Autodesk investigates … Where Are They Now? Bosch Rexroth Canada

Using Autodesk® Inventor® software, Bosch was able to design all-new hydraulic systems for the canal in 3D, replacing 70-year-old electromechanical drives, gears, chains, and steel cables.

August is National Inventors Month! A celebration of invention and creativity, National Inventors Month was started in 1998 to promote the positive image of inventors and the real contributions they give to this world.

To help celebrate, Autodesk has been revisiting some past Autodesk Inventors of the Month to find out what they’ve been up to.
 
In September 2006, Bosch Rexroth Canada (Bosch), a leading provider of drive and control solutions, was named as Autodesk Inventor of the Month for its work modernizing the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway’s Welland Canal, one of North America’s main shipping arteries.

Using Autodesk® Inventor® software, Bosch was able to design all-new hydraulic systems for the canal in 3D, replacing 70 year old electromechanical drives, gears, chains, and steel cables.

Bosch is currently working on several initiatives that will allow it to penetrate the motion control market in a much more dynamic and expedient fashion.

Not one to live in the past, Bosch has kept its eyes on the future. Bosch is currently working on several initiatives that will allow it to penetrate the motion control market in a much more dynamic and expedient fashion.

Using Autodesk® DWF™ technology, the company is developing a new standard that allows all sales offices across Canada to view documentation in real time.

The company is also working on several in-house programming projects via the Inventor API interface that will further automate its design processes. The company is particularly excited about a configuration program for power unit design. Once completed, this program will revolutionize small power pack design and reduce the time required to generate RFQ responses for customers.

 “I look at the complexity of the projects we are now getting involved in, and I get excited,” Jim Lambert, Design Manager at Bosch says. “There is no way that we would have tackled some of the difficult issues related to engineering and design with the design tools at our disposal even three or four years ago. Using Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk® Design Review has raised the bar on the complexity of projects we can handle, and this sets us apart from many of our competitors.”

For this innovative company, the future has never been brighter. In the past year, Bosch has almost doubled its business levels—and with the same amount of design personnel.

“We would have never believed that working in a Digital Prototyping environment would produce such a drastic yet positive impact on our systems business,” says Lambert. “We will continue to look for new opportunities to improve on our current workflow and procedures by leveraging Autodesk technology.”

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