Fillet feature on edges in Solidworks - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a product design analyst at a manufacturing company.

📋 Request: Your manager wants a report showing how applying fillet features on edges affects the production time and cost for different product parts.

📊 Data: You have data on product parts with and without fillet features, including edge count, fillet radius, production time (hours), and production cost (USD).

🎯 Deliverable: Create a dashboard that compares production time and cost between parts with fillet features and those without, grouped by product category.

Sample Data

Part ID	Product Category	Edges with Fillet	Fillet Radius (mm)	Production Time (hours)	Production Cost (USD)
P001	Housing	10	2	5	150
P002	Housing	0	0	4	130
P003	Bracket	5	1.5	3	90
P004	Bracket	0	0	2.5	80
P005	Cover	8	2.5	4.5	140
P006	Cover	0	0	3.8	120
P007	Housing	12	3	5.5	160
P008	Bracket	7	2	3.5	100

1

Step 1: Create a new column 'Has Fillet' that marks 'Yes' if 'Edges with Fillet' > 0, otherwise 'No'.

In your BI tool, add a calculated column: Has Fillet = IF([Edges with Fillet] > 0, "Yes", "No")

Expected Result

Parts with edges having fillets are marked 'Yes', others 'No'.

2

Step 2: Create a pivot table with rows as 'Product Category' and 'Has Fillet', values as average 'Production Time' and average 'Production Cost'.

Rows: Product Category, Has Fillet; Values: AVERAGE(Production Time), AVERAGE(Production Cost)

Expected Result

Table showing average production time and cost for parts with and without fillets per category.

3

Step 3: Create a bar chart to visualize average production time by 'Product Category' and 'Has Fillet'.

X-axis: Product Category; Legend: Has Fillet; Y-axis: Average Production Time

Expected Result

Bar chart comparing production time for parts with and without fillets across categories.

4

Step 4: Create a bar chart to visualize average production cost by 'Product Category' and 'Has Fillet'.

X-axis: Product Category; Legend: Has Fillet; Y-axis: Average Production Cost

Expected Result

Bar chart comparing production cost for parts with and without fillets across categories.

5

Step 5: Add clear titles and labels to charts and ensure color contrast for accessibility.

Title: 'Production Time by Fillet Feature and Category', 'Production Cost by Fillet Feature and Category'; Use distinct colors for 'Yes' and 'No' in legend.

Expected Result

Charts are easy to read and understand with accessible color choices.

Final Result

Production Time by Fillet Feature and Category

Housing: Yes ██████████ 5.25h
Housing: No  ██████ 4h
Bracket: Yes █████ 3.25h
Bracket: No  ████ 2.5h
Cover: Yes   ████████ 4.5h
Cover: No    ██████ 3.8h

Production Cost by Fillet Feature and Category

Housing: Yes ███████████ 153.33 USD
Housing: No  ███████ 130 USD
Bracket: Yes ██████ 96.67 USD
Bracket: No  █████ 80 USD
Cover: Yes   █████████ 140 USD
Cover: No    ██████ 120 USD

✓Parts with fillet features generally take more production time than those without.

✓Production cost is higher for parts with fillets across all product categories.

✓Housing parts show the largest increase in time and cost when fillets are applied.

✓Fillet features add complexity that impacts manufacturing efficiency and cost.

Bonus Challenge

Create a scatter plot showing the relationship between 'Fillet Radius' and 'Production Time' for parts with fillets.

Show Hint

Filter data to parts where 'Edges with Fillet' > 0, then plot 'Fillet Radius' on X-axis and 'Production Time' on Y-axis.