Brandywine CAD Design, Inc.

No more hassels for B-CAD with Contex's HD4250 large format scanner solution

Summary - B-CAD

BRANDYWINE CAD DESIGN, INC. (B-CAD) in Wilmington, Delaware supports architects, engineers, construction, and facilities management clients in CAD and electronic document management. B-CAD’s building industry clients need to store critical information of all shapes, sizes and formats – from initial CAD file drafts all the way to as-builts. B-CAD goes the “extra mile” for their clients, offering integrated CAD-based electronic management system for all documents, including paper and CAD originals. So it’s no wonder that B-CAD expects quality and consistency from their equipment. After two painful years with wide format scanners that gave them one headache after another and cost them both time and money, B-CAD set out on an extensive market search for better scanners. They discovered Contex Americas Inc. (formerly IDEAL) and found that Contex scanners met – and exceeded – the high demands of their staff and clients.

Challenge: finding the right technology for capturing color originals in CAD

B-CAD’s first challenge was finding scanners that could handle both color and black and white documents with equal precision. Jon White explained, “With our older technology, we couldn’t convert color documents to electronic CAD format without first converting to black and white. In doing that, we lost critical details such as decimal points in numbers and units of measure. So we could only help clients become almost paperless. But almost wasn’t good enough
for us – we knew those unscanned paper documents would end up lost or forgotten.”

First, B-CAD bought a scanning solution that they thought could handle both color and black and white images. But an unlucky choice of equipment led them to a host of new challenges. B-CAD spent two frustrating years throwing away time and money on scanners that gave problem after problem. Then they found Contex. Jon White explains, “On our first scanners, auto-width adjustment never worked – even after service calls. Costly glass needed replacing every few weeks due to scratches. The outdated CIS technology prevented calibration of imperfections, caused discoloration, required reprints, and resulted in lower-quality images. Banding problems and color mismatches produced substandard results. Black and white conversion functionality was simply not good enough. Rear eject sensor failures required us to reboot machine constantly, so we lost a lot of time. If one LED failed, we had to replace all
five LEDs – another unnecessarily costly problem. And the list went on… Finally, we went out to look again. And this time we chose a Contex solution.”

The solution – Contex HD4250

After testing and comparing every available large format scanning solution on the market, B-CAD found that the Contex HD4250 (formerly Chroma G600) performed the most efficiently – and gave the best, most consistent scanning results. This 42” large format scanner combines exceptional 600 dpi image quality and rapid scanning. Built for high-speed monochrome nd color archival and reprographics, this machine was just right for B-CAD. Features such as automatic thickness adjustment control (ATAC) and advanced 48-bit CCD technology, high quality resolution, energy saver and RoHS compliance led Jon White to say, “We’ll take two!”

The benefits – more productivity, no hassles

B-CAD now has scanners they can count on. Everything works. Contex CCD technology means lower consumables costs and better calibration of imperfections. With their Contex scanners, B-CAD’s team doesn’t waste time rebooting, and can scan both monochrome and color documents in just about a minute.

The results – always right the first time!

Jon White says that the Contex solution has raised scanning productivity far more than 100%. He talks about his scanners as if they’re members of B-CAD’s team, “Our HD4250 gives us excellent color and black and white results. Can you find a better black and white scanner? I doubt it. A better color scanner? Not unless you want a large, high-priced flatbed specifically made for graphics that will cost you a lot more . But for the best of both worlds – which is what a shop like B-CAD needs – we’ll stand by our Contex HD4250.”