Ruthen Systems
Services · 2

Automation Module

One generator for one repeating job: parameters in, models, drawings, cut files and BOM out — tested against your own past orders.

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Typical jobs

  • Hopper and duct transitions — panels, flat patterns, DXF per panel.
  • Support frames and skids from a size table.
  • Enclosures, guards and covers with cut-outs and hardware.
  • Tank and vessel shells: developed lengths, seams, nozzle cut-outs.
  • Cut lists, nest-ready DXF sets and BOM data from one parameter set.
  • Drawing packages that follow your title block and note standards every time.

Architecture choice

iLogic when the rules live naturally inside an Inventor model and your designers will maintain them there. An Inventor API add-in when the workflow spans files, needs its own interface, or has to reach outside Inventor. A standalone application when the shop runs AutoCAD or no CAD at all and needs a tool that just writes the files. The assessment chooses; the reason is written down.

How it is built

  1. Rules workshop. The rules inventory from the assessment — or a two-hour session — becomes the specification.
  2. Acceptance cases from your past jobs. Real orders with known-good drawings become the tests before any code exists.
  3. Build. Domain logic separated from the interface; deterministic output; a version tag in every file.
  4. Regression suite. Every acceptance case runs on every release.
  5. Handover. Documentation, training, source, and a release record.

What it costs

Fixed scope, quoted after the rules are known. Billed forty percent at start, forty when acceptance-ready, twenty at handover. Never published as a number, because the useful first conversation is about whether the work is worth doing.

Rules workshop+ acceptance casesBuild+ regression suiteAcceptanceyour past jobsHandoverdocs + training3–8 weeks elapsed · fixed scope · billed 40 / 40 / 20 on start, acceptance-ready, handover
The shape of a Module. The acceptance step uses your orders, not invented examples.
Deliverable What it contains
The generator iLogic rules, an Inventor API add-in, or a standalone application — whichever the rules and your environment call for.
Regression suite Built from your own past jobs with known-good outputs; run before every release.
Rules documentation Each rule with its source and its owner, in plain language.
User guide + handover session For the designer who will run it and change it.
Source and build instructions No dependency on this practice to keep it running.
Acceptance report The acceptance cases, the results, and what was deliberately left out.
Related work

A generator, built and verified this way

Self-owned demonstration 2026

Fabrication Generator: cones, cylinders and clamps with a second implementation that checks the first

A portable Windows application that produces cutting DXF, real DWG drawings, PDF and a job record for rolled and press-brake parts — and refuses to invent the numbers it cannot know.

Result 1,078 checks across four independent methods; one datum difference with common calculators found and documented rather than hidden.

Read the case study →

Where it sits

  1. Workflow Automation Assessment

    One repeating task, examined end to end. Process map, rules inventory, feasibility, ROI estimate and a fixed quote for what comes next.

    fixed fee 1–2 weeks

  2. Automation Module

    One generator for one job: parameters in, models, drawings, cut files and BOM out — tested against your own past orders.

    fixed scope 3–8 weeks

  3. Production System

    Configuration, drawings, BOM and ERP data connected into one verified flow, with a rule library your team owns.

    milestones 2–5 months

Have one job that repeats?

Send an example of it — the drawing set, the spreadsheet, the DXF you keep redrawing. The reply says whether a Module fits, or whether an assessment should come first.

Start a project