Accurate Die Design, Inc. was founded in 2001 by Raymond J. Proeber. By that time, Mr. Proeber had been working in the tool and die and metal stamping industries for over 23 years. 15 years were spent on the bench as a tool and die maker, during which plenty of time was also spent in the evenings doing die design. Another 8 years were spent in management serving as tool department manager and later as vice president of a Milwaukee area metal stamper.
The business started with the intention of being a contract die design firm, since it seemed obvious to Ray that there would be a shortage of good die designers in the future. He reasoned that, with fewer people going into the trade, along with tool and die making becoming more of an assembly line process than it was in the past, people would be less apt to become die designers.
AutoCAD® and DIEMAKER™ were purchased but within one year, “All the simple stuff when overse
as and I was left getting lots of 3D models that I didn’t have any way of designing dies for.” Ray said. So in 2002 he purchased SolidWorks and became a Certified SolidWorks Professional. Three large automotive type dies were designed and detailed during part of that year using SolidWorks, but it was quickly realized that the third party package that was made specifically for die design in 2D was sorely missed using 3D SolidWorks.
It was around this time that a second employee was hired and in January, 2003 there were 2 different die design packages being developed specifically to streamline progressive die design using SolidWorks. In September, 2003 Mr. Proeber traveled to China to be trained in one of these two software packages. Within days after returning from the training, the decision was made to abandon this package.
It was also during 2003 that Accurate Die Design, Inc. became a Forming Technologies Incorporated (FTI) reseller for their analysis and simulation software. This software seemed like a godsend with all the 3D stampings that there were to deal with.
In 2004 a third employee was hired, so there were now 3 full time, experienced die designers on staff. This was also the year that Logopress3 was officially introduced in the U.S., and it was discovered that Logopress had been in business since 1989 specifically developing die design software this entire time. Late 2004 was spent integrating all of the inch die components into Logopress3, which up until that time was strictly metric. In 2005 Accurate Die Design, Inc. was named the U.S. Technical Center for Logopress3, providing all training and support and also becoming the master distributor for Logopress3 in the U.S. and parts of Canada and Mexico. In 2005 a fourth employee was hired to help support the software end of our business.
Between 2005 and 2008, the software business has grown dramatically and today the main part of the business is focused on software development, sales, training and support. But Accurate Die Design, Inc. continues to offer die design services to this day. The company’s plan is to never discontinue this part of the business because they feel it gives them a better understanding of their customer needs than anyone else could possibly have. It also keeps them sharp in the use of the software that they offer so that they can provide the best possible support to their customers.