Work-from-Home Success: Learning from a Veteran Constructor

Work-from-Home Success Learning from a Veteran Constructor

While those viral videos of work-from-home fails are amusing, it is not the case when you experience them. From where the statue of the bear and the strawberry tree locates, Miguel Ángel de Mingo, CEO of ZWSpain (MP Scia Ingenieria S.L.) who had years of experience in the construction industry shares his thoughts on how to stay productive at home in this special period.

The Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree in Madrid, Spain
The Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree in Madrid, Spain

The Covid-19 has placed us in a situation hitherto unpredictable. It has changed our family life, working practices, and ways of socializing. And in many cases, such unusual circumstance has generated in us a sense of solidarity as well as uncertainty.

As they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Thanks to this pandemic, we realize the importance of technology in our lives and, of course, in the primary economic sectors, such as engineering and construction. As a member in the construction sector, I’d like to share my experience of how to utilize technology to get used to this new normal and continue my design work efficiently. I hope it will do a little help to you in this hard time.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Technological innovations that accelerate your work

Since my team and I deal with CAD software daily, we know a thing or two about relevant technological innovations and how to incorporate them into work. So, for us engineers, the first thing we need is an efficient design tool. It mustn’t consume a big chunk of your computer’s memory nor require fancy hardware. As one of such systems, ZWCAD is lightweight and runs well on most computers. Moreover, under its flexible network licensing policy, users can borrow licenses at home, which is the same as registering a stand-alone one.

What’s more, ZWCAD fulfills the necessary premises to be a benchmark in the construction industry. One is that its compatibility and flexibility allow you to communicate data effectively among different programs with your team. Therefore, you won’t feel like working alone, but instead connected, creative, and productive. The other is that you can integrate your routines into ZWCAD via APIs like LISP, .NET, VBA, etc. That enables you to continue your daily design work at home.

Haven’t had one? Here is the good news. ZWSOFT is now providing free ZWCAD, ZW3D and CADbro licenses for whoever needs to work at home until May 31st! This is indeed the embodiment of solidarity in difficult times.

Stay safe, stay at home, and stay productive with free ZWSOFT products!

Get a better command of innovative technologies

Now that we have technological innovations, the second step will be incorporating them into our work. That is, we keep grasping new CAD skills and improve our work efficiency.

But how to achieve that goal when we have to stay at home? Online learning resources and technical support are always helpful. For example, ZWSOFT global partners are providing various online services to their local users. And just like what we have been doing over the past 10 years, my ZWSpain team offers free webinars (Click to review the one on point clouds and digital topographic models!), open courses, tutorials on different solutions and messages about the latest news in the industry. With direct, prompt, personalized, and highly professional technical support, our users are getting used to a new way of working, and their productivity rises.

It might not have crossed your mind that teleworking could be widely adopted, but that time has arrived. Now, it has become clearer that to get ahead, we must continue equipping ourselves with the knowledge of new technologies. With a useful tool like ZWCAD and the online support offered by ZWSOFT partners, I believe that you’ll succeed in CADing even while working from home!

Have you got some tips from Miguel? If you have any other bright ideas of working from home efficiently, don’t hesitate to share with us in the comment area! Last but not least, we hope all is well with you, wherever you are. Stay safe, stay at home, and stay productive with free ZWSOFT products!

Try ZWCAD free for 30 days!

ZW3D 2020 Beta – Mold Module: Enhanced Mold & Electrode Application

“The future of ZWSOFT lays in combining closely with the industry. We will focus on helping different industries solve their practical problems, and grow together with them”, said Truman, CEO of ZWSOFT. While keeping enhancing the capabilities of ZW3D platform, we never forget industry applications. So what about ZW3D 2020 Beta for mold and electrode industries?

New Mold Features Facilitate Detailed Design

Now you can create the cooling systems much faster. Various parameters can be adjusted with a dynamic real-time preview. Groove, taper lock, runner, gate etc. can also be created quickly and intuitively, delivering more powerful mold design.

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Figure 1. Create a cooling loop and preview it in real-time

More Abundant Mold Library Commands

Many tools for standard parts have been added, such as Positive Screw, Locating Rings, Wedge Lock, Spring and so on, enabling you to insert and modify positive screws, locating rings, sprue bush, wedge locks, springs, etc. with ease, and thus speeding up your mold design.

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Auto Mold Drafting

Similar to Auto Drafting mentioned in CAD module, Auto Mold Drafting allows you to create mold drafts in batches. Mold types can be recognized automatically for you to filter and select easily, and various drafting templates can be applied to different mold types. In this way, your time spent in creating 2D drawings for multiple mold components can be greatly saved.

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Figure 3. Generate 2D drawings in batches for multiple mold components

Updated Electrode Module

The Electrode module of ZW3D 2020 has also been updated, making the EDM (Electrode Discharge Machining) design a much easier job. For example, you can create multiple Electrode Blanks in Batches, use Dynamic Circle to help you quickly judge whether to insert an electrode at a specific location, generate a Bill of Electrodes, assign Electrode Attribute to non-electrode objects, engrave text on electrodes, etc.

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Figure 4. Add one Electrode Blank for multiple electrodes (left)
Add multiple Electrode Blanks for multiple electrodes in batches (right)
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If you want to take the first bite of the ZW3D 2020 Beta, click here, and welcome to share with us your feelings regarding this new Beta release in our Facebook.

You can also get to know the latest updates of the CAD and CAM modules.

About ZW3D

Developed by ZWSOFT CO., LTD.(Guangzhou)., ZW3D, an integrated CAD/CAM solution designed for the whole process of product development, features the fastest kernel for Solid-Surface Hybrid Modeling, non-solid mold parting and smart CNC machining strategy from 2-axis to 5-axis. It brings customers multiple benefits such as reduced costs, optimized design workflow and improved efficiency.