Configure & Automate
Streamline your SOLIDWORKS design process with intelligent automation that scales from individual designers to enterprise-wide configurators.
What is DriveWorks?
DriveWorks is a comprehensive automation platform that transforms manufacturing through three core functions:
- Design automation that eliminates repetitive CAD tasks
- Sales Configurator capabilities that enable easy product customization
- CPQ functionality that streamlines the entire quote-to-order process
Automate SOLIDWORKS
Capture and reuse design, process, manufacturing, and cost estimation knowledge to automatically create order-specific SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies, and drawings. DriveWorks is simple to setup without needing to use complex macros, design tables, or configurations. The three steps are:
- Select the parameters you currently change manually in your SOLIDWORKS models, assemblies, and drawings using the DriveWorks add-in for SOLIDWORKS.
- Build rules and logic that automatically control and update the selected SOLIDWORKS parameters.
- Enter order-specific requirements and automatically generate new SOLIDWORKS models, assemblies, drawings, and BOMs based on your rules.
3D Product Configurator
Connect sales and manufacturing and allow users to accurately configure custom products and automatically create sales and manufacturing data.
- Intelligent rules-based guided selling ensures configured products always meet technical and manufacturing requirements.
- Interactive 3D visualizations help users understand configuration choices and design details, so they can make decisions faster.
- Sales and engineering processes are optimized and bottlenecks are removed so you can respond to inquiries faster and win more business.
Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ)
Build a complete configure, price, quote solution that automatically creates documents and data for manufacturing.
- With intelligent guided selling, ensure your sales teams provide quotes for products you can manufacture, and help customers visualize what they are buying.
- Provide an enhanced customer experience by responding to customer inquiries quickly and revising custom orders quickly and easily.
- Automatically convert approved quotes and configurations into accurate manufacturing drawings and assembly instructions ready for production.
DriveWorks offers three different versions to meet varying business needs, from individual designers to enterprise-wide implementations.
DriveWorksXpress
DriveWorksXpress is the free design automation tool already installed in every SOLIDWORKS license. This entry-level solution enables you to automate repetitive design tasks by capturing the parameters you manually change in your models and creating simple input forms to drive those changes automatically.
Features & Benefits
Design Automation
Easily capture and reuse all of your design and manufacturing knowledge and generate new variations of your products over and over again, in minutes instead of hours or days.
- Control dimensions, features, and custom properties while switching configurations seamlessly
- Update drawings by associating them with driven models automatically
- Add and update captured parameters with ease
Input Forms
Create input forms to enter product requirements and add validation to controls to ensure inputs are always suitable.
- Show requirements clearly and add validation to inputs
- Add text boxes, numeric text boxes, drop-down lists, spin buttons, and checkboxes
- Set default values and organize the order of controls on input forms
Rules Builder
Build rules to link input controls with captured parameters using the intelligent DriveWorks Rules Builder.
- Define your design knowledge using mathematical formulas and logical statements
- Use standard Excel functions for familiar calculations
- Use intelligent file naming to build organized component libraries
Getting Started with DriveWorksXpress
DriveWorksXpress is already installed and ready to use in your SOLIDWORKS installation.
To get started with activation and setup, check out our guide:
DriveWorks Solo
DriveWorks Solo is a comprehensive design automation solution that integrates directly into the SOLIDWORKS task pane, enabling engineers to configure custom products and automatically generate order-specific SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies, and drawings along with supporting documentation.
Features & Benefits
Powerful Design Automation
Automate your SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies, and detailed drawings with enhanced capabilities.
- Control dimensions, features, custom properties, advanced feature parameters, instances, and file formats
- Dynamically replace components with intelligent automation
- Create organized component libraries using intelligent file reuse strategies
Advanced Drawing Control
Save time and boost product quality by automatically creating accurate manufacturing drawings with DriveWorks Solo.
- Control sheets, views, annotation text, annotation positions, layers, break lines, and custom properties
- Generation reports provide a complete audit trail of drawing values
- Save drawings in additional file formats, such as PDF, JPEG, DXF, and DWG
Preview Results
Preview results as you enter design requirements before you generate final models, drawings, and documents.
