Case study · AutoCAD

From layout to priced quote, in hours instead of days.

An AutoCAD plug-in draws conveyors as smart objects. A quoting application turns them into the bill of materials, the price, the Word quote and the production order.

Client
Conveyor manufacturer
Years
2006 to 2012
Scale
≈ 160,000 lines of C#, about 20 AutoCAD commands

Before

Every quote needed a layout drawing, a parts list, a horsepower calculation, a cost and a Word document, all done by hand. It took days, and won orders were re-entered for production, with errors along the way.

What we built

  • Parametric conveyors and components, added from a property palette
  • Drive horsepower and belt pull calculated while designing
  • Bill of materials inserted in the drawing or exported to Excel
  • Quoting application: pricing, margins, contracts and Word quotes generated from templates

Results

  • Quotes in hours instead of days
  • Accepted quotes sent straight to production, with no re-entry
  • No errors between the quote and the sale

Technologies

  • AutoCAD 2011–2012
  • AutoCAD .NET API
  • C#
  • WinForms
  • DevExpress
  • SQL Server
  • NHibernate
  • ASP.NET web services
  • Word
  • Excel

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