Case Studies

FSL Case Study

Fleet Support Limited use Autodesk Inventor to set new standards.

Fleet Support Limited(FSL)(, a VT group and BAE SYSTEMS joint venture) is one of the UK's leading providers of Royal Navy and commercial ship repair services, operates in a highly competitive business. Time is of the essence. Whole operational programmes are based on accurate and reliable completion dates. There is no room for delay, no place for excuse. There is always someone waiting to take the business if you fail. Responding to the challenge to find better, more productive and lower cost ways of working, the Ship Repair Division of FSL has based its design capability on an Autodesk solution. It is no coincidence that the company currently has the best delivery record in the industry.

The core business of the Ship Repair Division is the maintenance of Royal Navy minesweepers, frigates, destroyers, aircraft carriers and other ships, as they return to port for their upkeep periods. Major projects can involve changes to actual vessel structure. CAD usage in the units acquired by FSL was fragmented, and there were potential Year 2000 problems with at least one of the systems in use. To resolve these issues, a CAD review was carried out, which resulted in FSL standardising on an Autodesk platform. Autodesk was seen as the industry standard and offered a smooth and incremental transition from 2D to 3D. The core team of 20 full-time draughtsmen was equipped with AutoCAD and Autodesk Mechanical Desktop. A Local Autodesk Authorised Reseller, Adris Computing Concepts, supplied the complete solution and provided training and support.

The drawing office had become competent in the use of Mechanical Desktop, so that when Autodesk Inventor became available, the team was able to make a realistic comparison. To assist in this process, Adris arranged a special half-day workshop so that FSL could evaluate Inventor. Tony Swateridge, one of the FSL staff to make the early transition to 3D, says, "At first we were a bit sceptical of the claims being made for it, so we brought some files along and tried them out. We had to be sure we could migrate our designs without losing any information. We could. Inventor was impressive."

http://www.fleetsupport.com
http://www.vtplc.com
http://www.baesystems.com
http://www.autodesk.com

United House

The foremost specialist social housing contractor operating in London and the South East.
Probably the biggest installer of central heating in the UK, apart from British Gas.
Transformed the homes of over one million residents since 1964.

The Challenge
To design and fit thousands of properly sized central heating systems in existing properties whilst controlling installation and running costs.

The Solution
DEX, United House/Adris customised central heating design solution, integrated through Autodesk Architectural Desktop’s Object Modeling Framework (OMF).

Why Architectural Desktop?
Already in use for property refurbs.
Enabled efficient customisation using intelligent objects.

The Benefits
“We estimate a £100,000 a year in time saving and have projected material savings from this and other initiatives of almost £200,000.” - Geoffrey Granter Chairman

“What DEX gives us is time. Previously it took 30 minutes per property to input the values, plus drawing time, and we still had to take off the pipe runs…The job can be completed in just 20 minutes and it costs us 70% less than it used to.” - Ray Lingwood Mechanical Services Design Manager

“. . .considerable time saving and the elimination of virtually all errors…jobs are not held up if someone is out of the office. Someone else can take over without having to adopt a new style. This fosters teamwork, provides continuity and maintains quality.” - Roger Alderton Design Engineer

McCarthy & Stone

Leading Provider of Exquisite Retirement homes in the UK.
Offices Nationwide.
Over 100 CAD Stations.

The Challenge
Needed a CAD system that would compliment and support their unique way in which each scheme was designed. And have the ability to control and automate manual tasks to free up more time to meet increasing design demands.

The Solution
Adris were able to develop a bespoke Data Management System that combined with the right CAD software, Architectural Desktop could be adapted to fit our unique but exact requirements.

Furthermore, Adris had the technical staff and expertise to supply and support our Software and Hardware.

The Benefits

  • Increased efficiency in managing project design documentation.
  • Increased productivity.
  • Greatly Improved our Competitive edge.
  • Increased New Business Reduced cost of ownership.
  • Increased staff count to cope.
  • Increased our Profit.

SciTech engineering

Specialist in design & build into Bio-pharm Market.
Young company looking for a competitive edge.

The Challenge

  • Faced increasingly tight deadlines.
  • Restrictive budgets.
  • Needed to reduce the time spent in the field.
  • Could not meet the needs of the business with the existing AutoCAD software.

The Solution

  • Autodesk Building Systems & Viz Render.
  • Adris Specialised Comprehensive Training.
  • Adris Hardware and Support.

Why Autodesk Building Systems?
Time saved compared to AutoCAD has been Key Advantage and immeasurable in terms of revenue saved.

The Benefits

  • The combination of Adris, ADT and ABS has given us a design system that enhances our business capabilities.
  • This has helped reduce problems during the Construction stage of the project.
  • Project costs can be calculated more accurately and much earlier on in the project phase.
  • Architectural 2D layouts can now be created using ADT for all current projects, which instantly give a 3D layout that proves invaluable for presentation to the client.
  • Render ready content enables us to create images fast for both proposals and current projects.

Rocare Building Services Ltd

Commercial and Financial Office Design and Refit Nationwide.

The Challenge

  • High level of duplication in design processes.
  • Reduce or Eliminate Design Errors.
  • Unreliable Hardware.
  • Tight Project Turnaround.
  • Visuals created externally at cost

The Solution

  • Adris consultative approach identified manual process that could be improved or Automated.
  • Sections, Elevations, Details and Schedules were created instantly from the plans.
  • Adris Specialised Training Package.
  • Adris Hardware and Support.
  • Visuals could be generated from plans at no extra cost

Why Architectural Desktop?
ADT provided a comprehensive design tool that enabled all our documentation to be generated far quicker, and more precise, than in AutoCAD and, at the same time gave us the ability to produce visuals as and when needed.

The Benefits

  • The combination of Adris advice, Adris Training, Adris Support and ADT has seen our capabilities expand dramatically and thus enables us to provide a better and more varied service to our clients.
  • Adris Remote IT Support frees up our designers time to do what they’re good at.
  • Related project documentation, schedules and material lists can now be created directly from information contained within our drawings.

Hunter & Partners

The Challenge
A bid for a large Private Finance Initiative (PFI) demanded a fast turnaround, highlighting the need for greater efficiencies.

Existing Software
The Chichester office used a combination of AutoCAD® and AEC, but found the latter cumbersome and decided not to upgrade when the time came.

Proposed Solution
Adris introduced Autodesk Architectural Desktop which offered enhanced functionality and was very user-friendly. “It was obvious it would allow us to do many things that we couldn’t do in AEC, at least not without a lot of hassle.

Results

  • Can design in a “fraction of the time” it had taken before. Helped amass more than £150 million worth of work in the public sector over the last 7 years.
  • Helped establish H & P’s name in the education sector. Enables team to be much more ambitious in the work they bid for.
  • Standardisation across office locations has enabled more cross working with subsequent efficiencies.

So what would Andy Wiggins advice be to any similar practice considering standardising on the software?

“It takes two or three people to believe in the technology and drive the migration along. If people think that their current solution works for them, they may be reluctant to change.
“But making that initial move can pay dividends – as Hunter & Partners’ experience proves.” - Andy Wiggins IT Manager