Administration Archives

15Oct 2020 by admin 4 Comments

OneDrive and SOLIDWORKS file management

Administration, CAD, Software, SOLIDWORKS, TOOLBOX

Nowadays OneDrive or any other cloud storage is essential part of computer software. General office applications are moving step by step to cloud. For some users it's continuing with old habits, just saving files to synced folder on windows and for them what happens next is magic. Transitioning CAD files to cloud is much more painful and takes longer to implement. Not to forget, there are already some fully (or semi) cloud-based CAD systems (Onshape, 3DExperience, Fusion). As switching to cloud CAD is longer leap than most of users today are willing to do. Quite often there are questions also about security, where are my files and what happens when interned is down ( quite rare but still a possibility) In this post we however focus more traditional cloud based…

16Feb 2020 by admin 14 Comments

PDM FRUSTRATION LIST – things that keep us from using the full Potential of the SOLIDWORKS PDM

Administration, BOM, CAD, PDM, PDM Dispatch, SERIAL NUMBERS

The heading might sound harsh so do not get us wrong, we still believe that Product Data Management software is a must for engineering and fabrication companies. But lucky (or unlucky) person who will be responsible of implementing PDM system should understand some simple principles before doing so and experience working with different companies to understand different situations is a strong recommendation. Managing implementation without experience is doomed to fail. Furthermore, there are many things going on with SOLIDWORKS PDM that seem straight forward to solve but in reality, will be one very painful challenge. The workaround seems to be custom macros etc, but those will increase implementation complexity, cost and time significantly. And if the system is new for users, it makes it near impossible to learn in…

31Mar 2019 by admin No Comments

Weldments, Cut list and data management

Administration, CAD, WELDMENTS

How to create the perfect SOLIDWORKS weldment profile? To most CAD administrators, this is an essential topic. Fortunately, there is tons of information floating around on the internet with some pretty good examples.So, should you ask why you should keep reading, then I'd tell you that the most important topic, Weldment and Cut List Data Management, is not covered by the results on the first page of Google. Today, you can look forward to getting a better understanding of your next steps in the world of data management.No time-back guarantees though! Profiles creation method As forementioned there are tons of instructions available online on how to draw geometry. The usual approach for doing it is to draw the shape of a profile and then use Excel to create all of the…

23Dec 2018 by admin 4 Comments

Revision table and PDM integration

Administration, CAD, PDM

Vox populi vox dei – a famous sentence from ancient Rome. Some would dare say is happening with the design table in PDM. First of all I would like to state that we don’t believe that a revision table is sufficient to describe a drawing. Revision table history The revision table is a historical relict from a time when drawings were made onto paper. Back then every change, no matter how small, required a lot of effort and drafting hours. To this day there are stories from older engineers of how hundreds of drafters implemented engineering changes into drawings. Obviously today's 3DCad systems are doing this job within moments. A great idea to save time was to make a small table such as a drawing logbook (Raise your hand, who…

11Dec 2018 by admin 2 Comments

CAD, PDM, BOM, and ERP

Administration, CAD, Software, SOLIDWORKS, Tech, Uncategorized

CAD, PDM, BOM and ERP – four three letters abbreviations that most of engineers have heard more than enough of. There are lots of rumors, sales messages, and wishful thinking in the social media and communication channels resulting in a thinking model that has nothing to do with reality and that only has a purpose to help sell more products without the functionality, that they claim to have. This article is written to state our opinion on how these things work in real life. Hopefully this helps readers to avoid following will-o'-the-wisps. (more…)

08Jun 2018 by admin 3 Comments

Mirroring – A lot of headache behind simple concept – Part 1/3

Administration, CAD, Features, SERIAL NUMBERS, SOLIDWORKS

Mirroring and symmetry are like some sort of an ancient code that is visible everywhere in the world. Most living creatures are somewhat symmetric. This also holds true in the technical world, where objects have a tendency to be symmetrical. There are many places in even simple design that need symmetry -for example using both left and right-hand components. Due to this, the first reaction may be that this is going to be easy and let's get to it, but since we're working in a not-so-perfect CAD-PDM world, it's best to be prepared and to build a common understanding of how these things are handled. (more…)

30Jan 2018 by admin 3 Comments

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…

07Jan 2018 by admin 1 Comment

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…

15Dec 2017 by admin 4 Comments

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…)

23Nov 2017 by admin 6 Comments

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…)