Customer Feedback
“We recently switched to Microvellum. As a long time Software X user I was a little apprehensive, however any misgivings I had were squashed within days of using the package. Not only has it been everything that was promised, the ease with which we’ve been able to transition over has been nothing short of astonishing. I wholeheartedly recommend that anyone looking for an engineering package in the cabinet and fixture industry give Microvellum a chance to prove to you what they have (proved) to me."
John Berry
Gold Plane Custom Cabinets, LLC
“What I like most about Microvellum is the versatility. As a custom cabinet shop the power of Microvellum is that we can design and build any kind of cabinet we want, and if we choose to we can save it as a new parametric product to use at a later time. Microvellum automatically writes the G-code for all the parts, and the integrated labeling program leaves very little chance for human error. We just use the bar-coding to pull up the right program. The real beauty of Microvellum is you can set it up to run how you want, where other software can’t.”
Patrick Driscoll
Robert Marcos, Inc.
“After looking at many different software solutions, Microvellum Toolbox was the only platform fully integrated into the defacto industry standard for AutoCAD. Due to the highly custom nature of our business, we needed a system that could handle a product with infinite shapes sizes and materials.“
Darrel J. Shamah
All Wood Treasures
“We are very satisfied with the Microvellum product. I was surprised how quickly I was up and running, the tech staff is fantastic. MV has given us the ability to work at a larger scale than we physically are. We reduced engineering and shop drawing costs dramatically. Productivity is the name of the game for the smaller guys, MV has been a great partner.”
Jeff Vrieling
Vrieling Architectural, Inc.
“We have found Microvellum to be an extremely flexible, innovative and time-saving program. Along with Ardis, we could greatly increase productivity, improve efficiency, and decrease errors and waste beyond what we could before while using Software X. The customer support services are available with just a quick call, and the knowledgeable technical staff on hand was able to help us out whenever we ran into a problem. With the thorough and expert training programs, we’re producing like never before!”
Kent Bonds
Excel Millwork & Moulding
“We do commercial casework working closely with Architects and Designers who work in AutoCAD. The ability to work in AutoCAD has been a very important part of how we built our business. The power of Microvellum enables me to design anything I can think of unlike the limits I experienced with other programs. In addition, Architects expect to work with professionals, and the first measure they apply is how your drawings look. If they don’t look like AutoCAD, chances are you don’t get the next call from them. I had used Software X since 1989 to generate cut lists and reports for the shop. Now that I have Microvellum (and since I bought a nested base router) I go from my drawings to the shop floor in minutes instead of days. Microvellum plus the new router has already increased our capacity in a major way, has become the foundation for growing the business, and I haven’t even had time to get to your training program yet!”
Mark Molden
Benchmark Products
“We are a High-end Residential cabinet and millwork shop servicing a large dealer network as well as the end-users. We are a completely custom shop, offering our customers flexibility of style, wood species, door configuration, and hardware. As you can imagine sometimes the cabinets can get very involved even within a job. When talking to a fellow designer from another company, he told me about a design engine that sat on top of AutoCAD and Access and using Excel to drive reports and formulas to create designs and detailed drawings, Microvellum. After checking it out and doing a considerable amount of testing we decided to purchase Microvellum. We found it was exactly what we were told. And its biggest advantage is its flexibility; its AWI/WIC library can be edited and changed to match any construction method. New options or prompts can be added easily and saved to individual cabinets or entire libraries.The tech support at Microvellum is second to none. Microvellum techs understand the needs of custom cabinet makers because many at Microvellum have a background in cabinetry. Questions are answered quickly and accurately. I would highly recommend anyone looking for answers to designing difficult one-offs to look at Microvellum.”
Kevin Legg
Hallmark Cabinets
“Here at S.B.K. Supply & Millwork Company we concentrate on a lot of custom architectural millwork ranging from cabinets, counters, doors, trim, and reception counters. Microvellum has helped our company in improving our drawing time, the speed in which our designs are converted to code, and allows for changes to quickly be made along the way. After dealing with a couple of other major cabinet programs, we wished we would have found Microvellum sooner. This is the most flexible cabinet program that we’ve ever dealt with. The technical support team is excellent at helping you get up and running and solving some of those tricky problems too.”
Scott Schwarzenberger
S.B.K. Supply & Millwork
“Royal Fixture Company recently acquired and put into use Microvellum Software. We actually started using the software in conjunction with the purchase of a Biesse Rover B router. The software was formatted for the Biesse without any problem, and we were up and running in no time. The time frame for our machining process has increased dramatically. The software itself is user friendly, and any questions we have are answered in a very timely manner by the Microvellum support techs. Currently we are working mostly with the Overdrive Pro portion of the software and are soon to begin the drawing portion also. To date we have found the only limits with the software are those we ourselves place on it.”
