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

Future CAD won’t require PDM

Future CAD won’t require PDM
Oleg
Oleg
13 January, 2015 | 2 min for reading

on-shape-pdm-1

Let’s be honest. Engineers hate data management. This is something that stands between their engineering creativity and formal configuration control. Check-in/check-out are two most painful functions for CAD users when it comes together with PDM. I recall my very old blog from 2011 speaks about the notion of “invisible PDM”. Navigate your browsers to PDM. Pre-configured? Painless? That was my conclusion back four years ago:

Engineers normally dislike PDM functions. They are trying to avoid it as much as possible. Therefore, PDM systems are not as popular when it comes to implementations. It requires time, cost and affect CAD functionality. However, the industry perception is that you need to have PDM to control your data. CAD vendors are trying to embed PDM functions into CAD packages and improve vertical integration between CAD and PDM packages. Can it be completely pre-configured and painless? I’m not sure. I think, the best PDM engineers can think about is the “invisible PDM”.

Solidsmack article about OnShape new CAD system put an interesting perspective on future PDM option for CAD:

We tried with traditional PDM, but fundamentally the architecture of copying files around, to and from servers and desktops, is just not a good basis for solving version control and collaboration problems. We think we have a better way to solve the problems, and no PDM system is needed.” Mac, Windows, phone or tablet. No PDM system needed. The files stay in one place. Different UI look. Now those sound like interesting and wonderful things. We’ll continue to anxiously anticipate what they have planned and what you have to say about it.

What is my conclusion? Cloud is changing paradigms and we are going to see a different user experience appears in engineering software – CAD, PDM and beyond. It can shift the way people are collaborating and eliminate the need for painless check-in/check-out functions that are moving files between servers and desktops. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

picture credit OnShape

Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing a digital cloud-native PDM & PLM platform that manages product data and connects manufacturers, construction companies, and their supply chain networksMy opinion can be unintentionally biased.

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
12 April, 2019

I continue sharing my thoughts and comments from SuiteWorld 2019 from last week in Las Vegas. PLM industry is full...

14 September, 2009

I had chance to write about Project Management in the past. However, I decided to get back to this topic...

21 August, 2022

Manufacturing companies are facing a digital transformation. They are looking to modernize their business processes and improve their operations. But...

13 January, 2022

Has your business fully adopted cloud-based CAD? While the technology has been around for more than a decade, the jury...

24 May, 2016

Medium article from Propel PLM – What the Salesforce Cloud Does for PLM brings few interesting data points about latest cloud...

12 April, 2012

Cost is one of the aspects all cloud PLM providers bring to the table these days. The demand and the...

9 May, 2016

I was catching up on news during the weekend. One of the articles in Boston Globes caught my attention –...

3 November, 2010

What do you think about “paperless processes”. A good dream I can tell you… So, I decided to talk about...

4 June, 2009

I’d like to discuss a topic which is probably the most “non technological” topic I have ever discussed in this...

Blogroll

To the top