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Autodesk (News - Alert) Inventor 3D CAD software products offer a comprehensive, flexible set of software for 3D mechanical design, product simulation, tooling creation, engineer to order and design communication.

The company recently named Ellis Furniture as the Autodesk August Inventor of the Month for using Autodesk Inventor as part of Autodesk Product Design Suite to offer greater levels of product customization in significantly less time.

Ellis Furniture, a U.K.-based furniture company in business for more than a century, is one of the users of Autodesk Inventor.

Autodesk specializes in professional and personal 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Each month, Autodesk selects an Inventor of the Month from the users of Autodesk Inventor software, which takes manufacturers beyond 3D to Digital Prototyping.

Winners are chosen for engineering excellence and groundbreaking innovation.

"At the heart of every successful business is the ability to quickly meet customer needs and deliver a great experience," Brenda Discher, vice president of Manufacturing Industry Strategy and Marketing at Autodesk, said in a recent statement.

"With the help of Autodesk Product Design Suite, Ellis Furniture now delivers more customized products in less time, outpacing its competition," she added.

Ellis Furniture leverages Autodesk Inventor software to offer greater levels of product customization to its customers and create high-quality furniture that fits their needs. This speed enables Ellis to rapidly explore a number of design options for its customers – from luxury hotels to government institutions – and create high-quality furniture that not only fits their precise needs, but is designed to last a lifetime.

"We have a number of standard ranges for our products, but within these ranges, our customers have the flexibility to customize the product as they wish," said Tom Ellis, director of Ellis.

Using Autodesk software, the company estimates that it is able to clarify initial product design concepts with customers 20 percent faster and establish material sources and material costs 30 to 40 percent faster.

Ellis' manufacturing process includes the generation of a bill of materials and preparing design files for computer numerical control machine tools with Autodesk software, and now takes 80 percent less time.

"We see the market increasingly heading in the direction of providing more custom elements, and Autodesk software is helping us meet that need in a timely manner,” Ellis officials added. “When all is said and done, we've cut our time to market by half."

The rules-based design automation capabilities of Inventor software enable an efficient workflow where intelligent data behind each furniture design is fed into Ellis' ERP system. This fully digital process eliminates manual data entry, reducing errors and accelerating turnaround time – even as the company gives its customers greater freedom to express their design intent and personalize their furniture offerings.

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