A 3D switchboard configurator in a single browser file

How quotation-stage CAD was replaced entirely: scaled general arrangements, single-line diagrams, a full 3D walk-through and DXF handover, generated in minutes from the estimating workbook.

Scaled front elevation of a 2407mm switchboard generated from the estimating workbook, with busbar zones, compartment labels and shipping splits

Full GA sheet: front elevation, foundation plan, weight and heat loss summary and compartment schedule, all generated from one workbook

Photoreal 3D isometric view of the generated switchboard, produced in the browser with no CAD seat

3D front view of the switchboard showing every compartment, instrument and door as configured

The challenge

Every GA was drawn by hand in CAD, even at enquiry stage, when most jobs would not convert.
Two to four hours per board, and a layout change meant a full redraw.
Customers chose between competing quotes with no visual of what they were buying.
The data that defined the board already lived in the costing workbook, but none of it flowed to the drawing.

What we built

A single-file, browser-based configurator that reads the existing estimating workbook directly.
Scaled, dimensioned front elevations with busbar zones, shipping splits and compartment schedules.
A foundation plan with overall dimensions, and live weight and heat-loss estimates.
A parametric 3D model of the same board, doors open, walk-through mode, e-house placement.
DXF export for CAD and GLTF for 3D, so engineering starts from the estimator's model.
Drag-and-drop reconfiguration from a unit palette, with undo, autosave and shareable layouts.

The results

Estimators produce the GA themselves, in minutes, with no CAD seat or licence tokens.
Customers see a dimensioned drawing and a 3D visual with the quotation, before ordering.
Design issues surface at enquiry stage, in 3D, while they are still cheap to fix.
Engineering receives DXF geometry and structured data instead of a verbal handover.

The economics

A parametric 3D configurator of this scope is conventionally a substantial bespoke-software programme.
Built by the estimating domain expert who uses it, in weeks of spare-time iteration.
Effectively zero external cost, and every later change costs minutes, not a change request.
Hundreds of versioned releases shipped since.

What transfers to your business. Any manufacturer whose product is configured rather than invented per order, switchgear, enclosures, air handling, transformers, skids, can turn the configuration data it already holds into drawings, visuals and structured handover data automatically.

Other case studies

Document control & risk gateEmail-driven, AI-routed engineering document control Estimating & quotationAutomating the estimating-to-quotation workflow Sales intelligenceSales intelligence without a BI project Enquiry handling & RFQ triageAutomating enquiry triage and RFQ logging

Could this work on your process?

For one tool, a free 90-minute process walk and a fixed price within 48 hours. For bigger work, a two to three week assessment, and you keep the roadmap either way.

Book a Call See Starter Builds