Introducing IMPACT Interactive Configuration System

“Powerful Tool to Optimize Designs.” – DeWayne Merritt, Tool Design Engineer, Autoliv

Souderton, PA, April, 2015 – Glide-Line™, manufacturer of the most versatile multi-strand panel and pallet-handling conveyor solution available for the industry, introduces the IMPACT Interactive Configuration System.

IMPACT (Interactive Modeling Program and Application Configuration Tools), goes far beyond a typical 3D CAD conveyor configurator.

“I love two things-dead accurate CAD files with high detail and the time this software saves me.” DeWayne Merritt, Autoliv

The Excel version of IMPACT uses your system configuration data to recommend the best-fit options, so you know that your conveyor system will meet your application requirements. And with real-time pricing feedback, you see…instantly and exactly… how various options affect your system price.

This same powerful configuration tool is also embedded within our SolidWorks CAD model, enabling “in-context” use in the modeling environment. IMPACT eliminates the need to repetitively download CAD models, preventing the all-too-common hassle of re-configuring, re-downloading, re-inserting, and repairing after every change. You do it once, and it lives and breathes in your assembly, changing with your needs while giving you updated part numbers and pricing along the way.

This free, in-context SolidWorks configuration tool has over 600,000 standard configurations, not counting the length and width combinations, as well as location customization for drives, legs and crossmembers, all of which add up to almost infinite possibilities for a perfect design for your application. You can make changes throughout the entire design lifecycle, with the price, part number and models being updated as configuration options change. In addition, IMPACT’s Microsoft Excel tool gives you real-time visual feedback, so you’ll know exactly how part number elements and application requirements affect your configuration and price.

Kevin Mauger, President of Glide-Line points out, “It seems that everyone has a configurator, but what Glide-Line’s IMPACT software brings to the show is so much more. The dynamic, in-context modeling tool generates real-time part numbers, pricing, and application information so you go straight from design to purchase, and you don’t have to get a new model from a website with every change.”

AutoLiv’s DeWayne Merritt, a 16 year Mechanical Tool Design Engineer used IMPACT and says this: “IMPACT was easy to launch and update. It quickly led me in the direction I needed to define my design. I love having dead accurate CAD files with high detail. If we can’t get good CAD files, we normally will find an alternative component that can. It is not time effective to translate, draw/redraw from a spec sheet (whether paper or a pdf), or convert from 2D to 3D. Having a system that can validate a real part number then generate CAD is great. IMPACT takes it one step further in that I don’t have to re-download every time I have to make a change. I love having native Solidworks files to integrate into my designs. I had previously never worked with a Solidworks design table-driven part file. Normally a configurator is web based and generates an assembly or a generic CAD file that, when complete, still takes 15-20 minutes to download, open and then resolve any issues such as mates, model errors etc. Not with IMPACT.”

Mauger adds, “Glide-Line was developed from the ground up with a few key driving factors in mind. First, it had to be robust and reliable. Second, it would be simple and easy to maintain and service. Finally, we insisted on flexible configurability, creating an efficient, hassle-free customer experience. IMPACT is an extension of that belief.”

To try IMPACT for your next design, contact Tom Churchill at tchurchill@glide-line.com or call 419-348-4655.

Information about Glide-Line – Glide-Line, a subsidiary of NCC Automated Systems has helped clients overcome automation and material handling challenges for over 25 years. Within NCC’s customer portfolio are some of the longest established brands including The Hershey Company, PepsiCo, Unilever, General Mills, Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and Satisloh North America. In 2014 NCC Automated Systems and all business units developed, produced and delivered over 20 million in US dollars employing over 50+ employees.