Why fully defined sketches matter in Solidworks - Business Case Study

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants a report showing how fully defined sketches in SolidWorks improve design accuracy and reduce rework time.

📊 Data: You have data on multiple design projects including the number of sketches, how many were fully defined, number of design errors found, and rework hours logged.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a dashboard that compares projects with fully defined sketches versus those without, showing impact on errors and rework time.

Sample Data

Project	Total Sketches	Fully Defined Sketches	Design Errors	Rework Hours
Alpha	50	50	2	5
Beta	45	30	8	15
Gamma	60	60	1	3
Delta	40	20	10	20
Epsilon	55	55	3	6

1

Step 1: Calculate the percentage of fully defined sketches for each project.

Add a calculated column: Fully Defined % = (Fully Defined Sketches / Total Sketches) * 100

Expected Result

Alpha: 100%, Beta: 66.7%, Gamma: 100%, Delta: 50%, Epsilon: 100%

2

Step 2: Create a scatter plot with 'Fully Defined %' on the X-axis and 'Design Errors' on the Y-axis.

Configure scatter plot: X = Fully Defined %, Y = Design Errors, Points = Projects

Expected Result

Shows that projects with higher fully defined % have fewer design errors.

3

Step 3: Create a bar chart comparing 'Rework Hours' for projects with 100% fully defined sketches versus those below 100%.

Group projects by Fully Defined % = 100% or < 100%, sum Rework Hours for each group

Expected Result

Projects with 100% fully defined sketches have significantly lower rework hours.

4

Step 4: Add a summary card showing average design errors for projects with 100% fully defined sketches.

Average Design Errors (100% fully defined) = AVERAGE of Design Errors where Fully Defined % = 100%

Expected Result

Average design errors = 2

5

Step 5: Add a summary card showing average design errors for projects with less than 100% fully defined sketches.

Average Design Errors (<100% fully defined) = AVERAGE of Design Errors where Fully Defined % < 100%

Expected Result

Average design errors = 9

6

Step 6: Create a dashboard layout combining the scatter plot, bar chart, and summary cards with clear titles and labels.

Arrange visuals with titles: 'Fully Defined Sketches vs Design Errors', 'Rework Hours by Sketch Definition', 'Average Design Errors Summary'

Expected Result

Dashboard clearly shows the benefits of fully defined sketches on reducing errors and rework.

Final Result

--------------------------------------------------
| Fully Defined Sketches vs Design Errors (Scatter) |
| 100% fully defined projects cluster at low errors |
|                                                  |
| Rework Hours by Sketch Definition (Bar Chart)    |
| 100% fully defined: low rework hours              |
| <100% fully defined: higher rework hours          |
|                                                  |
| Average Design Errors Summary                      |
| 100% fully defined: 2 errors                       |
| <100% fully defined: 9 errors                      |
--------------------------------------------------

✓Projects with fully defined sketches have fewer design errors.

✓Fully defined sketches reduce rework hours significantly.

✓Ensuring sketches are fully defined improves design accuracy and efficiency.

Bonus Challenge

Add a time trend line showing how the percentage of fully defined sketches changed over multiple projects and its impact on errors over time.

Show Hint

Use project dates or sequence to plot Fully Defined % and Design Errors over time to identify improvement trends.