CUSTOMS FACTORY California-based Customs Factory specializes in designing and engineering custom and concept cars (similar to the above image) using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. Challenge: Customs Factory needs to design highly sophisticated one-off custom cars for their customers in a very short time frame with a “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform really helps Customs Factory small group of employees. meet the high expectations of our customers,” Dietz said. “It gives us the tools to take an idea and bring it all the way Solution: through to a manufactured, finished product, and helps us Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE® platform, with every little step along the way. including CATIA V6 for virtual product design, “From industrial design to surfacing and manufacturing, provides Customs Factory with the tools for everything is taken care of in one integrated software creating the elaborate cars their clients envision. system, which allows us to work without worrying about the Benefits: issues that may otherwise occur when going between different product development programs.” CATIA V6 allows the designers to move from industrial design to surfacing and manufacturing, FROM THE COMPUTER SCREEN enabling seamless workflow for Customs Factory. TO THE SHOWROOM FLOOR With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, Customs Factory provides its sophisticated customers greater No two projects are the same for Customs Factory. From real- precision and faster turnaround times, as well as life Mario Kart go-karts to sleek sports cars, each build presents creative solutions to their design challenges. a unique opportunity for Dietz and his team to test the boundaries of design-to-manufacture capabilities. Every project does begin the same way, however—with an idea. Using CATIA’s live rendering capabilities, Dietz is able to sketch his clients’ visions Bulbous, aerodynamic shapes reminiscent of 1950’s fright film digitally and then quickly convert that sketch into a 3D space craft; the otherwise faithful lines of a 60’s Buick Riviera representation of what the end product will look like. This re-contoured and stretched for a local customer; wild, sweeping allows the customer to become involved very early on in the windshields and interiors of what might be possible someday. design process. They may seem like dream cars of the future but there’s a Once the initial idea has been transformed into a 3D digital California company making one-offs of them right now, using model, it is time to refine the rough surfaces and ensure the design software that is allowing for not only the expression but functionality and manufacturability of the design. This process also the production of absolutely visionary vehicles. includes establishing proper gapping and tolerances between body panels to allow for all necessary movements, as well as THEN AND NOW ensuring that body design features, such as highlights, can be The automotive industry was forever changed in 1924 when realistically produced to meet the client’s expectations. General Motors began making annual model-year design One of the more in-depth and time consuming aspects of changes to stimulate the saturated US market. From custom-car design that Dietz has to address is creating what Cadillac’s introduction of the tailfin in 1948 to the sharp and are called the “B-sides,” or the non-visible surfaces of the car. futuristic designs of concept cars like the 2011 Mercedes The B-side has all the hidden attachment points for a given Silver Arrow, automotive designers are continuing to push part as well as additional bends and ribs to give the components the envelope in terms of design and innovation. But bringing and structures the strength necessary to perform their assigned these complex creations to life means tackling a host of real- function. Because the projects Dietz works on aren’t your typical world challenges. factory-built automobiles, creating extraordinary yet cleanly “Every project I work on presents different obstacles, and I’ve manufacturable parts that mirror the digital design can present used Dassault Systèmes technology exclusively on every one any number of challenges. of them,” said Louie Dietz, owner of Customs Factory. “The majority of my job is taking these large, complex Customs Factory, a California-based company that specializes surfaces and creating functional parts that can actually be in designing and engineering custom and concept car solutions, has worked with nearly every major automotive OEM, in addition to several well-known “designer” custom car shops, to deliver one-off automobiles for car shows, “Every project I work on presents celebrities and extreme enthusiasts, alike. different obstacles, and I’ve used At 16, Dietz was introduced to CATIA, Dassault Systèmes’ computer-aided design (CAD) software, by his uncle, who Dassault Systèmes technology taught at global security company Northrop Grumman. Now a exclusively on every one of them.” professional user of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform based on V6 architecture, Dietz employs its capabilities, scalability