Platform · SolidWorks API · macros · rule-based design
SolidWorks Automation
for product lines that outgrew macros
Ten configurations, a VBA macro handles. Ten thousand (sizes times materials times options), and the macro becomes the thing everyone works around. We build SolidWorks API add-ins, DriveWorks rules, and PDM automation that treat your configuration logic like the production system it actually is.
Recognized by the vendor itself → SolidWorks published a case study on our design automation work
The challenge
The Day the Macro Stopped Scaling
Every SolidWorks shop automates something. The trouble starts when order volume grows faster than the VBA behind it.
The Macro Only One Person Can Run
It breaks on version upgrades, takes no user input, and lives on one machine. When its author is out sick, so is the automation.
Configurations Multiplying
Every new size, material, and option multiplies the matrix. Senior engineers spend their days changing parameters and suppressing features instead of designing.
Design to Manufacturing, Unpiped
Models, drawings, BOMs, and the PDM vault each managed by hand. Nothing moves from order to release unless someone personally pushes it.
What we build
SolidWorks Automation, From Add-in to Vault
SolidWorks API Add-ins (.NET)
The macro, rebuilt as software: .NET add-ins with Property Manager pages and task panes. Inputs validated, errors handled, upgrades survived.
Learn more → SALES INPUT IN → MODELS · DRAWINGS · BOMS OUTProduct Configurators
Sales fills in a form; the SolidWorks API does the rest. Models, drawings, and BOMs generated per order, keeping engineering out of the routine loop.
Learn more → RULES IN → VARIANTS OUTDriveWorks Integration
Your configuration logic carried by DriveWorks Solo or Pro: variant generation, document automation, and self-service configuration running on rules, not memory. Weighing DriveWorks against custom API automation? See the comparison.
Compare the approaches → PDM VAULT → AUTOMATED DATA FLOWPDM Integration & Automation
The vault working for you instead of the reverse: automated file management, revision control, and data extraction from SolidWorks PDM, with no check-in ceremony.
Learn more →What we build with
Macros vs API vs DriveWorks
The Three Levels of SolidWorks Automation, and When to Move Up
Every SolidWorks automation project sits on one of three levels: recorded and hand-written macros, compiled API add-ins, or rule-based configurators like DriveWorks. Teams get stuck when they ask one level to do the next one's job.
| Macros (VBA) | SolidWorks API (.NET) | DriveWorks / Configurators | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Recorded or hand-written VBA running inside SolidWorks | Compiled add-ins with Property Manager pages and task panes | Rule-based design automation driving SolidWorks from a form |
| Best at | Single repetitive tasks: exports, property fills, one-off fixes | Drawing generation, PDM/ERP integration, complex configuration logic | Sales-facing configuration of a defined product family |
| Built by | Power users | Developers who know CAD | Engineers, with rules discipline, plus API work at the edges |
| Breaks down when | It needs a UI, error handling, or another user's machine | Rarely; this is the production layer | Logic exceeds what rules express, at which point it calls the API |
| Typical project | Batch exports, drawing cleanup, property standardization | Order-to-CAD pipelines, quotation tools, PDM automation | Configure-to-order product lines, sales self-service |
The pattern we see most: a macro that grew into a business-critical system without ever being engineered as one. The fix is rarely a bigger macro; it's moving that logic into a .NET add-in, and putting DriveWorks in front only where sales needs self-service. Our deep dive: SolidWorks automation: macros, API, and rule-based design.
Scope
What SolidWorks Automation Can Take Off Your Team's Plate
Model Generation
Parts, assemblies, and configurations built from order data or design tables: master models that reconfigure instead of getting rebuilt by hand.
Drawing Automation
Views, dimensions, annotations, and title blocks generated from the model in one pass, to your drafting standards, for every variant.
BOMs & Cut Lists
Bills of materials and weldment cut lists extracted straight from assemblies, with custom properties and part numbers applied by rule.
Batch Operations
Exports to STEP, IGES, DXF, and PDF, custom property updates, drawing conversions: all run across entire folders while nobody watches.
PDM & ERP Integration
Files checked in, revisions controlled, and design data flowing to ERP automatically. The vault becomes infrastructure, not ceremony.
Sales-to-CAD Pipelines
Configurators where an order arrives as a form and leaves as validated models, drawings, and BOMs, and engineering only sees the exceptions.
Results
What SolidWorks Teams Measure After Rollout
"Although our project was very open-ended and hit many unforeseen obstacles, Nagarjuna and his team were very adaptable. Their Windows Automation expertise is top-notch." Eli Cohen · Founder · MTailor
Proof
Proof, Including From the Platform Vendor Itself
When the company that makes SolidWorks writes up your automation work, that's the reference you lead with. SolidWorks published a case study on FDES design automation: vendor-level validation of how we build.
Related articles
Reading Before You Replace the Macro
SolidWorks Automation Guide
Macros, API add-ins, rule-based design: what each level is for, and the point where a team should move up one.
Read article → AUTOMATION STRATEGYBuild vs Buy
Custom tools versus off-the-shelf: the honest trade-offs, and how to run the evaluation before spending either way.
Read article → CAD CUSTOMIZATIONCAD Customization vs Automation
Customizing the environment and automating the workflow are different problems, and most mature teams end up doing both.
Read article →FAQ
Asked on Nearly Every First Call
When should a macro become an API add-in?
Can you rescue our existing VBA macros instead of rewriting everything?
DriveWorks or a custom API solution: which one do we need?
Can it generate drawings and BOMs, not just models?
Does it work with SolidWorks PDM?
How long does a SolidWorks automation project take?
Free · no obligation
How Many Configurations Are You Managing by Hand?
If the answer needs a spreadsheet, it's time. The audit maps your variant matrix, your macros, and your PDM flow, then tells you where automation pays back first, in numbers you can take to management.
The workstation configurator that cut turnaround to 30 minutes →
- Your variant matrix and configuration process, mapped
- Macros worth rescuing vs replacing, identified
- DriveWorks and PDM opportunities ranked by ROI