A blog by Oleg Shilovitsky
Information & Comments about Engineering and Manufacturing Software

The pains of file management, will PDM be popular again?

The pains of file management, will PDM be popular again?
olegshilovitsky
olegshilovitsky
10 August, 2009 | 2 min for reading

file-pain-pdmTime ago, I had chance to discuss second mover innovation. For me, second movers are perfect example to learn from experience, talk to customers and introduce something breakthrough in the place of something we have today. So far, I came to my old friend, PDM system. Actually, the perfect trigger for my thoughts was SolidWorks’s “pain of the file management” campaign. Actually, SolidWorks people raised a very good point – after decades of PDM and later PLM, how many people still have “file management pains”? My conclusion – still many…

If I will go back 10 years and analyzes what was the “value proposition” for PDM systems in the middle of 90s, my short list will be simple – 1/ability to control documents; 2/ getting right revision of my work; 3/collaborate with co-workers. So, what we learned since that time. My assumption is that lots of experience with different PDM approaches can be concluded as following.

  1. Successful PDM system should rely on a design system (CAD etc.)
  2. Designers and Engineers normally tries to put all possible and impossible information to PDM system.
  3. Complexity kills.

So, where we are after all these years? I think one of the main PDM trends these days is to have PDM capability combined with CAD system. When it makes a lot of sense in context of functionality, the reality is to have multiple CAD systems in organization. The second point is related to information PDM is trying to manage. Simple in the beginning, any PDM systems become very complex as soon as we stretch it to support additional information.

So, what will be PDM trends in nowadays? SolidWorks proposal sounds very right – there are still lots of people having “file pain”. SolidWorks PDM these days is a good example simplicity in managing of SolidWorks files and document. Is it new? Probably not. So, I just wonder what future PDM system will look like?

Best, Oleg

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
30 June, 2015

Do you remember what is “hard copy listing”? If you had a chance to write software programs in 1980s, you...

28 July, 2024

In my recent article about the growing importance of Manufacturing BOM (MBOM) management, I explored various integration methods between CAD,...

22 August, 2012

Migration. This is a word any IT and PDM/PLM manager is afraid to hear. In my view, it is one...

5 June, 2015

I have an unusual post for this weekend. It is related to big data stories on my blog. Big Data...

6 December, 2019

Everyone needs data. But nobody wants to manage it. I’ve learned it for many years of working with the engineering...

16 May, 2016

Monica Shnitger article Openness — will you know it when you see it? made me think again about PLM and openness. The...

24 July, 2013

Social tools are capturing lots of noise and making real impact these days. After initial hype of MySpace and early...

18 November, 2015

I had a chance to speak at PI Congress Boston yesterday. The topic of my presentation was to raise awareness...

10 May, 2013

Manufacturing businesses are getting more dynamic these days. It is all about how to change and change fast. The days...

Blogroll

To the top