For many years, hydraulic cylinder manufacturers relied on paper catalogs, PDF files and static CAD libraries to help engineers and technical departments select components.
However, this process always created a significant delay between the engineer’s technical selection and communication with purchasing departments and suppliers.
Vega developed a completely different approach.
The Vega 3D ecommerce system is not simply an online CAD configurator. It is a proprietary parametric platform connecting mold design, technical configuration, CAD generation, production availability and real manufacturing in real time.
When a mold designer accesses the Vega configurator, there is no need to study complex product codes or manually verify component compatibility. The system guides the user step by step through the hydraulic cylinder configuration process, displaying technical information, images, accessories and compatible options during every stage of selection.
Once the configuration is completed, the software automatically generates the real 3D model of the selected product. Engineers can directly visualize the cylinder inside the browser, rotate it, inspect it and immediately verify whether the design matches the mold requirements.
The system also allows users to download the configured model in STEP, IGS, DXF and other formats compatible with most industrial CAD systems used in the mold industry today.
But the real innovation behind the Vega system is not only the 3D CAD generation.
Advantage
The true advantage is the real-time integration with Vega’s ERP system, manufacturing MES and internal production infrastructure.
While the engineer configures the cylinder, the system automatically calculates:
- real customer pricing
- production availability
- real delivery date
- product weight
- CNC machine workload
- component stock availability
- production progress
- holidays and factory shutdowns
- shipping and logistics
This means the customer is not simply communicating with software. The customer is communicating directly with the Vega manufacturing infrastructure.
Every order is connected to the internal ERP, the production MES and the CNC machines that physically manufacture the hydraulic cylinder. Vega monitors machine times, operators, production progress, delays and stock availability in real time to guarantee realistic and reliable delivery dates.
This approach eliminates one of the largest problems in the mold industry: the delay between engineering design and purchasing.
Traditionally, an engineer selects a cylinder, downloads CAD information, sends requests to the purchasing department and waits for a quotation from the supplier. This process may require 24 to 48 hours or even longer when considering time zones, weekends and commercial delays.
With Vega, all this information becomes immediately available.
Engineers can download CAD models, verify pricing, check delivery dates and submit order requests within minutes.
The system also prevents many common engineering errors:
- incompatible configurations
- incorrect product codes
- incompatible accessories
- non-manufacturable combinations
- outdated CAD drawings
- incomplete communications
The technical complexity behind the system is enormous. The Vega catalog includes more than two million configurable combinations. The real challenge is not simply generating a CAD model, but correctly calculating availability, pricing, production capacity, machining times and delivery schedules for every possible configuration.
Vega started developing proprietary configurators at the end of the 1990s, introducing one of the first online 2D configurators for hydraulic cylinders. In the early 2000s, Vega also developed one of the first online 3D configurators integrated with parametric CAD systems.
Today the platform continues evolving through the integration of proprietary software, FreeCAD, ERP systems, MES systems and industrial automation.
In an industry where speed, precision and reliability are critical, Vega transformed the online configurator into a complete industrial platform directly connecting mold designers, purchasing departments and real manufacturing.
