PDM Archives - Cad ADMIN

16Feb 2020 by admin 15 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…

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…

05Nov 2018 by admin No Comments

Mirroring – assemblies with parts in the assembly 3/3

CAD, Features, PDM, WELDMENTS

Warning! Only follow this if you're an advanced user and even then proceed with caution. (more…)

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…)

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…)

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…)