BricsCAD^®: connecting 2D and 3D at Mazda

Originally known for its innovative rotary engine technology, Mazda Motor Corporation has become one of the premier automakers in the world. Mazda’s plant design efforts are centralized at its corporate headquarters in Japan. It continues to take on the challenge of increasing its unique brand power, based on the idea that “unique value stands out”.

One of the key factors to enhance the attractiveness of Mazda’s brand lies in its design motto: “Soul of Motion.”
“It is a credo that drives us towards producing strong products that impress our customers. BricsCAD is a part of that, as we use the program for the 2D design of our factories’ assembly lines and equipment,” said Shinya Kohama from the Production Planning Department.

IMPORTANCE OF 2D CAD
In the mass production design work that Mazda performs, the first step is the layout of production lines with 2D CAD. “BricsCAD’s 2D features allow us an overview of the whole design process of our assembly lines, from a helicopter perspective,” commented Masahiro Abe from Mazda’s Production Engineering Division. “The automotive industry is a very innovative one and everything is moving towards 3D now,” Abe continued. “Our BricsCAD license is one that we can use for both 2D and 3D. The volume of 3D modeling work is increasing every day and I expect BricsCAD to support our smooth transition from 2D CAD to 3D CAD. Some of our employees were already familiar with BricsCAD and most of them had it installed on their computers, so the transition was frictionless.”

COST AND LICENSING
Initially, Mazda used another industry-leading CAD software but soon started its search for an alternative that better suit the company’s needs. Abe noted, when looking back on the selection process for Mazda’s CAD solution: “Because the leading CAD software had a high license cost, we were limited in the number of licenses (we could afford) and couldn’t use it when we wanted to. BricsCAD offers licenses at a reasonable price and yet has the same functionality and stability as our previous CAD software. For me, BricsCAD is a software that has no flaws and at the same time, it is very economical. Now, we can afford more licenses and make our workflow smoother.”

Since Mazda is a multinational corporation, they require a licensing system than can be used both for their head offices in Japan and production bases overseas. Kohama explained: “We have a lot of plants overseas and production is increasing rapidly. The fact that we can use the same (BricsCAD) licenses overseas is definitely a factor that helps us shape the future of our company.”