Case Study

Japan’s Seiwa Giken Co. cuts engineering time by 80%

using Creo™ Elements / Direct™ Modeling software

Formerly CoCreate ®

“We downloaded the evaluation version, and

we were absolutely charmed by how easy Creo
Elements/Direct Modeling is to use. The whole
team could work on a design, and making
changes to someone else’s work was trivial.”

– Mr. Oe, Engineering Department, Seiwa Giken Co.

Seiwa Giken Co., Ltd, Hiroshima, Japan

Seiwa Technical Research Co. (Seiwa Giken Co.) designs and

manufactures a variety of sophisticated equipment that’s used
to handle and grind powders (commercial and research ap-
plications). Started in 1972, the company has developed a
reputation for delivering high-quality, often highly customized
products within tight timeframes.

The challenge: Install a top-quality 3D CAD solution The results: Reduced engineering time by 80%

• Select an easy-to-use, easy-to-learn, highly flexible CAD • Now ‘wowing’ customers with high-quality
solution appropriate for a fast-moving design team photorenderings of designs

• Enable faster response time to customers’ manufacturing • New designers quickly making changes to other
requirements designer’s work

• Cut development time and deliver better products faster
• Produce high-quality model renderings that impress
customers
• Adopt a more team-centered approach to design
The solution: 3D Direct Modeling software from PTC
• Installed Creo Elements/Direct Modeling software
in 2008
• Fully instituted a team-oriented approach to design
within two years
• Designers now making changes directly to 3D designs
‘on-the-fly’
• Working faster and smarter using new enhancements
in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 17.0

• Moved up to Creo Elelments/Direct Modeling 17.0 in

2010, achieving added benefits with the latest CAD tools

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 Case Study

Seiwa Technical Research Co. switched to 3D
CAD in 2008. Since then, PTC’s Creo Elements/
Direct Modeling software has helped the com-
pany impress customers with slick model pre-
sentations. Plus, the software has led to an 80%
reduction in design time, while helping the com-
pany adopt a more team-centered approach to
design. When it was time to upgrade to Creo El-
ements/Direct 17.0 in 2010, Seiwa saw the val-
ue immediately. Here’s their story.
Customers “wowed”, design time halved, engineering
teamwork overhauled in just two years
Based in Hiroshima, Japan, Seiwa Technical Research Com-
pany manufactures machinery and tools that its customers use
to blend, measure and grind powders.
“Production sped up by 50%,” says Mr. Oe. That’s because the
team could quickly create 3D designs, generate 2D drawings
from those designs if needed, and, most importantly, make
changes easily.
There were even more improvements in efficiency after the de-
sign was created. “Post-production changes that used to take
a whole day in 2D CAD now can be done in an hour,” says Mr.
Oe. That’s an 80% reduction in engineering time, just from
switching to Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.
While speeding-up development time was a significant ben-
efit of moving to 3D, it wasn’t the only reason Seiwa switched.
The company also adopted 3D to “wow” its customers with
the software’s powerful photorendering tools. “Customers
now can see exactly what we’re building for them,” says Mr.
Oe. “We can impress them with our designs, and build up
excitement about our machinery before products go into pro-
duction.”

For many years, the company designed its equipment with 2D

CAD software. But hard-to-read 2D drawings couldn’t clearly
convey design intent when the Seiwa team was presenting its
ideas to customers. That spurred Seiwa to try out 3D CAD.

Initially, the Seiwa team experimented with mainstream para-

metric 3D modelers, but found the software hard to use, es-
pecially when multiple engineers worked on a single design.
Loading and understanding another designer’s work proved
too complex and limiting.

Consequently, Seiwa tried PTC’s Creo Elements/Direct Model-

ing Personal Edition (PE), and never looked back.

“We downloaded the evaluation PE version, and we were ab-

solutely charmed by how easy Creo Elements/Direct Modeling
is to use. The whole team could work on a design, and mak-
ing changes to someone else’s work was trivial,” says Mr. Oe,
Engineering Department. “We immediately decided to buy the
full software.”

Creo Elements/Direct is an ideal solution for manufacturers

who need to quickly produce multiple iterations of their de-
signs, and make changes to designs on-the-fly.
The team at Seiwa Technical Research quickly got used to
working with Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. Over time, they
found that designers could model more quickly in 3D than in
their original 2D software. In fact, it wasn’t long before most
Seiwa engineers didn’t want to use the 2D CAD software at all.
Seiwa first adopted Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in 2008.
With the release of Creo Elements/Direct 17.0 in 2010, the
company eagerly upgraded to the most recent version. Akira
Okamoto, Seiwa Engineering Department, says, "We upgrad-
ed in May 2010 and we’re happy with it. We think this release
has many noticeable improvements over our previous instal-
lation.”

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 Case Study

Some of the improvements of Creo Elements/Direct 17.0 that

Seiwa values most include:

-- Real-time measure. Users can see line lengths, angles

and other dimensions as they drag the geometry. Or,
users can enter values directly, in order to achieve perfect
dimensions. Designers can even measure relative to
other elements in the design.

-- Real-time rendering. With the latest release, designers

can see their design fully rendered as they work.

-- Enhanced probe select. Now designers can work

with hidden elements in a model. They can even
page-through the layers in even the most dense and
complicated designs.

With Creo Elements/Direct 17.0, Seiwa Giken expects to con-

tinue its progress in designing products that its customers can
get excited about – in record time.

© 2010, Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC). All rights reserved. Information concern-
ing the benefits and results obtained by customers using PTC solutions is based upon the par-
ticular user’s experience and testimonial, is furnished for informational use only, and should
not be construed as a guarantee or commitment by PTC. Due to the varying degree of com-
plexity of our customers’ products and/or their design processes, typical or generally expected
results are not available. PTC, the PTC Logo, CoCreate, Creo, Elements/Direct, Elements/
Pro, Elements/View, Unlock Potential, Think. Create. Believe. and all PTC product names and
logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of PTC and/or its subsidiaries in the United
States and in other countries. All other product or company names are property of their re-
spective owners.

6051– Seiwa Giken– CS – EN – 1210

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