collaboration with Electrolux Italy is already marked by hundreds of successful projects. Our task was to design new refrigerators, during which we worked with the local development team. We worked on the development of production plans, based on which we ensured that the available technology can assemble and manufacture the individual components. During the projects, we prepared complete technical documentation (3D models, assembly and component drawings).
We are pleased to have been able to provide a cost-effective and quality solution to the suddenly increased capacity shortage of the company by a longer-term collaboration.

Knaus Tabbert GmbH

As part of our cooperation with Knaus Tabbert GmbH , we are already past the 185th successful project. At present, we mainly design the interior furniture of caravans (for example, elevator bed, kitchen furniture, bathroom furniture, recessed chest of drawers, staircase, etc.), along with the management and arrangement of pipes in accordance with the production technology of the company. We design the interior of the caravans for several different floor plans.
As we have assessed the preferences and possibilities of the company in terms of production technology during our close collaboration, we were able to create completely customized plans. Thanks to continuous coordination, the ready-to-manufacture documentation is always completed on time and in the highest possible quality.

Dometic Zrt.

As part of our collaboration, we measured and reverse-engineered a number of products for the company that did not previously have documentation. In addition, we are currently responsible for designing and manufacturing tools. And why is this collaboration so effective?

In contrast to the several-month delays in tool manufacturing, we guarantee you meet all deadlines. We create an exact schedule along with our offer, which is regularly updated during our consultations. Thus, when necessary, re-prioritizing is no problem. And thanks to the high-quality documentation, your company can save a lot of money during operation and maintenance. Another advantage is that we design all tools taking the local possibilities and machine park into account (in the case of our customer, for example, we have designed a foaming jig that can be used on several different machine lines). Sometimes it can be an attractive solution to transform an existing tool cost-effectively, instead of designing a new tool that would require more investment.

What are the steps of a collaborative workflow?

As we work together, you can expect the following steps:

1. ContactA brief preliminary consultation allows us to clarify the exact requirements, opportunities, tasks, and the ideal workflow. Confidentiality and any framework contract will also be concluded at this time.
   One of the most important steps during the preliminary consultation is to appoint a contact person from the side of the company, whose main task will be to inform our engineering team in order to work efficiently later. It is extremely important for the contact person to be familiar with the specific project, goals, requirements and opportunities so that we can provide the most useful and best solutions possible.
2. Development of a suitable way of workingIn each case, we aim to help the client company with tailored solutions, of which the essential precondition is the development of an efficient way of working. This is usually developed through smaller projects. Our team flexibly adapts to every expectation. We even work at the site of our client for this purpose.
3. Price quote request for specific projectsWe make a detailed offer for each project of our collaboration. Our goal is to accurately record requirements, costs, and deadlines based on previous projects. In order to clarify the exact requirements, the final offer is made after several consultation sessions.
4. Weekly consultationsFor a successful long-term collaboration and tailored solutions, the designated contact person consults with our engineering team at least weekly about the progress of projects by phone or even at the site of the client company.

CAD-CAM 3000: partner from idea to implementation

A partnership with the right engineering firm is not only a quality and cost-effective solution for the most pressing problems, but it also guarantees comprehensive, detail-oriented and flexible attitude through such a close relationship that a company would only expect from its own employees.

CAD-CAM 3000 has already proven its high level of professional knowledge and multidisciplinary experience through hundreds of projects and thousands of hours of collaboration every year. Our high-quality services are guaranteed by state-of-the-art technical equipment, continuously trained employees and conditions that comply with all legal requirements.

Our team members are specialists in different fields of engineering, but they have one thing in common: the desire to overcome all challenges and to help you and your business with a wide range of solutions.

Contact us to realize your vision.