Sheet Metal Design Software for Indian Fabrication Industry
India is one of the world's fastest-growing sheet metal fabrication hubs, with over 10,000 fabrication shops across the country. CADSPro provides SOLIDWORKS sheet metal solutions that help Indian fabricators design faster, reduce material waste, and deliver manufacturing-ready flat patterns directly to CNC machines.
Fabrication shops in India
Indian sheet metal market
Annual industry growth
SOLIDWORKS Sheet Metal Features
Purpose-built tools for designing sheet metal parts that can be manufactured without costly rework or trial-and-error fitting.
Base Flange & Tab
Create sheet metal parts from scratch with base flanges. Define material thickness, bend radius, and relief parameters in a single feature for rapid part creation.
- Single-feature part creation
- Custom thickness & bend radius
- Auto-relief generation
- Multi-body support
Edge Flanges
Add flanges along any edge with full control over angle, length, and position. Chain-select multiple edges for batch flange operations to speed up design.
- Multi-edge selection
- Custom angle & length
- Flange position control
- Miter flange support
Forming Tools
Library of standard forming tools — louvers, lances, ribs, and embosses. Create custom forming tools and save them for reuse across your organisation.
- Standard louvers & lances
- Custom tool creation
- Drag-and-drop placement
- Reusable tool library
Bend Operations
Sketched bends, jog bends, hem features, and cross-breaks. Full control over bend allowance, bend deduction, and K-factor for accurate flat patterns.
- Sketched & jog bends
- Hem features
- Cross-break support
- K-factor control
Corner Management
Automatic and manual corner treatments including closed corners, corner reliefs, and welded corners. Ensure manufacturing-ready corner conditions throughout.
- Closed corner treatment
- Relief type selection
- Welded corner support
- Gap control parameters
Multi-Body Sheet Metal
Design complex assemblies as multi-body sheet metal parts. Split bodies, assign different gauges, and manage weldments within a single part file.
- Multi-body workflows
- Different gauge per body
- Body-level flat patterns
- Weldment integration
Flat Pattern & Manufacturing Output
Go from 3D design to shop-floor-ready flat patterns and DXF exports in seconds, not hours.
Automatic Flat Pattern
One-click flat pattern generation with automatic bend line, bend direction, and forming tool annotations. Verify manufacturability before cutting.
Manufacturing Documentation
Auto-generated drawings with bend tables, flat pattern views, and forming tool callouts. Dimensioned drawings ready for the shop floor.
Export Capabilities (DXF/DWG)
Export flat patterns directly to DXF or DWG for laser cutting, plasma, waterjet, and CNC punch machines. Map bend lines to specific layers for machine compatibility.
Bend Allowance Management
Use bend tables, K-factor, or bend allowance/deduction values from your material suppliers. Store custom bend tables for consistent results across the team.
Industry Applications
SOLIDWORKS sheet metal is used across every major fabrication sector in India, from HVAC to automotive to industrial equipment.
HVAC Ducting
Rectangular, round, and oval duct design with flanged connections, dampers, and transition pieces. Generate flat patterns for duct fabrication shops.
Electrical Enclosures
Control panel boxes, junction boxes, and electrical cabinets with mounting cutouts, ventilation louvers, and DIN rail provisions. IP-rated enclosure design.
Automotive Components
Brackets, heat shields, structural panels, and body-in-white components. High-strength steel and aluminium forming simulation for automotive manufacturing.
Appliance Industry
Washing machine drums, oven panels, refrigerator liners, and housing components. High-volume stamping and forming design for consumer appliance OEMs.
Industrial Fabrication
Machine guards, hoppers, chutes, conveyor components, and structural frames. Heavy-gauge fabrication design for Indian industrial equipment manufacturers.
Sheet Metal Design Best Practices
Follow these guidelines to ensure your sheet metal designs are optimised for Indian fabrication capabilities and cost structures.
