As a leading manufacturer of linear motion components and linear systems, Nook Industries prides itself on being a forward-thinking manufacturer. When Christopher Nook, vice president of marketing, heard that one of the company's competitors was offering downloadable CAD models via the web, he was determined to provide Nook customers with the industry's finest 3D online catalog.

"We had been talking to the 3D catalog company serving one of our competitors when we heard about 3D PartStream.NET from SolidWorks Corp," Nook recalls. "We were not far from pulling the trigger on that project when we began discussing how screw jacks are actually configured, ordered, and manufactured. Our products have 45,000 basic configurations and millions of potential combinations. We wanted to give our customers the ability to configure and download CAD models of our products to meet their specific design needs, such as evaluating custom travel lengths to come up with the right screw jack for a particular job."

Due to the complexity of its product line, Nook eventually pulled the plug on its initial effort and decided to implement 3D PartStream.NET technology to provide customer access to fully configurable 3D models.

Configure, Order, Manufacture

Nook traditionally marketed its products through paper catalogs, then provided 2D component drawings via CD-ROM. "For years, we did not see the value of modeling our existing product line in 3D," Nook explains. "All of our new product development utilizes 3D, and we learned 3D is a competitive advantage. By building our online catalog with 3D PartStream.NET, we provide our customers with precise models of the exact configurations they need without creating additional work."

Roger Clark, design engineer for Remmele Engineering, says access to solid models from Nook saves time because they don't have to remodel components. "But the overriding benefit is the greater design flexibility it gives us. When we modeled a component in the past, we often had to work with what we had or spend additional time modeling another configuration. Now, if a particular configuration doesn't work, we can download a different configuration. With this added flexibility, we often download three or four product configurations and have the time to evaluate which one works best," Clark says.

"With 3D PartStream.NET, our online catalog provides the best performance in the industry. Customers configure the part, download it, and order it. We then manufacture the part and deliver it without missing a beat," Nook says.

Download Equals Purchase

To date, Nook's online catalog has registered over 3,300 users, who have downloaded over 3,400 models, and has increased sales by 35%. "About 80-85% of downloaded CAD models produce sales," Nook notes. "As soon as an engineer can download a model and determine how it fits into his overall design, the purchasing decision is as good as made."

Nook Industries also allows users to download CAD models from 3D ContentCentral, a free online directory from SolidWorks Corp that offers downloadable 2D and 3D CAD parts from leading component manufacturers to over 230,000 SolidWorks CAD software users worldwide.

Saving Time and Effort

Before implementing 3D PartStream.NET, Nook handled requests for 3D models manually. "Previously, we had to go look for the CAD model, create or modify it, and then verify its accuracy. The process took about a week. Now, we can use our website and do the same thing in a few mouse-clicks," Nook says.

This automated system has dramatically reduced the company's sales support costs, replacing a lengthy model creation/approval process. Employees can now simply point a customer to the website and generate the exact product configuration in real time. 3D PartStream.NET has reduced annual sales support costs at Nook by $426,400 (engineering, $78,000; customer service, $36,400; and business development, $312,000).

The company has also reduced its lead generation costs while improving the quality of sales leads. Historically, Nook spent about $95 in marketing funds for each generated lead. The cost of a higher quality 3D PartStream.NET lead is $9.53, a reduction of 90%. The company is so pleased with the quality and cost-effectiveness of sales leads via 3D PartStream.NET that it has stopped attending trade shows. "We've cancelled all of our trade shows and will continue to invest in 3D PartStream.NET. It's a more effective and cost-effective means for generating leads and gives potential customers the information they need fast," Nook says.