PartBrowser is a desktop search engine for CAD. Search your CAD files by shape and by text, find any part with our unique visual browser. Save time by finding files faster. Save money by re-using parts.
An Enterprise version of PartBrowser will shortly be released. Please contact us at sales@shapespace.com to discuss your requirements.
Why use PartBrowser?
To reuse a part you first need to find it.
“Parts reuse is not a nice-to-have improvement; it should be a working mandate…. conservatively estimates that between 30% and 40% of a manufacturer’s parts are duplicates or have acceptable substitutes. With the annual carrying cost of between $4,500 and $23,000 per item for the introduction of a new part number, duplicate part proliferation is an area of known cost exposure.”
(Aberdeen Group, “Component & Supplier Management:
Saving Time and Money Part by Part,” March 2002)
The benefits of reusing existing parts are clear. However you may not know that an acceptable substitute exists. Or finding the right part can involve a time-consuming trawl through directories and old projects with only undescriptive file names and thumbnails to help. Faced with these problems it is often easier to design a new part
PartBrowser allows a designer to browse parts in a folder structure in full 3D, or use text search on file names or properties. Files can even be found when no name or property is known by using our 'search-by-shape' technology. This means it is much easier to find and reuse exisiting parts and avoid unnecessry new part introductions.
Learn more about text and shape search technologies in PartBrowser.
Make your designers more productive.
Designers can spend a large percentage of their time looking for existing CAD models. PartBrowser's search and browse capabilities help designers to find CAD files efficiently. The ability to locate possible alternative parts also saves time by avoiding timewasting involved in 'reinventing the wheel'.
Learn more about text and shape search technologies in PartBrowser.
PartBrowser finds duplicate parts by shape.
“With the annual carrying cost of between $4,500 and $23,000 per item for the introduction of a new part number, duplicate part proliferation is an area of known cost exposure.”
(Aberdeen Group, “Component & Supplier Management:
Saving Time and Money Part by Part,” March 2002)
The DuplicateFinder add-in to PartBrowser searches through CAD databases finding part duplicates, allowing rationalisation of your part libraries. DuplicateFinder looks for geometrically similar parts and so finds duplicates regardless of differences in CAD software used to generate the models, file formats used or minor differences in model geometry.
Learn more about finding duplicates in PartBrowser.
Design reuse can reduce time to market.
PartBrowser allows existing design data to be quickly retrieved even if when old project names, part numbers or file names can't be remembered. Reuse of the design, analysis or manufacturing data from these old parts can speed the design of new parts.
Learn more about text and shape search technologies in PartBrowser.
"One of the most costly overheads of 3D CAD design and modeling is the creation of stock parts. PartBrowser makes searching for these, sometimes mislaid, parts a fast and intuitive process and has already saved me hours spent recreating already existing models...We model shapes in 3D so what better way to search for them than in 3D!"
Colin Williams, Senior Design Draughtsman, Chemring EOD Ltd
