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// SOFTWARE · CAD AUTOMATION

Innovant. From eight hours to ten minutes.

A custom-furniture manufacturer designing for Fortune-500 corporate floors. Customization was the product — and the bottleneck. Parametric Autodesk Inventor models replaced manual part adjustment; a C# .NET bundler replaced manual drawing assembly. The shop floor went from receiving an eight-hour bundle to receiving a ten-minute one.

Client
Innovant Inc.
Sector
Manufacturing · custom office furniture (since 1990)
End clients
Fortune 500 — Apple, Google, Morgan Stanley, Redfin
Engagement
Parametric CAD + automated drawing bundling
Stack
Autodesk Inventor · iLogic · VBA · Inventor API · C# .NET · AutoCAD
Performed by
ShiftCTRL
§ 01 · Introduction

Bespoke at scale.

Innovant has designed and manufactured custom office furniture since 1990 — workstations, conference solutions, and private office environments for prestigious corporate clients worldwide. Their products integrate into architectural spaces while delivering tailored functionality at the per-floor level.

As the demand for that bespoke offering grew, the operational consequences of customization grew with it. The intricate nature of custom furniture design, coupled with manual workflows in the engineering team, was producing inefficiencies, delays, and costly errors. Innovant engaged ShiftCTRL to design and ship the automation underneath it.

§ 02 · The challenge

Two bottlenecks. Both manual.

  1. Custom part creation.

    Each client order required engineers to manually adjust thousands of unique parts — modifying dimensions, materials, configurations, and more. The labor consumed weeks of engineering time, delaying project timelines and inflating costs.

  2. Drawing generation and bundling.

    Once a design was finalized, engineers spent an entire day — eight hours — generating and organizing the engineering drawings the shop floor needed. Manual errors regularly produced outdated or incorrect parts in the bundle, which produced production mistakes, material waste, and further delays.

§ 03 · The solution

Parametric models. A bundler. The Inventor API throughout.

  1. Parametric CAD models for automated customization.

    Built on Autodesk Inventor, iLogic, VBA, and the Autodesk Inventor API. The parametric models dynamically generate custom parts to client specification — automatically adjusting screws, threads, material dimensions, cutouts, and mounting points to meet exact requirements.

    // IMPACTEngineering time for custom parts reduced by up to 80%, transforming what once took weeks into hours.
  2. Automated drawing generation and bundling tool.

    Built in C# .NET against the Autodesk Inventor API. The bundler identifies the master assembly for each project, generates a comprehensive parts list including all components and subcomponents, updates hundreds-to-thousands of engineering drawings to ensure accuracy and consistency, and exports the updated drawings to designated folders organized by part number — producing a complete bundle ready for the shop floor.

    // IMPACTA workflow that previously took 8 hours runs in 10 minutes — over 95% time saved — with the automated path eliminating human errors end-to-end.
§ 04 · The results

Measured at the engineering bench.

Metric
Before
After
Drawing generation + bundling
8 hours, manual
10 minutes, automated
Custom-part engineering time
Weeks per order
Up to 80% reduction
Error rate (automated path)
Manual errors recurring
~0% on the automated path
Scalability
Linear with engineer headcount
Increased complexity / volume absorbed
§ 05 · Conclusion

The lineage Foresight grew out of.

The Innovant engagement is the closest direct lineage of Foresight. The same software-engineering muscle that produced parametric Inventor models for a custom-furniture manufacturer in 2018 is what now produces a 2D CAD-style network planner for ShiftCTRL's own engineering work. Parametric design generation, automation around an extensible API surface, a bundler that takes a master assembly and produces a complete shop-floor package — the same shape, applied to a different domain.

// DISCLAIMER · INDEPENDENT-AGENCY TERMS

This case study is presented for informational purposes only and illustrates the professional services performed by ShiftCTRL in collaboration with the named client. By accessing or referencing this case study, you acknowledge and agree to the following terms.

  1. Independent agency status.ShiftCTRL operates as an independent engineering firm providing professional services including consulting, software development, system design, implementation, and optimization.
  2. Ownership of intellectual property.All intellectual property — including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other proprietary rights associated with the systems described — is the sole property of the respective client. ShiftCTRL does not claim ownership over any intellectual property developed during its engagements.
  3. Client responsibility.The client retains full ownership, responsibility, and control over their technology, systems, and data. ShiftCTRL's role is strictly limited to providing professional services as outlined in the contractual agreement.
  4. No endorsement or affiliation.This case study does not imply formal endorsement, partnership, or affiliation between ShiftCTRL and the client unless explicitly stated in writing by both parties.
  5. Confidentiality and non-disclosure.ShiftCTRL upholds the privacy and confidentiality agreements in place with its clients. All information presented adheres to those obligations; sensitive details are omitted or anonymized where required.
  6. Limitation of liability.ShiftCTRL is not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising from the use or interpretation of this case study. Outcomes are specific to the client's circumstances and are not warranties of similar results for other engagements.
  7. Scope of responsibility.ShiftCTRL's responsibilities for the operation, maintenance, performance, security, or compliance of the systems described are defined by the contractual agreement established with the client and do not extend beyond its terms.
// GET IN TOUCH

Have a similar bottleneck in CAD or design automation?

If your engineering team is hand-adjusting parts or hand-bundling drawings, the math is the same as Innovant's. We've built the parametric and bundler patterns before — happy to talk.