SolidWorks Software Helps Transform Bathroom into Design-Inspired Retreat

With SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Software, DECOLAV Accelerates and Coordinates Global Design of Luxury Bathrooms

CONCORD, Mass : The bathroom is rapidly evolving from a lowly functional space to a design-inspired retreat. DECOLAV® of Deerfield Beach, Fla., is at the forefront of this change, designing trend-forward bathroom furnishings and fixtures for the consumer and hospitality markets.

The company is using SolidWorks® Enterprise PDM along with SolidWorks 3D CAD software to accelerate design, reduce errors, and create a round-the-clock global design operation – productivity that supports the company's rapid growth and expansion.

"We've sped up our order-to-sample time for custom work by at least 40 percent, and we've increased efficiency and precision by ensuring that every designer and engineer is absolutely working on the latest version of a design," said Juan Plasencia, vice president of engineering for DECOLAV. "SolidWorks Enterprise PDM is a great tool that supports our expansion both geographically and, through our new Suite Simplicity™ business, beyond the bathroom. It focuses on customized hospitality industry furnishing from the bathroom to the master suite, at realistic prices."

DECOLAV has SolidWorks Enterprise PDM servers in its Florida headquarters, its North Carolina warehouse and design office, and its manufacturing division in China. Each server mirrors the others and holds the latest designs with all changes and versions carefully tracked. American and Chinese engineers hand off SolidWorks 3D CAD designs to one another, with versions controlled by SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, enabling the company's global design team to "follow the sun." Coordination like this will ease the launch of new DECOLAV sites around the world, according to Plasencia.

"SolidWorks Enterprise PDM builds on the advantages that our switch to SolidWorks® 3D CAD software gave us," Plasencia continued. "SolidWorks is easier to learn and use than other CAD software, and one 3D model accurately generates drawings, bills of material, and more. We can give dazzling accurate renderings to our customers and prospects at the early stages of a sale to reveal their new bathrooms before they are built."

DECOLAV relies on authorized SolidWorks reseller The SolidExperts for ongoing software training, implementation, and support.

SolidWorks and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM are products from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. (DS SolidWorks), a world leader in 3D solutions.