{"id":9255,"date":"2021-08-27T16:58:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T14:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xdinnovation.eu\/?p=9255"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:14:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:14:37","slug":"off-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ohmycad.com\/en\/offroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview - Off-Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview: OFFROAD<\/span><\/p>\n

Lucie P-L: \"Could you please introduce yourself?\"<\/p>\n

Valentin S: \u201cMy name is Valentin SCHWARTZ, and I\u2019m a mechanical engineer by training. I spent four years at the COLAS Group as an innovation project manager. And since September, we\u2019ve been working on the company OFFROAD<\/a> with Pierre-Adrien.<\/p>\n

So, Pierre-Adrien Nadal, I\u2019m an engineer by training, specializing in computer science, computer vision, and artificial intelligence. I first spent five years working in the medical field on embedded systems with a strong focus on artificial intelligence, as well as 3D medical imaging systems. Then I completely changed industries and joined the COLAS Group as the innovation director for one of its subsidiaries. Together with Valentin, we worked on modernizing the company\u2019s public works operations, specifically, modernizing its systems. Following that, we founded the company OFFROAD<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our goal is to help transform the public works sector, which remains largely traditional, by providing new solutions in 3D digitization and robotics. Our first products will enable the digital 3D mapping of construction sites (to better track progress, monitor quality, and facilitate the work of surveyors by providing them with both these digital twins and tools for automatically generating plans).<\/p>\n

On SOLIDWORKS<\/a>, we have computer science, electronics, and mechanical engineering. So 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS<\/a> \u201dIt mainly involves the last part. Overall, we need to do 3D design, but also mechanical sizing based on the operational constraints of our systems, the integration of electronic components, and a bit of 3D rendering for marketing purposes.\"<\/p>\n

L: \"Why did you choose 3DEXPERIENCE?\"<\/p>\n

V: \u201cActually, based on my past experiences, I had quite a bit of experience with SOLIDWORKS (I knew it was software I was proficient in and that met my needs).\u201d.<\/p>\n

Donc je me suis naturellement tourn\u00e9e vers SOLIDWORKS pour prendre une licence, et \u00e0 ce moment-l\u00e0 on m\u2019a parl\u00e9 de la 3DEXPERIENCE avec la solution cloud. Cela m\u2019a sembl\u00e9 int\u00e9ressant, car c\u2019est vrai que l\u2019on travail de plus en plus sur le cloud (ne serais ce qu’avec Microsoft 365) et qu’effectivement on est assez ouvert pour le t\u00e9l\u00e9travail (\u00e7a semblait une solution int\u00e9ressante).\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

L: \"What results and benefits have you observed?\"<\/p>\n

V: \u201cFirst of all, for now, I\u2019m on my own when it comes to the mechanical side of things. We have an intern who\u2019s coming in about a month. So as far as teamwork goes, I haven\u2019t really been able to benefit from it yet (though I know that will change once the intern is here or when we hire more people for the mechanical department).\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201dBut there's already one interesting feature, one that SOLIDWORKS didn't allow before, regarding version control: we can create revisions for different parts and truly track the design from start to finish.\"<\/p>\n

L: \"A few words about your user experience?\"<\/p>\n

V: \u201cYes, for me, it\u2019s file management. It\u2019s true that before, everything was stored locally, so we had to copy and paste every time we edited a document if we didn\u2019t want to lose the rest, and so on. It was pretty cumbersome and complicated. It also took up a lot of space in terms of data size, and now, with the 3DEXPERIENCE<\/a> Being able to revise parts and keep a history of all the changes made to each part and each assembly is really interesting. And it will be even more so once the collaborative aspect is added. We\u2019ll be able to work, and even have multiple people working, on the same assembly and actually see who did what and why.<\/p>\n

This also makes it easier to\u201dto have and better link systems deployed in the field with design status checks, and consequently speed up development because at any given moment we\u2019ll be able to directly link a part in the field to a design status and have more time between mechanical updates.\"<\/p>\n

L: \"In your opinion, what are the two or three aspects that best characterize the platform?\"<\/p>\n