- Preview the effect of your selections as you configure products
- Quickly try ‘what if’ scenarios to test design requirements
- Make informed decisions and ensure product suitability before generation
File Formats and Save Location
You have full control over the save location and folder structure of files created by DriveWorks Solo. Automatically create any additional file format available in SOLIDWORKS.
- You have complete control over file naming; use intelligent file naming to create organized part libraries
- Save files exactly where you want them in your directory structure
- Create any additional file format available in SOLIDWORKS
Custom Input Forms
DriveWorks Solo has a built-in form designer to create user-friendly input forms with advanced capabilities.
- Rules-based form-to-form navigation controls which forms are shown based on user selections
- Use images to aid the configuration process and provide visual selection feedback
- Control visibility and validation of input controls based on intelligent rules
Static Tabular Data
Add your existing static tabular data into DriveWorks Solo, use it on your forms and within your automation rules.
- DriveWorks Solo includes 60 table functions to manipulate and process data effectively
- Centralize and maintain your existing engineering data within DriveWorks
- Minimize errors and ensure data is always up to date across projects
Customizable Documents
Quickly respond to sales inquiries with accurate documents using the DriveWorks Solo quote, covering letter, and BOM templates.
- Reduce time spent preparing documents for customer inquiries and proposals
- Build intelligent rules to control what is included in your documents
- Reports provide comprehensive auditing of document content and generation
DriveWorks Pro
DriveWorks Pro is designed for organizations requiring web-based configurators, multi-user environments, and enterprise-level integrations. DriveWorks Pro enables companies to deploy sophisticated sales configurators that customers, distributors, and sales teams can access from any device, anywhere.
Features & Benefits
Complete Design Automation
Automatically create order-specific SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies, drawings, BOMs, and manufacturing data.
- DriveWorks design automation for SOLIDWORKS is powerful, reliable, and easy to set up and maintain. Remove the need for complex macros, design tables, and configurations
- Save time and improve accuracy by automating repetitive SOLIDWORKS modeling tasks
- Capture and reuse your design and manufacturing knowledge using intelligent rules
- Integrate with SOLIDWORKS PDM, SOLIDWORKS MBD, and SOLIDWORKS CAM
Online Product Configurator
DriveWorks Live enables sales teams, distributors, and even customers to configure custom products in a browser on any device, anywhere.
- DriveWorks technology is optimized for all browsers and devices
- Add your configurator to your existing website, or deploy it as a standalone site
- You have complete control over security, with tools to manage who can use your configurator and what they can do
Interactive 3D Visualizations
Configure products in 3D in a browser on any device with DriveWorks 3D preview technology.
- Communicate design details and configuration choices easily using photorealistic interactive 3D previews that update in real time
- Get started quickly by importing existing 3D models and geometry. DriveWorks supports common file formats including .stl, .obj, .gltf, .glb, .iam, .ipt, .par, .psm, and .asm
- DriveWorks 3D technology works in any browser, removing the need for users to download additional apps
Integrate With Other Company Systems
It’s easy to securely pass data between DriveWorks and other company systems including ERP, MRP, and CRM. Reduce manual data entry to cut down costly errors. Learn more about how DriveWorks can integrate with your company systems.
- Query data from your CRM directly for customer-specific information
- Pass configuration data to other company systems automatically
- Dedicated SOLIDWORKS PDM integration for streamlined file management
Intelligent Workflow
DriveWorks gives you full control over who, what, and when. The intelligent workflow technology allows you to manage team permissions, approval processes, and customer journeys.
- Manage order progress and automatically send status updates to stakeholders
- Boost quality by adding approval steps and sign-off permissions for teams
- Create documents and manufacturing data at the right time in your process
Automatically Generate Documents
DriveWorks automates the creation of many document types, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or HTML files. Automatically create custom-branded quotations, covering letters, delivery notes, BOMs, and more. DriveWorks can also save your SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies, and drawings in a variety of other formats, such as eDrawings, DXF, PDF, and so on.
- Create Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, HTML, XML, and text files automatically
- Automatically send emails with generated documents and approval drawings attached
- Create BOMs, cut lists, and supporting documents for manufacturing processes
Dynamic Data
Use external data in your DriveWorks projects to create great user experiences and accurate configurations.
