The Problem
Designing utility poles and structural assemblies involved extensive repetitive modeling, manual drawing creation, and manual preparation of manufacturing data. This led to inconsistent outputs across teams, high rework rates, heavy manpower dependency, and delays that increased project costs and affected delivery schedules.
Constraints & Challenges
- Repetition: Repetitive creation of similar parts, sub-assemblies, and assemblies.
- Documentation: Time-consuming generation of drawings and PDFs.
- Consistency: Inconsistent outputs across teams and projects.
- BOMs: Manual preparation of Bills of Materials for manufacturing.
- Integration: Lack of direct integration between design data and fabrication systems.
- Scalability: Difficulty scaling workflows as project volumes increased.
Our Approach
FDES designed and implemented a custom Autodesk Inventor add-in to automate the complete utility structure design and downstream manufacturing workflow.
- Rule-driven configuration based on structured user inputs.
- Automated generation of parts, sub-assemblies, and assemblies.
- One-click creation of drawings and PDFs using standardized templates.
- Automatic part numbering and hardware placement.
- Generation of manufacturing-ready BOMs.
- Export of structured fabrication data aligned with Tekla PowerFab requirements.
What Was Automated
Integrations
The system seamlessly integrates with the following platforms to ensure end-to-end data flow:
- Autodesk Inventor: Core design and modeling engine.
- Tekla PowerFab: Direct export of fabrication data packages.
- Excel/CSV: Input data handling for batch processing.
Impact
Significant reduction in design and documentation time.
Improved accuracy and consistency across projects.
Reduced manpower required for repetitive engineering tasks.
Seamless transition from engineering design to fabrication systems.