C&C Design
case study
Home-Grown Tool Design Shop Reaches Top of Its Field
When there is a tough tool to design, C&C Design of Wisconsin
gets the call. Why would a tool shop that has its own designer
URL:
www.c-cdesign.com
Location:
Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, USA
Industry:
C&C Design specializes in design for tooling,
ranging from injection molds to aluminum die
cast. The company was founded in 1983 as a
one-man shop; today, it employs seven mold
designers and serves a variety of industries.
on staff call C&C Design? "We usually get the tough jobs that
they can't afford to spend the time on," say Paul Cate, C&C
Design founder and owner.
For Paul, the challenge is nothing but new. Cate started C&C
Design as a one-man shop over twenty years ago, when he
was injured working as a machinist. Since, the company has
grown to employ seven top-notch designers, and occupies a
Challenges
5,000sf building in Cottage Grove, WI.
Customers turn their most challenging tooling
design jobs to C&C Design.
Increasingly, customers require quicker turnaround
for their projects.
Product data is provided in a variety of file formats,
which in many cases do not adequately support
3-D modeling.
Solutions
C&C Design uses CimatronE as the standard for all
design work.
C&C Design serves several types of customers: tool shops,
molding facilities, and end-user manufacturers. Explains Cate:
"We do everything that has to do with the tooling aspect of
design, whether it's a tool design, product development, or
inspection of products for moldability. We do a lot of work on
product changes and modifications."
Customers come from a variety of industries, from automotive
and medical equipment to consumer products and electronics.
Cell phone battery cases, flashlights, thermostats, automotive
window knobs – these are some of the products we all use
Results
that were likely to have some design work done by C&C.
CimatronE enables C&C Design to get more work
done quicker, reducing mold and die design time
by an average of 50-75%.
Innovative Solutions for Manufacturing
C&C Design
case study
Doing The Jobs Others Can’t
CimatronE Brings Higher Productivity And Speed
"We specialize in all types of molding – conventional injection
When it comes to design software, C&C relies solely on
molding, multi-cavity, two and three-shot, auto unscrewing,
Cimatron. "It's a simple decision," say Cate. "Cimatron enables
shuttle/rotary, insert/hand load, hot runner systems – you
us to do more design work better and faster. It makes us more
name it," says Cate. "Most of our work is plastics, but we
productive; we can handle many more customers with our
also do some aluminum die cast design and zinc tooling. One
existing resources."
thing you see more these days is two-material products. We've
been doing these for twenty years, but you certainly see more
of them today."
The Formula For Success
Cate has found a simple yet effective formula for success: find
A big part of the day-to-day challenges C&C Design faces
your niche, serve your customers right, hire good people, and
is the quality of the parts data they receive from their customers.
give them the best tools to get the job done. In over twenty
"Cimatron data translators do a great job. Some of the shops
years of existence, C&C has never laid off an employee. In
are really behind in terms of the software they use," says
an industry that has seen many downtimes throughout the
Cate. "We often get jobs that come with no 3-D, just 2-D dxf
years, this is quite a remarkable feat.
or igs files. To create the mold design, we end up fixing a lot
of non-native 3-D part files in Cimatron. Not having to work
Then again, that's what C&C Design does best, as Paul Cate
in a closed solid really speeds things up."
attests: "We’ve established a reputation for taking the most
challenging jobs and turning high quality designs in very short
timeframes. That's why customers keep coming back to us."
"Cimatron enables us to do our design work better and faster. It makes
us more productive – we can do more business with the same resources."
Paul Cate, C&C Design
CS3 1105
For more information, please visit our web site at:
w w w . c i m a t r o n . c o m
Innovative Solutions for Manufacturing
This document is for informational purposes only and is subject to change. © Copyrights 2005 Cimatron Ltd. All rights reserved. Cimatron, Cimatron E and the C logo design are trademarks of Cimatron Ltd. and are registered
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