Design for Manufacturing
- Maintain uniform material thickness throughout the part
- Use standard bend radii matching your press brake tooling
- Keep minimum flange length at 4x material thickness
- Design hole-to-bend distance at minimum 2.5x thickness + bend radius
- Avoid narrow cuts that may distort during laser cutting
Cost Optimisation
- Minimise the number of unique forming tools required
- Optimise flat pattern nesting for material yield
- Standardise bend radii to reduce tooling changes
- Use common gauge sizes available from Indian steel distributors
- Design for minimal secondary operations (welding, grinding)
Quality Considerations
- Add grain direction annotations for critical forming operations
- Specify corner relief types to prevent tearing at bends
- Account for springback in high-strength materials
- Define GD&T tolerances appropriate for sheet metal processes
- Include inspection points for first-article verification
Case Studies from Indian Fabricators
Real results from Indian sheet metal companies using SOLIDWORKS with CADSPro implementation support.
50% Faster Fitting Design
Design time reduction
A Bangalore-based HVAC fabrication company switched from manual drafting to SOLIDWORKS sheet metal. Duct fitting design time dropped from 4 hours to 2 hours per fitting, with automatic flat patterns eliminating manual calculations and layout errors on the shop floor.
- 50% faster fitting design cycle
- Zero flat pattern calculation errors
- DXF export direct to plasma cutter
70% Less Design Time
Design time saved
A Pune-based electrical panel manufacturer adopted SOLIDWORKS sheet metal with custom forming tools for louvers and knockouts. The design library of reusable enclosure templates reduced new panel design time from 10 days to 3 days.
- 70% reduction in design time
- Reusable forming tool library
- Consistent IP-rated designs
99.5% First-Pass Yield
First-pass yield rate
A Chennai automotive component supplier implemented SOLIDWORKS sheet metal with verified bend tables from their press brake vendor. Accurate flat patterns and springback compensation achieved 99.5% first-pass acceptance at the stamping line.
- 99.5% first-pass yield
- Eliminated trial-and-error fitting
- Vendor-matched bend tables
Frequently Asked Questions
Sheet metal design software is specialised CAD software that understands the rules of sheet metal forming — bend allowances, K-factors, flat patterns, and forming tool limitations. Indian fabricators need it because it eliminates manual flat pattern calculations, reduces material waste through accurate nesting, and generates DXF files that go directly to CNC laser, plasma, or punch machines.
Yes. SOLIDWORKS sheet metal supports custom material databases where you can define Indian-standard gauges (e.g., 18 SWG, 20 SWG), IS-grade materials like IS 2062 and IS 513, and bend tables from your specific press brake tooling. CADSPro can help set up these custom databases for your team.
SOLIDWORKS flat patterns are highly accurate when configured with correct bend allowance data. Using vendor-specific bend tables or empirically verified K-factors, our clients consistently achieve 99%+ first-pass yield rates. The software accounts for bend deduction, material stretching, and springback.
Yes. SOLIDWORKS exports flat patterns to DXF and DWG formats with full layer mapping — bend lines, forming tool outlines, and cut profiles can be assigned to separate layers for direct machine compatibility with laser cutters, plasma tables, waterjet machines, and CNC turret punches.
SOLIDWORKS sheet metal functionality is included in SOLIDWORKS Standard, Professional, and Premium licenses. Contact CADSPro for current Indian pricing, volume discounts, and education/startup offers. We also provide EMI options for small fabrication businesses.
Yes. CADSPro offers dedicated SOLIDWORKS sheet metal training courses in Bangalore and online across India. Our training covers base flanges, edge flanges, forming tools, flat patterns, DXF export, and bend table configuration tailored to your shop floor workflow.
SOLIDWORKS sheet metal integrates with your workflow through DXF export for cutting machines, BOM generation for procurement, and drawing output for the shop floor. It also connects to ERP systems via SOLIDWORKS PDM and supports integration with nesting software like SigmaNEST for optimal material utilisation.
Get Sheet Metal Software Quote
Talk to our sheet metal specialists about SOLIDWORKS licensing, training, and implementation for your fabrication shop.