and ease — Louie Dietz, Owner of Customs Factory of use on a daily basis. produced,” Dietz said. He does this using a combination of various solid and geometric design workbenches in CATIA. As B-sides are being developed, it is especially important to factor in the assembly and kinematics. Doors swinging open and shut, steering wheel columns shifting up and down, seats moving forward and back all present potential points of contact, or clash, which create functional issues. CATIA’s clash detection tool assists in identifying where such design roadblocks are occurring as well as their severity. “Clash detection is the most important tool in the CATIA kinematics workbenches,” Dietz said. “We use it throughout the design process to make sure even the most minute misalignments don’t occur. This helps us avoid downstream manufacturing fixes. If we see that a clash is occurring on the computer model, we are able to make the necessary changes before the project goes any further.” PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS All design changes, regardless of what stage of the development process the car is in, are captured in CATIA and applied across all workbenches. CATIA is even capable of applying design changes backwards from the manufacturing floor to the master model. This can be especially beneficial in ensuring the reproducibility of a prototype design, although Customs Factory’s “one-off” business model doesn’t normally require the degree of reproducibility needed by a traditional OEM. In fact, Dietz noted, his business model wouldn’t work for a vast majority of the automotive market. “We deal with incredible time crunches compared to a typical OEM or engineering shop,” he said. “We’re basically engineering a completely running car in a timeframe of about four months with only two or three guys working on the project.” And those two or three guys aren’t necessarily working from CATIA simulating the window drop and Customs Factory’s Los Angeles office. While Dietz spearheads upward door swing (top) of a custom Tesla the projects, his team of primarily freelance designers is able (bottom). to effectively collaborate remotely thanks to CATIA. Of course CATIA isn’t just compatible with other Dassault Systèmes solutions, but with other CAD-supportive systems as well. This is especially beneficial for Customs Factory because, in order to create some of the atypical parts necessary to construct these creations, they have had to turn to 3D printing. “We rely heavily on 3D printing for our cars, especially creating custom hinges that, due to their geometry and shape, are impossible to make any other way,” Dietz said. “We’re able to create these free-form shapes in CATIA, and then export them easily to a metal-based 3D printing system. This equipment makes the transition from an idea to an engineered product much simpler.” A “CUSTOMIZED” MENU OF 3DEXPERIENCE TOOLS The 3DEXPERIENCE platform includes a wide array of applications, but for small firms like Customs Factory, the ability to pick and choose the software that meets their current needs is extremely advantageous. With the help of Focus on Customs Factory Idex Solutions, a Dassault Systèmes partner, Dietz selected A California-based company that specializes in ENOVIA to create new workspaces and foster collaboration designing and engineering custom and concept car amongst his designers, and he’s exploring the programming solutions, Customs Factory was founded in 2009. The and automation features in DELMIA. company’s goal is to design and build exceptional products for the automotive, aeronautical, consumer or “Customs Factory is still primarily an engineering fi rm, so business industries by taking an idea to the next level. CATIA is our main tool,” Dietz said, “but the functionalities and capabilities of these other applications are allowing us to Products: Design and engineering custom and concept transition into more of a product design, engineering and car solutions manufacturing fi rm. We can add on the other applications as we need them, and they all work together on the Revenue: Privately owned 3DEXPERIENCE platform.” While new customers currently are turning to Customs Factory For more information mostly through word-of-mouth referrals, Dietz believes that www.customsfactory.com will eventually change. He attributes some of the steep increase in customers he is now serving to his use of CATIA. “For prospects who are knowledgeable about the design technologies that are out there, if I tell them I’m using CATIA it lends quite a bit of credibility to my operation,” Dietz said. Focus on Idex Solutions “CATIA is the only product capable of handling the kinds of Idex Solutions has been dedicated to uncompromising complex and high-level projects my customers are looking quality and service since its inception in 1996. to create.” Specializing in the Dassault Systèmes portfolio, EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION Idex Solutions provides consulting and design services enabling our customers to successfully manage their Learning CATIA at such a young age is something Dietz found product development process from ideation to the very benefi cial.