A 164-foot yacht. A giant Ferris wheel. A watch with four faces. These are just some of the arresting innovations that captured judges’ and spectators’ imaginations in the 10th annual SolidWorks Design Contest. Eleven winners took home more than US$150,000 in prizes and were spotlighted at the SolidWorks World 2007 International User Conference and Exposition earlier this month in New Orleans. The grand prize, a Dell Precision 390 Workstation and 20-inch monitor, went to Jack Sanford, an application engineer at Westport Shipyard, for a model of the Westport 164 Tri-Deck Motoryacht. The boat sleeps 12 and features a formal dining room, VIP suite, salon, commercial-grade galley, garage for water toys, and a wet bar. Purveyor of “the ultimate Megayacht experience,” Westport Shipyard uses SolidWorks Office Professional software in its yacht design because of its ease of use, large assembly configuration capabilities, integrated PDMWorks product data management (PDM) software, and superior support, according to Sanford. Using SolidWorks, Westport established the first production-based design approach in the domestic motoryacht industry, reduced customer delivery times by 75 percent, minimized fit and interference issues, and automated cabinetry production operations. The software also reduced interior joinery production time by 50 percent, cut installation time by 15 percent, and supported better material usage. “The ability to have models in production on a continual basis, while using configurations to provide customers with choices and options on different parts of the boat – such as variations on the state room design – makes us more efficient,” said Sanford. “It also has a positive impact on profit margins.” Other winners were: MODEL CONTEST 1st Runner-up – Made-to-order, individual-serving ice-cream-making machine, MooBella LLC, submitted by Jim Baxter, VP engineering, MooBella 2nd Runner-up – (tie) Gary Fisher carbon hi-fi bicycle, Trek Bicycle Corporation, submitted by Christopher R. Carlson, senior industrial designer, Trek 2nd Runner-up – (tie) LeMond Triomphe carbon fiber bicycle frame platform, submitted by Chad Lockart, senior industrial designer, Trek Bicycle Corporation 3rd Runner-up – Datacard MX6000 Card Issuance System, submitted by Gary T. Schultze, senior mechanical designer, Datacard Group PHOTOREALISTIC IMAGES CONTEST 1st Place – Personalized concept vehicle, submitted by Dr. Ertu Unver, senior lecturer, University of Huddersfield 2nd Place – Voyager, submitted by Bruce Ray Buck, design engineer, Dometic Corp. 3rd Place – Brandy decanter, submitted by Einar Vedvik, designer, PavelsDesign, Norway ANIMATIONS CONTEST 1st place – Singapore Flyer construction (Ferris wheel), submitted by Ooi Wei Khuen and Lin Shaodun, design engineer, Flash Engineering Pte Ltd. 2nd place – Nitrous Concept Watch, submitted by Harold Wylie, owner of Magineer 3d place – Pivotrol cover and mechanism assembly, submitted by Jeff Jacobs, senior designer of Spirax Sarco “The Oscars have nothing on this competition,” said Rainer Gawlick, SolidWorks vice president of worldwide marketing. “There are miraculous design engineering performances every day with SolidWorks, and these winning designs are indicative of the great products SolidWorks customers create every day. They inspire us all to design better products.”