SCIENCE

CONCORD, MA -- Teradyne, a leading automated testing equipment designer and manufacturer, is using 88 seats of SolidWorks Corporation's 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software to reduce its design and engineering cycles by 70 percent. Using SolidWorks software, Teradyne designs $1 million to $8 million semiconductor testing equipment for the computer processing industry. SolidWorks has enabled Teradyne to cut its time to market, giving customers an edge in a highly competitive industry where technology changes every six months. Prior to using SolidWorks, Teradyne used a 3D CAD software system that was difficult for its engineers to learn and didn't interoperate with the company's other design tools. Teradyne wanted a system that improved design quality, while reducing design time and costs. Additionally, the company sought feature-rich software that was easy to learn and use. SolidWorks provided all of these capabilities, in addition to powerful assembly, surfacing, and sheet metal capabilities. "Time pressure is intense in the semiconductor industry because computer processors go out of date every six months. SolidWorks has helped us achieve the critical goal of getting our products to market rapidly," said Steve Hess, a mechanical engineer at Teradyne. "We've also found that SolidWorks' partner applications provide great benefits to us, adding critical features specifically aimed at our industry." Teradyne relies on several integrated partner applications, including COSMOS/Works for stress analysis and CircuitWorks for translating printed circuit boards. COSMOS/Works provides Teradyne engineers with fast, accurate tools for design analysis that interoperate with SolidWorks software to bring product costs down while increasing quality. CircuitWorks assists Teradyne by translating information about complex circuit boards into SolidWorks models that engineers use to design sophisticated cooling methods. Teradyne's first complete design using SolidWorks software was "Flash 750," a device for testing flash memory modules used in cell phones, digital cameras, and other consumer electronic products. With Teradyne's previous software package, it would have taken the company at least two years to design and manufacture the product. SolidWorks enabled Teradyne to complete the entire design and production cycle in less than one year. "SolidWorks has helped customers such as Teradyne realize significant time and cost savings," said John McEleney, chief operating officer for SolidWorks Corporation. "From the outset, our mission has been to give every engineer and designer the powerful, yet easy-to-master 3D tools they need to be highly efficient and productive. We are proud to be a key contributor to Teradyne's success." For more information visit www.solidworks.com