Zak is the brain behind taking concepts and transforming them into a moving machine or system. A Mechanical Engineer by trade, he specialized in creating animations in Solidworks to help sales, customers, and our design teams envision the equipment we manufacture.
Our Account Manager, Jordan, explains why sharing animations with customers is important when developing a project: “When our engineering team is able to provide me with an animation of a new concept, it’s an amazing tool that allows our customers to accurately visualize how the concept will benefit their company. Often, it’s a crucial piece for giving the necessary confidence to move forward with a project.”
We could hand you a catalog of machines and let you figure out what’s best for your facility, but we think there’s more to the conversation. By bringing Zak and his work in animations into our discussion, we’re able to better select the best solution for your operations.
How Animation Defines Manufacturing Workflows
C³ pairs engineering capacity with equipment manufacturing. This gives us a unique strategy in serving our customers. You become part of the development process versus an “off the shelf” type sell.
This is where Zak comes in. Working behind the scenes with our sales team, he listens to customers’ end goals, reviews the constraints of their facility, and puts pieces together to create machinery or systems that work smart for the customer.
“Creating an animation helps us move designs or concepts around and see the possibilities. It’s better than just looking at pictures since we can see how things will physically flow together. If a picture is worth a thousand words, an animation is worth a thousand pictures,” Zak says.
Using Animations to Envision a Manufacturing System
When we analyze animations of our equipment, we better visualize that machine’s functionality. This helps us see what possibilities exist in linking machines together and creating a functioning system.
Zak sees this as one of the best benefits of incorporating animation in development. As he explains, “Now we can take those individual machines, combine them with other C³ machines and create a modular system. Our animations allow us to plug and play. We can add and remove equipment or change the workflow. We adjust to the customer’s constraints and ideas and it shows how our machinery starts to flow together.”
“A lot of what we’re doing now is building full production systems. Sharing with our clients that we can go from a lamination machine into our packaging machine shows that we have the capability of doing full lines and we’re doing it now. You don’t need to go to one company for this part, a second for another, a third for the final piece, and then try to connect them. Allowing C³ to handle all three phases allows us and our customer to come together for the best solution for their facilities,” Zak describes.
Our clients often start with a focal point in their operations: lamination, compression packaging, storage, etc. We help them upgrade and automate these areas to improve their manufacturing processes. Over time, our relationship develops into tackling a more global focus of a full system. How can we tie lamination to packaging? Is it possible to add storage before we laminate? Where is the best place for my trim line?
By taking customers’ visions and creating an animated view, Zak explains, “We show them that we have the capability to create systems with our machines. It opens their minds and generates ideas as to how they can utilize C³ as a company, what we can provide to them, and how we can work better together.”
To learn more about our modular design equipment, visit our material handling page. Contact us to learn more about how C³ machines and engineers can help you find the best solutions for your manufacturing.