MasterGraphics helps clients make improvements to design processes before they hit the production floor.

With manufacturing becoming more globalized every day, companies are looking for boosts in productivity anywhere they can find them. MasterGraphics, a design data solutions firm based in Madison, Wis., believes one of the best ways to do this is through improvements to design processes that reduce the number of physical prototypes and eliminate errors and waste before the design hits the production floor.      

“We’re trying to help our clients better utilize their design data by analyzing a digital model before it is ever built,” says Dan Banach, director of professional learning. “That is what we offer through many different mechanisms, from business process consulting all the way through regular classroom training. Our goal is to be a trusted advisor for clients, one that they will call first.”

MasterGraphics was founded in 1949 in Madison as Master Blue Print. The company opened locations in Appleton and Milwaukee, Wis., in the 1980s, at the same time starting its computer-assisted design (CAD) division by selling Point Line CAD.

In the 1990s, the company merged with two local CAD dealers and secured Autodesk certification for selling AutoCAD software statewide. In 1993, Master Blue Print changed its name to MasterGraphics. In 2005, MasterGraphics expanded to Minneapolis with the acquisition of Quannon CAD Systems of Minnetonka, Minn., and in 2006 opened an office in the Chicago suburb of Rolling Meadows, Ill.

Determining Needs
MasterGraphics determines what a client’s needs are through its sales force and application engineers, who visit a client’s facility to analyze its design and data management process. Through this process analysis, the project team identifies potential areas of improvement in the client’s processes. An implementation plan is then developed for potential design and data management improvements. MasterGraphics then helps the client implement the new software, processes and standards. A customized training program can also be developed to match the client’s objectives, and MasterGraphics remains available for support or further consultations on future needs.

“We don’t want to drop off the software and have it become ‘shelfware,’” Banach says. “Our goal is for our clients to get as much out of their software investment as possible. Once we lay out the process plan, we have been extremely successful with the software in terms of setting up standards and styles, how all data should flow, and involving the data management software with a training plan and support. Those are all aspects of good implementation.”

Digital Prototyping
Banach offers the fluctuating price of steel and its impact on manufacturers as an example of how MasterGraphics can help companies reduce costs. When the cost of steel was low, manufacturers would over-design products with little regard for the amount of steel needed, creating multiple prototypes whenever things didn’t work out on the first few attempts.

Today, with the rising cost of steel and offshore production costs growing because of volatile fuel pricing, every ounce of steel can have an impact on a business’ bottom line across many areas. Banach believes the one differentiating factor between domestic products and offshore imports will be quality, and one way to improve quality is to utilize digital prototyping. This allows design teams to test products electronically to reduce the number of physical prototypes, which reduces the number of errors in the design process. The difference in cost savings can be immense, according to Banach.

“With digital prototyping, you can find errors early in the design process that cost pennies on the dollar to fix,” he says. “Once a part ships, it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix.”

Digital prototyping also allows clients to save on future design products by reusing 3-D models. “Any time you don’t have to recreate an entire design you enjoy a great cost savings,” Banach adds. “Also, with 3-D, if you have the component already created, creating another one that is similar is very easy to do.”

Helping Get Lean
Banach says Digital prototyping gives manufacturers another weapon in their lean journey to make significant productivity gains.

“With lean, companies want to reduce their staff level or take an existing staff and go into new markets,” he says. “Digital prototyping really allows that to happen. The current technology is totally utilized in lean manufacturing, which is definitely attainable today.”

The analysis and engineering of digital models is applicable to a company’s Six Sigma efforts, as well.