Company Info:
Vent-A-Hood was founded in 1933, creating residential ventilation for cooking. Vent-A-Hood was the first manufacturer of home cooking ventilation and range hoods and the creators of a proprietary system called the “Magic Lung”, which uniquely filters out grease and smoke to ensure fire safety to their vast number of customers. Currently, Vent-A-Hood employs a highly skilled workforce to achieve quality craftsmanship. A national as well as an international marketing program includes an impressive roster of distributors, many of which are second generation. Vent-A-Hood products are sold in all fifty states, as well as Canada.
To learn more, visit: www.ventahood.com
Seamlessly Transitioning from Autodesk Configurator 360 to SolidCAD’s Variant
The Challenge
Vent-A-Hood have understood the benefits of configurators for many years. In fact, they were an alpha user of Autodesk Configurator 360, even before a beta was available. They found 3D modelling to be essential as they were previously using an image-based system to showcase their products. This was unsustainable as their products can be configured in a plethora of ways, even without including decorative attachments. Maintaining the image archive became unfeasible and changes were incredibly difficult to implement. They became one of the 1st ever companies to have Configurator 360 published for clients to use. It was this unique relationship with the Autodesk team that lead them to Variant.
Once Configurator 360 was no longer available, Vent-A-Hood knew they needed an alternative that could keep up with their complex needs. Knowing the company well, Autodesk recommended they reach out to us at SolidCAD regarding our in-house developed configurator product, Variant.
The Solution
Implementing Variant has been a smooth and collaborative effort. Mike Sy, Technology & Purchasing at Vent-A-Hood, said he was drawn to, “the simplicity of the menu system and its elegance.” He continued, saying, “It’s quite easy to navigate. It’s not like we had to publish new documentation just for people to use it because for anybody who’s online, it just makes sense. It’s just drop-down menu, change the option, click a button and you’re good to go.”
Since Variant uses Autodesk Forge Design Automation API for Inventor, it was able to directly leverage iLogic code in existing Vent-A-Hood models, avoiding time-consuming re-work while easily meeting expected timelines. The solution enabled their sales and engineering teams to work from a single source of truth without delays, errors, or miscommunication.
Variant is currently live on the Vent-A-Hood website as of April 2022 with an ongoing average rate of 2000 configurations added every month. SolidCAD is thrilled to continue working with Vent-A-Hood and for the exciting future updates, some of which the Vent-A-Hood team have helped envision.
Software and Services Used
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Variant
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Implementation and Support
