Surface Pro 3 makes working from anywhere possible—even for engineers doing CAD work

One of the things that still surprises me is the questions I get from people around Surface Pro 3 and how powerful it is, especially in industries like engineering and manufacturing, where both power and portability are game-changers. It seems people see this really thin and light tablet and assume it can’t handle the processing power they really want and need in those fields. We’ve already shared how customers like industrial design firm Trlby Innovative and manufacturer CheerPack North America are tapping into Surface to change the way they do business in powerful ways.

Building on this, I’m happy to share that Coffman Engineers is deploying Surface Pro 3 for staff all across the company, from leadership to marketers to engineers themselves. This is particularly exciting to me as it really shows the value of Surface Pro 3 and its ability to adapt to whatever environment you need, even when what you need is something that’s powerful enough to run CAD software and portable enough to easily carry with you on the road. This is core to what Coffman Engineers was looking for, and what they found in Surface Pro 3.

“We have engineers running some pretty intensive programs and they didn’t believe me at first that Surface Pro 3 could run what they needed. But now they love this thing. There is nothing like Surface Pro 3 on the market. An iPad couldn’t even come close to this.”

––Wes Peper, Corporate IT Manager, Coffman Engineers

Surface Pro 3 allows you to work from anywhere 

Imagine this, you are an engineer and you do all your work in really intensive CAD software. You used to have this heavy laptop that sat at your desk and there was no way that you were taking that thing out into the field with you. If you are an engineer you know exactly what I am talking about! So when Coffman was assessing their options for their engineers they wanted something that their engineers could use while they were in the office as their laptop but then also take out to the field and use the same programs. They considered iPads, but they wanted something that was more than just a consumption device—they wanted to actually manipulate files and do work in the field. Surface Pro 3 with its full OS and ability to run essential programs such as Bluebeam and SolidWorks was the ideal choice. Being able to both view and access and change files when the engineers are on the go saves time and money, and there’s just nothing else that can compete.

“We tested a number of devices over several years to fit our various work environments, and found other devices were too slow, small and clunky. They couldn’t handle the massive files our engineers work with or give us the ability to manipulate those files in real time. With Surface Pro 3, we can take notes, adjust displays and actually do 3D modeling and heavy calculations with programs like Bluebeam and SolidWorks whether we’re onsite with a customer or in the office. Once we experienced Surface Pro 3, it was an easy choice.”

–Wes Peper, Corporate IT Manager, Coffman Engineers

In the Office 

Coffman has a lot of different requirements for their laptops and they needed to solve two distinct problems for in-office work. The first was how to easily connect multiple monitors, solved with the Surface Pro 3 Docking Station which transforms Surface Pro 3 into a full desktop replacement.

The second was how to increase information-sharing among teams and offices. Coffman’s marketing team previously struggled with sharing cumbersome paper notes from client meetings.

“The Surface Pro 3 and OneNote have changed how we communicate across our offices. They make life easier and more efficient with Surface Pen’s double-click feature that opens a fresh OneNote and ability to save notes to the cloud instantly.”

–Skip Bourgeois, VP Marketing, Coffman Engineers

Surface Pro 3 has changed the way that Coffman works from their engineers using Surface Pro 3 to complete work in the field using intensive programs to changing the way in which their office workers share and collaborate. Surface Pro 3 is changing the way and where people can work.

For more details about Surface in business, visit surface.com/business.

Thanks,

Matt Chapman

Microsoft Surface