Today’s Consumers are increasingly demanding more personalized products that are tailored to their specific needs. This personalization adds a level of complexity to the design process; however, innovative new tools have been introduced that make mass customization easier for customers both online or in stores. Attendees at this year’s SOLIDWORKS World 2016 were given a preview of just such a technology. ClearVision Optical from Hauppauge, NY is a successful innovative leader in eyewear. ClearVision’s mission is to create a great experience for independent eyecare professionals by providing high quality products and exceptional service.
David Friedfield , the CEO of ClearVision Optical, and Igal Kaptsan, V.P. of Product Management for SOLIDWORKS Make, presented an innovative solution to personalize eyewear on the stage during the innovation session of SOLIDWORKS World 2016.SOLIDWORKS Make provides retailers, brands and manufacturers with a personalization platform on the cloud, which allows their customers to customize their products before they purchase.
During the session, a solution developed for the eyewear market was presented that enables the customer to personalize the frame of his/her eyeglasses directly from the ClearVision online store, on which SOLIDWORKS Make widgets have been embedded. The personalization is what-you-see-is-what-you-get, and the resulting eyeglasses can be ordered and will be delivered directly to the customer.
Another use case involves Dilli Dalli, a ClearVision eyewear product line for children. For the case of Dilli Dalli, the optometrist personalizes the frame of the eyeglasses to perfectly fit the head and the field of vision of the child. The detailed model of the resulting frame is sent for 3D printing and the eyeglasses are delivered to the customer or to the optometrist’s office.
Bespoke eyeglasses are very expensive and often built by hand requiring up to 40 hours of work by a highly skilled person. SOLIDWORKS Make facilitates the transition from the mass-produced eyewear to the bespoke eyewear using processes that are scalable and provide style, comfort and function at a reasonable price within a short delivery lead time. Further eyeglasses personalization, such as decoration and text embossing and de-bossing, can be added making glasses even more personal. Customers can also add their phone number to the glasses, so that they can be easily returned if misplaced.
A new trend for millenials and others is to have points of affinity in the products they choose. They want the possibility to personalize and make the brand somehow their own. Personalization through configurations has already demonstrated its benefits across consumer numerous brands and markets.
In his book, “Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick-and-Mortar Store Survive”, Rajiv Lal, Professor Retailing at Harvard Business School, stressed that customers are no longer looking to buy mass market products. Instead, customers want to spend money on products that spark their imagination. Their own product personalization does strike their imagination, and creates an emotional connection with that product as well as a memorable experience.
SOLIDWORKS Make is a personalization platform that facilitates product personalization by the customer to assemblies with dependencies and 3D shapes. It is also used for jewellery and other vertical markets. This platform is independent of the manufacturing process. In addition to 3D printing, SOLIDWORKs Makesupports processes such as laser cutting, laser engraving, CNC, assembly, polishing and milgrain setting.
How is it done?
The brand, who owns the design content, and the retailer have access to the on the cloud SOLIDWORKS Make Design Editor, which is used to define which personalizations can be created by a customer on a products or a family of products, so that:
- The equity of the brand is maintained or increased,
- The personalized pieces are aesthetically pleasing
- The personalized product is ready for manufacture
- The manufacturing data packet is then sent to the manufacturer selected by the retailer or directly manufactured by the retailer.
To learn more about SOLIDWORKS Make, go here.
Originally posted in the SOLIDWORKS Blog.