APC Intern Implements Automations of Three-Dimensional Design Software
The Challenge
SHECO, located in Tuscaloosa, AL, is a manufacturer of custom heat exchangers and pressure vessels serving the chemical, refinery, and pulp and paper industries, among others. Each unit is uniquely designed and varies significantly in size, material, and service requirements.
To strengthen efficiency within its engineering department, SHECO sought assistance in streamlining the drawing creation process. The company aimed to implement drawing software that would allow seamless information flow and reduce redundant data entry by integrating Codeware’s Compress with Autodesk Inventor. However, the system required customization to align with SHECO’s established drawing style before it could be fully implemented.
The objective of this project was to support SHECO in deploying Compress and Inventor with the goals of:
• Reducing data re-entry.
• Limiting errors caused by calculations, drawings, and bills of material being separate.
• Improving the on-time delivery of engineering drawings.
To accomplish this, SHECO worked with an Alabama Productivity Center (APC) intern from the University of Alabama’s Mechanical Engineering program, who was also minoring in Computer Science and brought experience with Inventor software.
Key Accomplishments
The APC intern successfully advanced SHECO’s engineering systems, achieving the following:
• **Linked Calculations, Drawings, and Bills of Material**
Significantly reduced the potential for errors.
Minimized redundant data re-entry across systems.
• **Automated Drawing Tasks**
Reduced the amount of time engineering staff must spend on each drawing.
• **Enabled Continuous Improvement**
Replaced the company’s 20-year-old system with a platform that allows ongoing enhancements to the drawing creation process.
• **Improved Manufacturing Integration**
Created models compatible with Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software.
Facilitated the generation of machine code for CNC equipment, including plasma tables, laser tables, vertical turning lathes, and drill tables.
Further reduced the likelihood of production errors.
"Our intern, Marcus Taylor, has been able to make excellent progress—better than we expected—on the project to improve the engineering drawing production process. We are near the original schedule despite being able to expand the capabilities of the program significantly."
– Jeremy Wolfe, Engineering Manager