Start your engines, folks. The Microsoft Surface team is ready to roll on the ground here in Los Angeles for SOLIDWORKS World 2018. The opportunity to listen and learn from the thousands of engineers and designers who live and breathe SOLIDWORKS helps build the type of devices can bring their creations to life.

SOLIDWORKS World attracts individuals and businesses that create all kinds of awesome, innovative products – including some fancy hot rods. If you love classic cars, keep your eyes peeled for Ringbrothers.

Ringbrothers hails from small-town Wisconsin to take the keynote stage and showcase how they used SOLIDWORKS on a Surface Book 2 and Surface Studio to redesign, recreate and rebuild a 1972 AMC Javelin. The Javelin, unveiled at SEMA Show 2017, is a true work of art that proves just how valuable the right hardware and software is for engineers.

If you missed Ringbrothers in the General Session – don’t worry. The Surface team had the chance to sit down with Product Development Specialist Matt Moseman to learn more about the Javelin, his work at Ringbrothers and how technology is changing the way engineers and designers work.

Q&A: Ringbrothers’ Matt Moseman

Tell me about Ringbrothers and your role on the team.

Ringbrothers is an automotive restoration company in Spring Green, Wisconsin specializing in customized auto parts and restoration of classic vehicles. I work with an incredible 15-person team to design, prototype, and manufacture products and unique pieces of automotive jewelry. Someone will bring in a vehicle from the 70s and our goal is to maintain that heritage while bringing modern technology and materials to it.

What’s your design process and ethos? What did your process look like previously?

I use Surface for everything – from reading e-mails to creating assemblies in SOLIDWORKS. In the past, we took a vision from a napkin to paper then tried to recreate it on a device. Surface enhances our creativity and helps us collaborate better as a team. We can offer our teammates and clients a more hands-on experience while creating and interacting with the device, providing tweaks and suggestions in real-time.

At the end of the day, it’s really about how the team culture and environment contributes to our collective design process. Everyone plays a role in the creation of these vehicles, whether we’re creating the parts and bolting wheels on the cars to changing oil. We don’t believe in titles or barriers between teams. Having everyone work elbow-to-elbow streamlines the process from design to manufacturing and breaks the communication barrier, shortening the time to market.

What’s the story behind the Javelin? What value did Surface and SOLIDWORKS offer as you and the team built it from concept to creation?

Prestone asked us to build a car to commemorate its 90th anniversary and unveil it at SEMA 2017. They wanted a vehicle that aligns with their brand and culture – a classic that embodies the rich American history and automotive innovation. The 1972 AMC Javelin was the perfect fit. We built the Javelin in less than 10 months and it was the first vehicle we went completely digital on with SOLIDWORKS on Surface.

The entire process was made more efficient with the release of SOLIDWORKS 2018 and the functionality offered by Surface. We worked with Gary Ragle, an incredible auto designer, to generate the renderings and leveraged SOLIDWORKS on Surface devices to design prototype parts that are 3D printed. Given the short runway to SEMA, every area we could save time was crucial. Everything we do is power intensive and Surface Studio and Surface Book 2 easily handled these tasks and allowed us to maintain our workflow, stay in the zone, and ultimately create higher quality products.

As you can see, Microsoft Surface and SOLIDWORKS 2018 make the perfect combination of hardware and software to help engineers like Matt bring their creations to life. The benefits of using SOLIDWORKS on a premium device like Surface are endless. Whether you’re drawing freehand with Surface Pen to create usable sketch geometry, using Surface Dial to rotate a part on different axes or using touch to intuitively magnify the details in your assembly, SOLIDWORKS 2018 lets you find new heights of creativity and productivity.

Check out the Microsoft Surface Booth (#401) to see how devices like Surface Book 2 can run intensive workloads like SOLIDWORKS Topology Optimization Simulation.

Thank you to the Microsoft Surface team and Ringbrothers for a great partnership and time here in Los Angeles. We are excited to see what else the talented SOLIDWORKS community creates on Surface!

SOLIDWORKS

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. offers complete 3D software tools that let you create, simulate, publish, and manage your data. SolidWorks products are easy to learn and use, and work together to help you design products better, faster, and more cost-effectively. The SolidWorks focus on ease-of-use allows more engineers, designers and other technology professionals than ever before to take advantage of 3D in bringing their designs to life.