Broddson AB

Broddson switched 3D systems to IRONCAD

Broddson AB in Motala is the leading player in sweepers and road maintenance equipment on the Swedish market. But parts of the production are also exported, mainly to our Nordic neighbours, but also as far away as Africa and the Middle East. Broddson was named Motala Company of the Year 2020.

A popular machine is the Scandic

In addition to global sales, assembly and technical support , they also provide spare parts and brushes through a network of suppliers and partners. As you know, countries with a lot of sand are in North Africa, and much of the sand also ends up on the roads. How can this, and other debris, be most effectively disposed of, swept up and put on a truck bed? That's where Broddson's solutions come in! One popular machine is the Scandic, which uses a conveyor belt to transport the sand to the flatbed of a truck. A delivery to Egypt a few years ago can be viewed on YouTube:

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Broddson previously used a common constraints-based parametric 3D program

The construction requirement consists of general machine construction, installation of the engine and various other purchased components, welded beam constructions and sheet metal bending. Forward-drive and drive of the sweeper is done by diesel, electric or tractor hydraulics. Since Broddson designs and builds the machines themselves, they can tailor the machines to your needs. As a CAD solution, Broddson previously used a standard parametric 3D program.

Richard Liljedahl, designer:

- We felt that while our parametric program was competent, parametric design was far too cumbersome an approach. Conditions and constraints have to be administered, every detail has to be saved directly to its own file, without any benefit for us - we want to be able to create and modify as easily as possible.

At Broddson they were therefore looking for an alternative 3D CAD solution. Richard continues:

-Ihappened to see a video on YouTube that showed how IRONCAD worked. I immediately thought that this seems to be something completely different! I downloaded IRONCAD and tried it myself and together with the training material in English, which is also available on YouTube, I quickly got started.

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An easy decision to switch to IRONCAD

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It then turned out that Broddson's important subcontractor BTT Plåt AB in Kisa had already discovered IRONCAD and had been using the program for several years! As BTT could therefore highly recommend IRONCAD, it was an easy decision to switch to IRONCAD.

What I really appreciate about IRONCAD is that it works so freely and easily. There is really a big difference in the way it works, more logical. You construct in the assembly all the time and therefore see what you are doing. You can save to your own files if and when you want, but only then. You can pull handles, for example, to change lines in a cross-section in an extruded profile and snap to, for example, centres on other details, even in other assemblies. Various 3D basic shapes, standard components and beams are just dragged and dropped from catalogues on the side of the screen, straight into the 3D environment, like Lego! I can easily group parts into assemblies in the story tree - like folders in the explorer. TriBall makes it canon-easy to move, copy and rotate with precision, without having to think about how the model was created in the first place. It's also the case that what our next customer wants we obviously don't know, so the fact that IRONCAD is a more flexible solution and allows us to customise the machines freely is an important advantage," Richard concludes.

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"Their products are leaders in their industry and perfect to create in IRONCAD"

- We are of course happy to have Broddson as a customer. Their products are leaders in their industry and perfect to create in IRONCAD - general machine design with a mix of purchased components and in-house manufactured parts. We see Broddson's needs as typical of many companies; they want to create and modify freely without the constraints of the CAD program. Develop new products and customize existing ones. No one can predict what the next idea or customer request will look like, so any restriction of freedom in 3D is a cost. Many companies have chosen a standard parametric 3D solution, with all its limitations and locks, without knowing the possibilities of the dynamic free approach in IRONCAD. More and more people are hearing about this new. Therefore, we are now seeing a "second 3D wave" with the switch to IRONCAD which is easier to learn, more flexible and responsive. A natural and expected step, saysHenrik Andersson at Solidmakarna who markets IRONCAD in Sweden.