Customer Success Story

Bob Mellette --
Coating Atomization Technologies

C.A. Technologies was founded in 1997 by Bob and two business partners, all former executives with another leading spray gun company that was sold to a competitor. Bob had led engineering at that company, another partner was president of its separate R&D company, and the third partner, Sam Culbertson, was in charge of manufacturing. Today, the three partners have a successful company with a full product line. The company offers hand-held guns that top-feed or bottom-feed from a one-quart cup, and others that attach via a hose to a tank. And in addition to spray guns, C.A. Technologies also offers auxiliary equipment including pumps, air motors and portable systems.

Bob has significant CAD and solid modeling experience, having used the I-DEAS Master Series since version 1.3 for his former employer and moving to SolidEdge five years ago when he co-founded C.A. Technologies. In October 2002, Bob received a trial CD for Alibre Design in an issue of Design News magazine. "It happened to arrive right at the time I was looking for a better CAD application. The price was very attractive--almost too low--so I was skeptical."

In his evaluation process for Alibre Design, Bob says his question was, Is there anything I need to do that it can't do? "But I evaluated it very smoothly and saw quickly that Alibre Design is quite easy to use and that it was very easy to transition to it from my previous CAD software."

Bob bought Alibre Design in November, and followed up in December by buying another license of Alibre Design for Sam Culbertson.

C.A. Technologies designs high-precision parts, "lots of bits and pieces" according to Bob, with some major components that are complex. "It is difficult to model the contoured handle of our spray guns," he says, "but it is much easier in Alibre Design than in SolidEdge."

As Bob learned the software, he found the support from Alibre to be very helpful: "Alibre is very responsive, I never have any problem getting through. Other companies seem to give begrudging support, but with Alibre, I have been really pleased. I like the Alibre Assistant, and the benefit of having live help, looking at the same drawing or model to guide me--that's something that nobody else can do. The extended hours schedule for support is also really nice."

Although Bob has solid modeling experience, Sam does not. According to Bob, "Sam does on-the-fly, on-the-shop-floor engineering and is really excited about moving from 2D to 3D. He has gone through Alibre's tutorials, too, which were really beneficial to him. He has been taking his yellow pad sketches and creating production models and drawings in Alibre Design."

Bob and Sam also have enjoyed the collaborative capabilities of Alibre Design. While Bob's home-based office is in Nederland, Colorado, a rural area five miles from the Continental Divide, Sam is in Broomfield, Colorado, located between Boulder and Denver. "It's really beneficial for us to be able to connect without hopping in the car to drive an hour," Bob says. "We have done online collaboration with models, for both design reviews and Sam's learning process. The other day, we were looking at a fairly extensive model--a spray gun assembly of about 30 parts. Alibre Design really does the job."

"We are doing the exact same stuff in Alibre Design that we had done with SolidEdge, with complete success. We are really happy that we made the switch. Alibre Design has everything I need."

"As an entrepreneur, I'm spending my own money and value is important to me. Alibre Design has the value. I'm not going to spend $5,000 to do what I can do with a $500 application. With Alibre Design, you're getting more value for your money. I absolutely recommend Alibre Design to anyone doing mechanical design."