DriveWorks implementation services

Base 10 Consultants builds DriveWorks projects for manufacturers: the forms, rules, SOLIDWORKS models, drawings, and quote documents that let sales configure a custom product without waiting on engineering. I can build it turnkey, or coach your team while they build it.

Who this is for

Shops new to DriveWorks. You own the software, or are about to, and need the first project to land.
Implementations that stalled after the pilot. I'm often brought in to get a stuck project moving again. There is a separate page on that.
Teams that have outgrown SOLIDWORKS equations and configurations. The models got "smart", then slow, then impossible to debug. That transition has its own guide.

The common thread: engineered-to-order or configured-to-order products, where experienced engineers spend a large part of their week redrawing and re-quoting variants of work they have already done.

What gets built

A DriveWorks implementation is more than a form. A complete one usually includes:

A configurator form that asks only the questions that matter and validates the answers as they are entered.
Rules that turn those answers into dimensions, features, part numbers, prices, and document content.
SOLIDWORKS models and drawings built to be driven. Bottom-up part architecture, macros, and custom properties, set up for DriveWorks from day one instead of retrofitted.
Documents: quotes, bills of materials, emails, and whatever your shop floor actually reads.
Connections to the rest of the business, so the order does not get typed into the ERP by hand. See DriveWorks ERP integration.

How I work

Shop floor first, then the whiteboard. I start every project on the shop floor. I ask questions, follow how information moves from quote to drawing to the machine, and learn the product the way your people know it. Then the work happens at a desk and a whiteboard: building the DriveWorks project, and breaking the plan down with your team and every outside team that has to plug into it.

The first project is chosen to win. Simple, independent of other systems, and useful to the most people. A quick, visible win brings more of the company along than a perfect configurator that ships a year later. How to pick that first project.

Built around how the shop runs. A lot of my work starts with implementations that stalled, usually because they were built around the software instead of around how the shop actually quotes, designs, and ships.

Turnkey or alongside your team. Some clients want the project delivered from concept to release. Others want their own people to own it, and use me to coach, review, and unblock. Both work, and many engagements move from the first to the second.

One point of contact. You work directly with me from start to finish. On larger projects I bring in a small team of DriveWorks and integration specialists I work with regularly.

Results

B & S Automação e Projeto (Brazil, conveyors): drawing time per conveyor section went from 1-2 days to 15-20 minutes after a DriveWorks rebuild.
An HVAC equipment manufacturer: portfolio-level DriveWorks architecture alignment, so separate product lines stopped solving the same problems in different ways.
A custom production planning tool built to integrate with a manufacturer's existing DriveWorks implementation.

Base 10 has worked with manufacturers of HVAC equipment, conveyors, valves, cylinders, packaging, outdoor structures, underground tanks, and custom truck bodies, in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.

Common questions

Which DriveWorks product do we need: Xpress, Solo, or Pro?

DriveWorksXpress is included free with SOLIDWORKS and is enough to prove one model can be driven by rules. DriveWorks Solo suits a single engineer automating their own designs and documents. DriveWorks Pro is the one for sales configurators, shared projects, browser access, unattended generation, and ERP integration. Most CPQ and integration work needs Pro.

Do you build the project for us, or train our team to build it?

Either. Base 10 delivers turnkey DriveWorks projects, and also coaches in-house teams who want to own the project themselves. Many engagements start as a build and turn into coaching once the first project is live.

Is Base 10 an authorized DriveWorks partner?

Yes. Base 10 Consultants has been a DriveWorks Authorized Services Partner since January 2024 and is listed in the DriveWorks partner directory.

Can you take over a DriveWorks project someone else started?

Yes. Picking up stalled or inherited implementations is a large part of the work. It starts with a review of what exists, not a rewrite. See rescuing a stalled DriveWorks implementation.

Where is Base 10 located?

Petoskey, Michigan, USA. Clients have been in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.