Weather Shield

Weather Shield Mfg., Inc., a leading manufacturer in the window and door industry uses SolidWorks® 3D mechanical design software to design, configure, and customize doors and windows for architects, builders, and major retailers around the world. Founded in 1955 in Medford, WI by the Schield family, Weather Shield employs over 5,000 employees with over 2,500 in design, manufacturing, sales, and service.

Many of Weather Shield's custom orders require engineers to vertically combine windows, or to mix windows and doors for specific home or business requirements. Their design process often requires wholesale reconfiguration of height, length, width , depth, angle, and grille patterns. A previous AutoCAD user, Weather Shield moved to SolidWorks in 2000, and drastically cut material costs and stream-lined their design process to become more efficient.

I've used nine different solid modeling programs, and SolidWorks is by far the easiest to use. For that reason, it is the product I recommended when I joined the company.

Steve Jorgensen, Engineering IT Project Leader

"Two-dimensional sketches help line up centerlines and grille lines, but 3D models effectively handle our form, fit, function, and testing work," said Steve Jorgensen, engineering IT project leader for Weather Shield. "I've used nine different solid modeling programs, and SolidWorks is by far the easiest to use. For that reason, it is the product I recommended when I joined the company."

These improvements can be attributed to SolidWorks' intuitive interface and material optimization tools. "It's great to work with one multi-functional 3D program," states Dwayne Bathke, IT manager at Weather Shield. "People's time is used more productively." One of the features Weather Shield uses extensively is the Toolbox feature, which allows them to add pre-made parts such as screws, clips, etc. to their 3D window designs. "It has become a great resource for our engineers," adds Bathke.

Weather Shield's designers use the eDrawings e-mail-enabled drawing and model viewer to share models with the shop floor and to quickly preview designs stored in their document database. This approach saves Weather Shield significant time in bringing new products to the window and door market.

Weather Shield benefits from "no longer having cross-compatibility issues," since SolidWorks is able to open all file types they receive from customers.

Dwayne Bathke, IT Manager

Weather Shield benefits from "no longer having cross-compatibility issues," since SolidWorks is able to open all file types they receive from customers. With the features SolidWorks offers, which Bathke describes as "better than other design packages on the market," SolidWorks is the total solution for Weather Shield. Weather Shield is also impressed with the level of flexibility in the SolidWorks licensing, calling it "light years above that of AutoCAD." With SolidWorks, you can easily customize your license to fit your needs.

"The door and window market is highly competitive, and both design quality and timing can have an enormous impact on the customer experience," said Bertrand Sicot, SolidWorks' vice president of world-wide sales. "We give companies like Weather Shield the tools to compete aggressively in this market with creative designs executed quickly."

I'm blown away by the customer service that Graphics Systems and SolidWorks provides. I have never been disappointed.

Dwayne Bathke, IT Manager

Weather Shield partners with Graphics Systems Corporation as its SolidWorks value-added reseller. Weather Shield continues to be impressed with the high-level of customer service and support they receive from Graphics Systems Corporation. "I'm blown away by the customer service that Graphics Systems and SolidWorks provides. I have never been disappointed," asserts Bathke.