White heat of modern engineering

The company switched to Autodesk Inventor, and now reckons its parametric system, which allows data re-use and modifies everything when designers make changes, is improving design development efficiency by a staggering 50%. But the company also reports much more: since Inventor integrates with Land's Pathtrace CAM system, production can also re-use the information. And sales and marketing also use it to produce marketing and technical publications in hours instead of days. In fact, the company consolidated two separate design divisions, and now shares its data everywhere. Dave Leadley, who headed up the merger, says: "A real test was during the SARS crisis when, in just six weeks, Inventor enabled us to repackage a thermal imaging system into an online mass-surveillance system for monitoring body temperatures at airports." He claims that project alone justified the company's total investment. Autodesk reseller Trionics commissioned and installed Inventor for Land, and now provides technical support and training.