- Query SQL databases such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL for real-time information
- Import data from Excel, XML, and text files for enhanced functionality
- Request live data, such as shipping rates and material costs, using HTTP requests
Scalable and Cloud-Ready
Easily scale your DriveWorks implementation using our modern web API and support for Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud.
- Support for Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud platforms for flexible deployment
- Modern web API provides data and UI integration on any device
- Flexible DriveWorks Live licensing to cover peaks in usage and varying demand
DriveWorks Licensing & Feature Comparison
Compare DriveWorks packages to find the perfect automation solution for your organization’s needs:
DriveWorksXpress
- Entry-level SOLIDWORKS part and assembly automation.
- Create a drawing for each part and assembly.
DriveWorks Solo
- Automate SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies, and drawings. Control where files are stored.
- Enter product specifications and preview designs inside SOLIDWORKS.
- Generate production-ready drawings, BOMs & quote documents automatically.
DriveWorks Pro
- Complete SOLIDWORKS part, assembly and drawing automation.
- Automatically generate manufacturing and sales documents.
- Configure order-specific designs in a browser on desktop, mobile, or tablet.
- Visualize configured products with interactive 3D previews.
- Integrate with SOLIDWORKS PDM, CRM, ERP, CAM and other company systems.
- Scalable and flexible licensing options.
DriveWorks FAQs
Is DriveWorksXpress free?
Yes, DriveWorks Xpress is included at no additional cost with every SOLIDWORKS license. You can activate it by following the directions here.
Does SOLIDWORKS have built-in design automation?
Yes, SOLIDWORKS includes configurations, design tables, and equations, but these require CAD expertise to set up and use. DriveWorks provides user-friendly automation that anyone can operate, plus advanced capabilities like web configurators and document generation that aren’t possible with native SOLIDWORKS tools.
Can DriveWorks create web configurators for SOLIDWORKS?
Yes, DriveWorks Pro creates powerful web configurators that work directly with your SOLIDWORKS designs. Your customers and sales teams can configure products in any web browser, see real-time 3D previews, and automatically generate accurate quotes and manufacturing files. The configurators integrate seamlessly with your existing SOLIDWORKS models and can be embedded in your website or deployed as standalone applications.
What is DriveWorks pricing and how much does it cost?
DriveWorks pricing varies by version and licensing needs. DriveWorksXpress is free with SOLIDWORKS, DriveWorks Solo offers enhanced capabilities for individual users, and DriveWorks Pro provides enterprise-level features including web configurators. Contact MLC CAD Systems for current DriveWorks pricing and package recommendations based on your specific requirements.
What CPQ capabilities does DriveWorks offer for manufacturing?
CPQ for DriveWorks enables manufacturers to automatically generate accurate quotes, bills of materials, and pricing based on product configurations. DriveWorks CPQ integrates product configuration with pricing rules and manufacturing data to streamline the entire quote-to-order process.
Related Resources
Blogs & Articles
Empower your team to skip repetitive CAD tasks—DriveWorks lets you automatically generate models, drawings, quotes, and documentation. Whether it’s one variant or thousands, scale effortlessly and innovate faster.
Unleash automation in your workflow—start with DriveWorks today!
Enable online, browser-based product configuration for customers, sales, or internal teams. DriveWorks Live lets users input specs, select features, and instantly generate CAD models, quotes, and documentation—all without launching SOLIDWORKS.
Bring your configurator to the web—activate DriveWorks Live now!
Webinars & Videos
If repetitive engineering changes, quote delays, and manual documentation are slowing your business down, it’s time to automate. DriveWorks transforms repetitive SOLIDWORKS workflows into intelligent, rules-based processes that reduce errors, accelerate delivery, and free engineers to focus on innovation. Discover the signs—and start automating your engineering workflows with DriveWorks today!
Transform repetitive design tasks into driven, rules-based automation. From configuring variants to generating drawings, models, and quotes, DriveWorks bridges the gap between ideas and delivery—saving time, reducing errors, and scaling your design output. Start building scalable automation—integrate DriveWorks today!
Explore how DriveWorks pairs with SOLIDWORKS to automate configurations, generate models, and empower engineers, sales teams, and customers to configure products on any device—across all license levels (Xpress, Solo, Pro). Watch the demo and supercharge your design automation today!