Bruce Cornell
Royal Fixture Company
“After years of software demonstrations from other software products it solidified in our mind that no software company it seemed, would ever be able to accommodate our needs; that was until the 2004 IWF show in Atlanta came around. After reviewing the product in Atlanta, it was clear that Microvellum understood what we do as a manufacturer and what tools we needed to get the job done. We implemented the software shortly after, getting our engineering staff trained on how to use the software and began pushing forward. We currently are processing data to 3-CNC Panel Saws and 4-CNC Machining Centers. Just recently, we purchased an additional CNC Machining Center with the capability of processing 1,800 parts a day. Microvellum adjusted for us with no problem at all. There was only one software for us outside of developing it ourselves. Microvellum fit the bill and we look forward to their new products of the future for all our manufacturing needs.”
Chris Shioleno
Shioleno Industries
“We at Foliot Furniture have been very pleased with the Microvellum software. It has become the central nervous system of our entire manufacturing process. Every piece of furniture we manufacture is custom and Microvellum gives us the ability to create formulas in Excel that drive our products parametrically. This allows the whole process to be completely automated for cutting, edge-banding and machining on our CNC’s. We have nine CNC PTP’s (including three lines) that we output G-code to of which seven have different controllers, all working from one single software. Labels with bar-codes are applied at the saw and identify the cut parts which then go to machining. I think the most important is the support we have received from Microvellum to make it all possible. Microvellum has definitely helped us achieve success with the software.”
Dan Foliot
Foliot Furniture
“When our company started looking at using nesting routers in our operation, we knew nothing about nesting machines or the software to run them. We did a lot of research for almost a year and came to a simple conclusion. For speed and tool life, centerline nesting is the only way to go. The only software company that offers this feature is Microvellum. With centerline nesting, the tool doesn’t take the same path twice. Any parts that share a border, centerline nesting cuts it only once. If a company looks at its nest sheets and realizes how many common borders there are between parts, they will realize that the machine can waste a lot of time and tool life on each border if not centerline nested. Accuracy is never a problem with the software either. I invite any company to come see centerline nesting in action because it is a big part of the future for nested based machines.”
Barry Koch
Koch & Co., Inc.
“A few years ago our company had an opportunity to take on a store fixture line. Being mainly a part component driven company we recognized the need for more flexible manufacturing processes. No longer were we dealing with specific parts and single programs, manufacturing hundreds of the same parts at one time, now we faced manufacturing something different every day. We called on Microvellum for help. At that time all our work orders were each generated individually with word processing, and accounting software. Microvellum carefully analyzed our current processes, especially in the shop, and set out a plan of attack. At the time we implemented the software package, our methods and machinery on the floor were not the best, but needless to say, Microvellum communicated and integrated all of our processes as well as the equipment on the shop floor. We have been using Microvellum for three years now and I can honestly it’s the hub of all our manufacturing processes and has enabled us to take on mountains of work otherwise left behind. We have since purchased a new CNC saw and two new CNC machining centers making a total of 5 different machine tools communicated with on a daily basis. Microvellum easily transitioned based on our new needs and today, by processing the job we can simply decide what machine we want to run the parts on that given day, or even split the job up and run parts on multiple machines simultaneously. We now have taken Microvellum into our part component business without 1 part ever bypassing the system to get cut listed, cut, or machined. I can only speak for myself and my division when I say you can’t get any better. Our company has 1 other division that has recently started implementing the system based on our success. We are looking forward to implementing version 7 of Microvellum Toolbox along with what will be the ultimate shop management software in the industry, Microvellum’s MicroManager product. Thanks Guys!”
Scott Meskimen
LTI, Inc.
"After much investigating, searching and demoing, we chose to use Microvellum for our manufacturing software. We chose it for it’s almost limitless flexibility to do things the way we wanted to, for the AutoCAD drawing environment which is the gold standard the world over for all architectural and mechanical design work, and for the Excel spreadsheet platform that the program runs off of. I can walk down the street and find 10 people in ten minutes that can function within the Excel environment. Try that with most of the other programs and their proprietary systems and languages. As an added bonus, we have access to wonderfully trained and thoroughly knowledgeable technicians and a company that will bend over backwards to help you do something that you alone are doing and will tweak their program to fit your needs. I am not going to tell you they are perfect, but compared to previous experiences with other vendors, they are a breath of fresh air.As with any thing in life, with flexibility comes an additional learning curve and the more you invest in time and effort to set up the program, the higher your return on investment will be. Software X and Microvellum are both very intensive when it comes to setting up the system initially to build the way you want to, provided that you don’t build plane Jane boxes. It is possible to use the program straight out of the box, but you won’t get the value out of it that you otherwise would if you customize it to your standards. The drawing environment is a snap to understand and grasp, the shop drawings are wonderfully professional, and the parts lists are very reliably accurate provided you set things up correctly. You know the saying, “Garbage in, Garbage out”. Adding custom parts to a product on a one time basis is simple and accurate, and saving that customized product to your library to reuse again is a real time saver. You also mentioned specialized reporting. With Microvellum, you can control what does and doesn’t show up on your reports, in what order, and what format. If you want to tweak the reports yourself, which I would encourage, you must have a copy of Crystal reports, which will allow you to modify and create reports as you wish.”
