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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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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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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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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