From the first notion of an idea to the fine detail of a complex and highly engineered item such as a facial prosthetic, award-winning Fripp Design and Research is recognized for its expertise in taking a concept through computer-aided design (CAD) realization and rapid prototyping to manufacture. Experienced in the registration of high-value intellectual property (IP) and the commercial development of additive manufactured products, the company provides a range of services that support innovation and business growth.
Fripp Design and Research’s customers range from single inventors to large corporations such as Boots, Marks and Spencer, and Fellowes UK. Having built strong relationships with both commercial organizations and academic centers of excellence, the company has a track record of leading public/private collaborations and helping clients access grant funding to develop and establish IP. The CAD software that the company’s designers now turn to is Solid Edge® software from Siemens PLM Software.
“One of the problems we were having with our previous CAD software was compatibility,” says Tom Fripp, managing director at Fripp Design and Research. “And this was not only with other CAD packages. A customer might send us a file created in a later version of our own package, but if we had not upgraded we would not be able to open it. We had to open a separate program, import the data and translate it into another file format, such as IGES (initial graphics exchange specification). The big problem with this was that we could not manipulate the content and, for us, this blocked potential modeling innovation.”
Later, when the company learned that support for the underlying operating system of its CAD software was going to be changed, he knew it was time to act. Realizing that the company would have to upgrade the CAD operating system to help safeguard the security of its own data and that of its customers provided the impetus to evaluate and upgrade its CAD software. “It was at this point that we attended a seminar put on by Siemens PLM Software partner Majenta. Immediately it was clear to us that Solid Edge offered exactly what we needed in a CAD package. We were particularly impressed by synchronous technology.” After just two days of training, designers at Fripp Design and Research were up and running.
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