Custom Truck One Source Adopts Onshape for Automotive Innovation
How an industry leader in customized utility and heavy trucks dismantled traditional CAD file locking, accelerated body-to-chassis design reviews, and established real-time supplier feedback loops.
Modular Vehicle Upfitting & Distributed Design Architecture
Operational Context & Transition Objectives
Custom Truck One Source engineers and configures specialized vocational vehicles, utility boom trucks, and heavy hauling units across multiple regional production facilities. Legacy file-based CAD systems created severe bottlenecks when multiple designers needed concurrent access to vehicle master frames, hydraulic routings, and mounting brackets.
Migrating to cloud-native CAD enabled engineering teams to work concurrently within unified multi-part document workspaces without check-in/check-out collisions or corrupted local revisions, cutting vehicle integration cycle times substantially.
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Overcoming the Legacy PDM Lockout in Heavy Vehicle Customization
Vocational truck upfitting presents one of the most volatile assembly environments in commercial automotive manufacturing. OEM chassis configurations vary between production runs, while customer hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical specifications require rapid design adaptations. Under traditional desktop CAD and file-locking PDM systems, single engineers would lock top-level assemblies for hours, freezing hydraulic routing and bracket design for colleagues across other regional facilities.
When Custom Truck One Source transitioned to cloud-native modeling, this structural constraint disappeared. Multiple designers could collaborate inside the exact same chassis model simultaneously—one routing high-pressure hydraulic lines while another mounted custom outriggers and body subframes. Instantaneous branch-and-merge capabilities allowed testing alternative bracket geometry without contaminating the production release branch.
“Eliminating file check-outs changed how our shop floor and engineering staff interact. We went from waiting on CAD server syncs to collaborating directly on live 3D models with assembly leads.”
— Michael Vance, Engineering Systems LeadThe impact reached far beyond pure CAD drafting speed. Because design data lived natively in the cloud, field technicians, production supervisors, and purchasing agents could view current-state 3D models through web browsers and tablets without requiring high-end dedicated CAD workstations or desktop license dongles.
Five Core Inquiries for Upfit & Chassis Design Reviews
Rather than broad design critique sessions, engineering teams implemented structured perspective windows around every vehicle subassembly review:
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Structural & Load Engineering Do outrigger weldment brackets maintain specified torsional margins across all operating ground angles?
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Chassis & Powertrain Integration Does the PTO hydraulic pump mount clear the OEM transmission tunnel under dynamic axle deflection?
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Shopfloor Assembly & Tooling Can line technicians reach hydraulic bulkhead fittings using standard pneumatic wrenches without removing fender liners?
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Supply Chain & Sourcing Are customized mounting gussets using standard stock sheet gauges currently in warehouse inventory?
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Operations & Fleet Maintenance Can field service technicians access routine grease points and filter elements without disassembling side utility boxes?
Isolating these targeted questions transformed weekly design review meetings from unfocused debates into precise, accountable sign-off checkpoints where each department addressed its specific operational requirements.
Workflow Benchmark & Technical Impact
Comparing traditional desktop PDM workflows with the unified cloud review framework across vocational truck build cycles:
| File Access & Concurrency | Simultaneous multi-user edits vs. sequential file-locking checkout |
|---|---|
| Revision History Integrity | Continuous immutable version trees with instant rollback capability |
| Shopfloor 3D Model Access | Browser and mobile tablet view-only access with zero local installs |
| Design-to-Fabrication Hand-off | Direct sheet metal flat pattern export and live 3D model markup |
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