Kent Swinson
Timberline Cabinetry & Millwork
“I am the lead project manager for a medium sized commercial casework company called New Horizons Woodworks based in Ashland, Oregon. I have been managing casework jobs and engineering fixtures for about 6 years now and have used Microvellum during this time. I’d like to start by saying what a pleasure it has been to work with the staff of Microvellum. They’ve been very helpful in supporting us when we had questions or difficulties for any reason. The software itself, being AutoCAD based, is extraordinarily powerful and versatile. I can’t count how many times over the years I’ve received compliments on our shop drawings from Architects and Designers for the precision and detail that Microvellum offers when using the cabinet drawing utility. Also, you can draw many cabinets in a hurry once you become familiar with the cabinet drawing routine. The real beauty and power of Microvellum however, is not realized until you export drawings to the spreadsheet and begin compiling your cut list. The critical thing here is to customize the products library and material files to you particular shop construction standards. This enables you to create a formatted cut list complete with machine code and optimization files, producing a result that is no less than astonishing. I would highly recommend Microvellum to both large and small custom shops that look forward to growth and expansion. As you will soon learn upon acquiring Microvellum, is definitely has power to help you company grow and effortlessly expands to fill your needs.”
Scott Thompson
New Horizons Woodworks
Our cabinet business is successful for two reasons: 1. We sell an incredible product. 2. We have incredible service. Being a salesman, I cannot sell something if I do not know it’s the best. That’s my personality. Eight years ago, we we’re looking into different software’s to help our production. We could get special one on one meetings with just about anyone. They would fly out just to come show off their product. We jumped right into it and bought Software X. It could do just about anything we wanted! After a few months, we got stuck. It would not do this, or do that. We would call tech support and they would say we needed to buy this upgrade or that upgrade. We come to find out there are 15 -20 upgrades we need to do everything they show in the demo!!! For 2 years we never touched the software until Spencer Harris and I got involved. Spencer used it the best he could for the past several years. While during that time, the only thing we ever heard from Software X we’re the renewal fee’s for customer service!! So once you buy the product, they have made their money which is obviously the true importance to them. So I was on the lookout for an incredible software. I LOVE AutoCAD and always have wanted to design with it. I soon heard of a product Microvellum that uses AutoCAD so I checked it out. Now of course this is where we had a tough time. Because it of course, did everything we wanted it to do. It became very personal between Tom and our company and that’s where we we’re sold. Tom is just like us. He will not sell something he is not sold on. He has been in contact with us since day one. When we bought the product, we struggled finding a date for training. Rather than throwing his hands in the air, he keeps calling to tell me to get my butt to training. So he has not dropped us after the sale. I believe Tom is inter-ested in the success of our company and has the tools to make it happen. His passion meets his job. So that is my advice to anyone looking around for software. Do you have a guy getting paid by the hour, reading from a program he did not make? Or is your salesman truly passionate about making you successful. Microvellum has all we need and has great service.”
Justin Woodward
Craftsman Kitchens & Baths
“Nye Portfolio is a high end national furniture specialist and architectural woodworking company. Our objective in purchasing cabinet based software was to allow us to expand our manufacturing capacity through CNC equipment and move into a system building process to increase our efficiency. We tested other cabinet based software programs and quickly came to the conclusion that Microvellum was the best software program to provide us the flexibility to design the complex details that are involved in our projects. Our experience with Microvellum to date has been very positive. Our local representative has been very supportive and helpful. Microvellum’s’ Tech Support has been very responsive. We were comfortable with the program after about three months without formal training. One of our greatest concerns in committing to CNC equipment was the seamless integration of the software. Our visit to the recent AWFS Show in Las Vegas further confirmed our decision to use Microvellum software to generate our machine codes. Every major manufacturer was touting their ability to run flawlessly with Microvellum. The evolution of our manufacturing process incorporating Microvellum has already yielded impressive improvements in reducing our labor factor and increasing our capacity. I know we have made a positive investment in our company with Microvellum and would recommend it to any business owner looking to potentially integrate this software. Know that any further discussions with anyone looking to speak on the matter will only get the most positive response from me.”
Ron Nye
Nye Portfolio, Inc.
“One of the ways we have been so happy with Microvellum is the customer service and technical support. For many years our shop ran Software X, we started in the DOS days then made a bumpy transition into CV Solid. Software X was limited in what it could do and the tech support was nonexistent. In contrast, our experience with Microvellum has been very positive. We had Microvellum con-figure our first library, which I highly recommend. There is a learning curve with the program, but with the aid of the Microvellum forum and tech support almost anything is possible. Between the forum and the formal tech support I have been able to resolve issues nearly ‘round the clock, which has been amazing. Another example of the superiority of Microvellum has been in the shop drawings. Previously, we were not satisfied with the quality of the shop drawings from Software X. We ended up doing our shop drawings in AutoCAD and would then draw the job in Software X, which frequently resulted in numbers get-ting transposed or otherwise messed up. The double entry was time consuming and left too much room for error. Microvellum eliminated the double entry and improved the professional appearance of our shop drawings. In closing, we have been very pleased with the Microvellum product and equally pleased with the technical support that we have received. Many thanks to the technical staff for their help and for their continued “fine-tuning” of the product.”
Gary McDaniel
AMD Cabinets, Inc.
