14May 2018 by admin 1 Comment

Some thoughts on external references

CAD, Features, PDM, SOLIDWORKS
Both, External References and In-Context design are excellent modeling techniques to make the lives of the engineers much easier. However, they're riddled with details that every user should know and that every CAD admin or company has to take into consideration when letting the engineers use these features. In this article, I'll share some thoughts and from real life, particularly from the data management side of things. (more…)
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28Feb 2018 by admin No Comments
Who will win: SW Composer vs “WordCAD”?

Who will win: SW Composer vs “WordCAD”?

CAD, SOLIDWORKS, Tech
If you're active in the industry, then chances are that you've heard of SOLIDWORKS Composer. This is a tool for generating graphical content for all kinds of manuals and marketing materials. Logically, it should be first choice for the SolidWorks user according to the marketing message. Social media is filled with nice examples and success stories on how the use of this software will benefit you.   Situation in reality Generally technical writing is just a formal need in most companies. The youngest engineers or even the trainees get tasked with writing instructions, manuals and with making "a couple of renderings" for marketing department. All experienced engineers will avoid this job so much as possible because it's very time consuming and usually takes a lot more effort than may seem…
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30Jan 2018 by admin 3 Comments
Serial Number Generation Tool

Serial Number Generation Tool

Administration, CAD, SERIAL NUMBERS, SOLIDWORKS
First of all, I would like to thank Teyfik Eren Erez for a nice tool that generates the serial numbers. This tool generates a new file name (from serial number generator) for SOLIDWORKS files and is designed mainly for either small teams or a single designer. The user only has to fill out the boxes for the prefix, the suffix and the assembly. However, in this article, I would like to explain how to use this tool according to the variables system proposed in the “CAD Administration Handbook for SolidWorks”. All the rights for this program belong to the creator and the latest version can be downloaded from here (mirror). We've used this tool ourselves and have experienced no issues, however use caution and test it out, before going all in…
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07Jan 2018 by admin 1 Comment
PDM tasking – why is this so important?!

PDM tasking – why is this so important?!

Administration, CAD, PDM
We all know that it is important for the document management system to be efficient and user friendly at the same time. Generally all CAD document management systems can generate a PDF, DXF, STEP or a similar file with help from tools for tasks or publishing or post-processing. However, these tools should not be taken merely as comfortable features that exist to reduce the workload of the engineering team. Unlike regular industrial robots, which can be seen and therefore often become objects of admiration, the Task Tool is a hidden software robot (a bot) that gets treated as if there were nothing to maintain. However that is not the case and in this article I'll shed some light on the subject to help you better understand the subtleties of this…
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15Dec 2017 by admin 4 Comments
Millions wasted in the industry – and how CAD Administrators can put an end to this

Millions wasted in the industry – and how CAD Administrators can put an end to this

Administration, CAD, PDM, SOLIDWORKS
It is no secret that millions are wasted in companies due to random reasons. When it comes to wasting intellectual resources in engineering and machine building, one of the root causes is often a poorly set up CAD system and the unclear engineering procedures which stem from it. In this article, I'll discuss some topics, which can cause significant losses by the end of the day. In such situations, it is often not the fault of the system but rather principal approaches, attitudes, and behaviors that must be changed through the system for better results. (more…)
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23Nov 2017 by admin 6 Comments
Fasteners – success story or nightmare

Fasteners – success story or nightmare

Administration, CAD, PDM, SOLIDWORKS, TOOLBOX
The fasteners library, often referred to as the Toolbox in the CAD world, is one of those simple things in CAD systems that needs to be managed by the engineering team. In reality, this "simple" tool turns out to be not so simple at all and there are consequences for the entire company when its importance has been underestimated. This article will give you some background information, and lists a few different approaches and options you have when trying to optimize it. (more…)
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04Nov 2017 by admin No Comments

CAD Administration Handbook for SOLIDWORKS

Administration, CAD, PDM, SOLIDWORKS
We'd like to announce the arrival of one exciting book! The CAD Administration Handbook for SOLIDWORKS aims to make SOLIDWORKS' CAD setup more unified than it is today! It's focused on helping you set up a complete and sustainable design system (templates, libraries, serial numbers, etc.) without having to dwell too deep into all the available features and functionality. It's a unique collection of both best practices and working examples and essentially a CAD administrator survival guide! (more…)
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31Oct 2017 by admin No Comments
For everyday PC User: Software to increase productivity

For everyday PC User: Software to increase productivity

Software
We have noticed that PC users are often only using the software provided with the computer itself. This shuts them off from so many options that would make their lives a lot easier. In this article, we'll introduce some free (or easily affordable) options, that we use daily, but anyone could use no matter their level of proficiency. (more…)
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