March 04, 2004

By: Martin Collins
Website: http://www.1st-in-steaks.com

Easy-to-use 3D CAD software cuts design time and reduces production errors

To produce tens of thousands of its famous Little Debbie cakes in 75 different varieties per day, McKee Foods Corporation engineers machines and systems that aid in the process of mixing, baking, decorating and packaging the cakes to exact specifications.

As the country's top snack cake manufacturer by volume, McKee Foods chose SolidWorks software to generate the three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) models to construct these machines. SolidWorks software gives McKee a competitive edge because its engineering group uses the 3D CAD technology to slash design time while easily producing life-like designs that manufacturers use to build the machines quickly, without errors.

Tennessee-based McKee Foods has made snack cakes such as its oatmeal creme pie (the original snack cake) since its founding in 1934. It sells 75 different brands of snack cakes and 20 different varieties of Sunbelt® granola and cereal products in 50 states, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. To maintain market leadership, McKee Foods designs its own production machines for its plants in Tennessee, Virginia, and Arkansas.

The snack cake manufacturer purchased 20 seats of SolidWorks to switch from 2D to 3D CAD so it could reduce design time and production errors for the machines, conveyor belts, and other automated elements in its production lines.

Jeff Badger, process group manager at McKee, pointed to one example four months ago when McKee set out to build a depositor (that applies a filling for one of its cake products) that needed to be wider than an existing machine. Badger and his team of engineers figured it would take four to five weeks to make the needed design changes. "With SolidWorks, it took only three days. The software is very intuitive, and therefore it's easy to turn around designs much faster. We had that larger depositor up and running much sooner than we hoped."

Badger's team is constantly tweaking existing machines and conveyors and designing new ones to streamline production and make new varieties of snack cakes and cereals. In addition to SolidWorks software, McKee is also beginning to use SolidWorks Piping to build 3D solid piping into its machine designs and COSMOS/Works from Structural Research and Analysis Corporation to perform stress analysis while designing new products.

"You see the Little Debbie brand most everywhere you go," said John McEleney, chief operating officer for SolidWorks Corporation. "In nearly 70 years, the company has catered to the country's sweet tooth, in large part because it has figured out the most efficient way to make the snack cakes that everyone loves. By using SolidWorks software, McKee Foods has drastically reduced the time it takes to design their own machines, so they can easily increase production and get products on the shelves faster."

Also see: chocolate carrot cake

Author Notes:

Martin Collins contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.1st-in-steaks.com.  Great tips on buying top quality meats, steaks and seafood from the finest ranchers and butchers.