JDD creates customisable British-made office furniture using Autodesk Fusion
Promotion: British furniture maker Joint Design Direction has used Autodesk's Fusion software to help expand its offering of homegrown workplace furniture, including a sleep pod that hides a full-size single bed.
The company now offers more than 30 products, which customers can personalise at will, all designed and manufactured at its headquarters in Dudley.
To support this level of complexity, Joint Design Direction (JDD) recently transitioned its team from standard computer-aided design (CAD) software to Autodesk Fusion.
Autodesk Fusion is a centralised, cloud-based platform that allows the company's 90-strong team to take products from concept to production in one place. It combines 3D modelling and simulation tools with computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for producing CNC machined parts.
The system also includes parametric design functionality, allowing JDD's production designers to tailor the final product to the needs of their clients – tweaking the height or width without having to redraw the whole design.
"Something that might have taken maybe three hours in AutoCAD takes three minutes now with Fusion," explained JDD production designer George Hopkins.
This has proved particularly helpful with the design of JDD's Yume Rest Pod, which incorporates a full-size single bed alongside a built-in table, multiple power outlets and adjustable lighting.
"For the design of our new rest pod, Fusion was particularly helpful," remembered production designer Charlie Adlem.
"During prototyping, we might need to adjust the design to make something wider to fit or determine the standardisation of the mattress," he added. "Parametric modelling came in handy. It's a click of a button rather than redrawing the whole thing."
The system also offers a more user-friendly interface than other options on the market, according to Adlem.
"I've used other software in the past, like SolidWorks and Rhino, and they seem so complicated compared to Fusion," he explained. "The user interface and icons are easy to use. The tools in Fusion are easy to pick up, and there are loads of tutorials online."
JDD didn't originally launch as an office furniture brand. The idea was born at London's 100% Design trade show in 2010, where founders James Mercy and Joe Duffell encountered the architects furnishing Google's headquarters in Europe, West Asia, and Africa.
They were having trouble sourcing specific products such as high-back sofas for the offices, and asked the JDD duo if they could help.
Fresh off their respective design degrees, the recently reunited school friends said yes despite having no prior experience in manufacturing. They told themselves, "we'd figure it out later", Mercy remembered.
Since then, the company has grown into a team of nearly 100, with showrooms in Birmingham, London, Glasgow and Dubai.
To bring furniture to life more quickly and efficiently, keep up with new demand and further grow the business, JDD decided to switch to Autodesk Fusion around a year ago,
The software, which combines design, data management and collaboration tools, has allowed members of the product design, manufacturing and production design teams to work from the same files for the first time.
Previously, product designer Henry Watson would model new JDD products in 3ds Max and test them in OnShape.
But to share his vision with the production design team, he would have to use stripped-back STEP files or 2D drawings.
"It really made sense for me to move into the same software with Fusion because now we can just share the documents and models," Watson said.
"When you share a STEP file, you lose all the history, notes, and little nuances because you're just exporting it as a dumb file. Then Charlie and George would have to rework it, and there was a lot of unnecessary back-and-forth communication. Now everything is there in one place."
The production designers, in turn, can then share the link for the final file with the team on the factory floor.
"Before we'd have to do drawings for the wood mill and the person assembling it," Hopkins remembered. "But now we share the file link, and they can just open it up on a tablet or a phone. It makes the process much faster."
Ultimately, JDD's founders said this improved workflow has proven beneficial not just for the team but also for the company as a whole.
"As long as things make their jobs easier or more efficient and enjoyable, then that's a win for me," Mercy said. "If using Fusion helps them, it helps the company."
To learn more about Autodesk, visit its website.
Partnership content
This article was written for Autodesk as part of a partnership. Find out more about our partnership content here.
The post JDD creates customisable British-made office furniture using Autodesk Fusion appeared first on Dezeen.
