Lean Manufacturing with Robust Innovation
Symmetry Solutions helps Sportech make big leaps in efficiency
How does a Minnesota manufacturer win a spot multiple times as one of the state's top 50 growth companies? How does it get recognized nationwide for innovative product design? For the Minneapolis-based Sportech, Inc., the key is to support every process with the best tools available.
The bulk of Sportech's business comes from original equipment manufacturers 
(OEM's) of power-sport vehicles, such as Harley Davidson motorcycles, Arctic Cat snowmobiles, and Yamaha ATVs. When an OEM needs a finishing touch on a new design, they call Sportech, which is one of the largest, high-gauge plastic thermoformers in the world.
Windshields are one of Sportech's key products, and an essential design element for today's power-sport vehicles. The windshield must be thick and durable enough to handle rough, off-road conditions but with the all the curves, color, and finishes that fits within a sports aesthetic. "Our windshield designs have a lot of compound surfaces and require some complex surface modeling," says Jesse Hahne, New Product Manager at Sportech.
Sportech supported its design processes with the latest in software tools: SolidWorks, Mastercam, and Cosmos for finite element analysis (FEA). With the addition of the MicroScribe G2L digitizing arm, Sportech is now able to scan any surface for needed geometry and capture it directly within SolidWorks.
With a strategy in place for lean manufacturing, the production side of Sportech is equally advanced. Their integrated systems allow the shop to cut 100 percent of its tooling in-house, as well as the vacuum-forming of the final plastic. Recent improvements in machining have given Sportech the ability to go from design-to-mold-plastic in as little as three days.
Cutting Time Before Cutting Time
Before a project even gets to high-speed mold cutting, Sportech has found another area for increased efficiency. While a new windshield molding can be created in a few days, it might take weeks to get to that point. Design review of a proposed part is typically punctuated by long waits between meetings with the client.
"Before we would have to have a design review meeting where everybody would have to gather at one facility," explains Hahne. "We'd have to bring a laptop or they would have to come over here. We'd get feedback, make the changes, and schedule another meeting. Now we've pretty much eliminated that."
The change in this case came from Symmetry Solutions, which serves Minnesota and the surrounding region with software, support, and training for SolidWorks, Cosmos, and other leading engineering technologies. Symmetry Solutions expanded the Sportech design department's SolidWorks capabilities to include eDrawings, a lightweight file exchange system. Since then, the wait times for feedback have dramatically shortened.
"Symmetry Solutions used their understanding of the product development process to help us best apply technology to improve the process we use to work with our customers," Hahne says. "We'll mock up what we feel looks good and we'll put it into eDrawings for the customer. They'll be able to come back and say 'I like this' or 'change that.' Better communication really speeds up the process."
Continuous Process Improvement
"Our experience with Symmetry Solutions has been 100 percent positive," adds Hahne. "We couldn't ask anything more from a SolidWorks provider. Their tech support is awesome. When there is an issue we just call them and they are on it, and they always follow up to see if we're still having issues."
Hundreds of engineering firms throughout the upper Midwest know Symmetry Solutions as the contact to call when they hit a snag in SolidWorks. But the experts at Symmetry Solutions provide more than local and personalized technical support. Symmetry Solution customers can also draw on a wealth of industry knowledge on how to create better products faster.
"Symmetry Solutions keeps you in the loop with what's new in product development technology," he says. Hahne's four-person team of designers routinely keeps on top of their modeling skills by attending classes at the Symmetry Solutions' state-of-the-art training facility.
"They have instructors there that are just unbelievable. We receive clear instruction at just the right pace," says Hahne. "The reps at Symmetry Solutions are also always suggesting new methods to help improve our efficiency and effectiveness in our design process," says Hahne.
Besides SolidWorks products, Symmetry Solutions is a certified reseller for Z Corporation's 3D printing technology. Like eDrawings, the addition of 3D 
printers to the Sportech engineering office has helped the engineers communicate a clearer picture of its specialty parts to OEM clients who scrutinize the finer details. Symmetry Solutions staff helped Sportech set up the hardware and trained its employees on-site how to use the new tool.
"The Z Corporation 3D printer has been a really nice addition to our design department. It is a perfect fit for what we do. Now when we get the designs to a point when everybody's happy, we can give the client a physical prototype in addition to the CAD data. Before we launch the tooling, we print out the parts and either ship them or hand them to the customer when we meet," explains Hahne.
"It's an amazing technology. Z Corporation produces 3D parts in full color. Our new rapid prototyping capabilities have also benefited the sales end of our company. Being able to walk in to the customer with the three dimensional product in hand, along with the quote, lets them really see what we're able to do in short order. This is another area where Symmetry Solutions has really helped us out."
Small additions of new technology can mean vast improvements in communication, which, in turn, translates into big leaps in efficiency: "Communicating digitally has cut down the time to bring an OE product to market by half," estimates Hahne, "by just cutting out the meetings."
About Symmetry Solutions
Symmetry Solutions is a premier provider of SolidWorks® and Z Corporation 3D Printers to the upper Midwest. Formed in 1998, Symmetry Solutions has served hundreds of companies, large and small, throughout the region, providing the expert insight and solutions needed for successful design, engineering, and production in a manufacturing environment. Symmetry Solutions is based in Brooklyn Center, MN.
About Sportech
Sportech is an innovation-driven plastics thermoformer specializing in exciting products for the powersports industry. Sportech started in 1994 as a small, home-based family business selling aftermarket molded plastic snowmobile parts. Through the years the company has grown and expanded into other areas, but the focus remains on innovation.
Today, with over 70 employees and a 60,000 square foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Elk River, Minnesota, Sportech is recognized as one of the premier plastic thermoformers in the powersports industry. Sportech's customer list includes OEM powersports leaders such as Polaris, Harley-Davidson, Arctic Cat and John Deere.
