Cadpro Australia

New tools and the right training help clean technology powerhouse 5B scale to meet exponential demand

Australian-based company, 5B, manufactures prefabricated rapidly deployable solar arrays, delivering to clients around the world. With its innovative 5B Maverick system - which is faster, more energy dense, and safer to deploy than conventional solar technologies – 5B has experienced exponential growth. To meet demand, they teamed up with Autodesk partner Cadpro to implement new tools, systems and skillsets.During its start-up phase, 5B outsourced the civil and structural engineering components, allowing its in-house team to focus on systems design. But with increasingly large, complex and sophisticated projects, they needed to build their design capability.They also needed to optimise their design engineering processes. 5B use Autodesk AutoCAD in multiple areas, from product and assembly design to deployment. But rapid growth meant they needed to standardise its use to gain efficiencies and consistency across drawings and projects.A larger team also meant that buying one-off licences was becoming complex to manage in-house. AutoCAD licenses were purchased through the Autodesk eStore, and each license sat with an individual. As the company grew, and seats changed, they needed a simpler way to assign and manage a larger number of licences.

Like Butter Connects Design and Manufacturing with Autodesk Fusion 360

Like Butter is a design and manufacturing fabrication business based in regional Victoria and have been in operation since 2007. The company offers storage and shelving products, along with one-off and bespoke commissions for commercial and non-commercial applications, with a specialist focus on plywood manufacturing and modular shelving systems.Jem Selig Freeman, industrial designer, and co-owner of Like Butter, explains their primary challenge was to employ CAD/CAM software that would assist them to cost effectively run their design to manufacture workflows, and speed up their ability to get product to market. The company also needed a solution that would allow them to efficiently design and manufacture custom or bespoke commissions.

Nupress reduces upfront costs and time spent with Autodesk Inventor

Nupress first opened their doors in 1971, but unlike many such long standing companies, they’ve worked hard to keep their attention on the future. As technology moved on, so too did Nupress. They’ve gone from producing tools with winding handles to parts for CNC machines with robot interfaces, which they see as a shift towards Industry 4.0. They work in the defense industry, manufacture parts for power generation across APAC and for the mining industry. They’ve also carved a niche creating tools for the medical industry. 60% of their work involves creating facades for the North American architectural industry – a big part of why, over 10 years ago, they went looking for another, more interoperable design platform. “All the engineering used to be done on drawing boards with slide rules. Now it’s all done with computer aided design. We needed to stay at the pointy end of technology, “ said Murray Clair, Nupress managing director “And CADPRO came to the forefront to help us”.