March 2006
Information Provided By: Roger Lukes, Engineering Systems Admn
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Have you looked at sinks today and thought, “How’d they do that?” How is a sink, with the basic purpose to supply and hold water, created to look like everything from a square box to running streams? Have you wondered how a creative thought could actually be realized into a functioning form? Elkay Manufacturing has figured it out. They are the company behind some of the highest quality and most innovative sink designs in the market today as a manufacturer and supplier of complete kitchen products.

Established by a father and son in 1920, Elkay had the simple goal of providing the best sinks and customer service possible and that has remained the foundation of the company from their simple beginnings on Chicago’s north side. Elkay has always remained focused on their key objectives: design products and adapt businesses to serve the changing needs of the customer. Today, Elkay Manufacturing Company is an international company with over 3,800 employees comprised of twelve privately held companies in 24 offices, with production plants and distribution centers stretching from Mexico to Canada, as well as overseas with a joint venture in the Pacific Rim.

SolidWorks Office Professional has allowed Elkay Manufacturing Company to maintain the most extensive product line in the market while delivering unprecedented levels of style and function, from that commercial kitchen in a five star restaurant, to the finest residential sink. They started implementing SolidWorks in late 2004 and they have not looked back since.

Elkay’s first CAD solution was GE Calma in the early 1980’s which was then replaced by SDRC I-DEAS Master Series in the early 1990’s. An opportunity arose for Elkay to investigate a new CAD solution when the number of CAD licenses was to too few to meet the demands of their users. A cross-functional team was put in place to determine and develop the requirements for a new CAD solution. The goal was to find a package that would minimize the cost of ownership and administration, while increasing design quality and productivity. They investigated Inventor, SolidEdge, SDRC, and ProE Wildfire, but out of all the software choices, SolidWorks provided the designers with the best tool to meet the challenges of global competition.

“Functionally, cost, and ease of use were major factors in our decision to move to SolidWorks,” says Roger Lukes, Engineering Systems Administrator for Elkay Manufacturing. “Ease of use is a statement that one always encounters frequently but it’s true with SolidWorks. We have a skilled work force of engineers and designers capable of adapting to any CAD solution. This is evident from the fact that once SolidWorks was up and running, we were designing new products in less time than it would take with our old CAD solution.”

“We first implemented SolidWorks in the R&D Department and from day one we have benefited from the use of the design analysis tool COSMOSExpress and the ability to import and export CAD models and related 2D drawings as well as realistic renderings with PhotoWorks. And now, we even have the ability to communicate design intent with our suppliers, and internally with the use of eDrawings. It has made the design process go faster, we have more ideas and directional choices, and the final product is stronger, more complete, and aesthetically pleasing, ultimately playing a crucial role in some of our recent product launches,” states Lukes. They have even been able to expand the use of SolidWorks outside engineering. Currently, the marketing and design departments collaborate with engineering to use SolidWorks viewing capabilities and create visual aids to give a higher understanding of the product lines before their completed state.

These features, standard in SolidWorks, were not present in Elkay’s old CAD system; they would have to use a third party source. Now they use their in house industrial designer, making more time for the creative process and less time in meetings and other time consuming processes they endured in the past. With the ability to take a more artistic and forward thinking approach, Elkay has become a definitive force in stainless steel sink industry.

From the beginning, Elkay’s choice of SolidWorks also included Graphics Systems Corporation as their reseller. With over 20 years of experience, Lukes is well informed of what makes a good business partner. “Graphics Systems is very customer driven. During our investigation for a new CAD solution, SolidWorks, along with Graphics Systems, worked to ensure our engineering requirements and business objectives were addressed. Graphics Systems’ customer support has not stopped even after the purchase of SolidWorks. I have called numerous times, from how best to create a 3D model to the very basic question of how to set the ToolBox in PDMWorks. All of my questions are answered in a timely and professional manner. Even Graphics Systems’ Sales Manager continues to keeps in contact with me on upcoming SolidWorks events and improvements to the software he believes will enhance our product line.”

More information on Elkay Manufacturing visit www.elkayusa.com

The above image of the voyager represents a tooling component used in the manufacturing process of one of the water cooler products.
SolidWorks is used to create the 3D model of the tooling, which is then exported to our CAM application to develop the toolpath used in the actual machining.

The above three images represent actual Elkay products. The SolidWorks models were developed from 2D drawings of which no previous 3D models existed. These models along with photoworks provide Elkay with a method to communicate design intent throughout the organization.

The above 3D model can be outputted for PowerPoint Presentations to assist the designer in presenting their ideas for new products.

All product images compliments of Elkay Manufacturing.

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