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

Cloud CAD can solve hardest PDM problem

Cloud CAD can solve hardest PDM problem
Oleg
Oleg
3 April, 2015 | 3 min for reading

cloud-data-management

 

Document management is hard if you do it manually. To manage versions of documents requires you to follow some rules or naming conventions. I remember one of my first lessons in configuration management many years ago. It was about how to use file names in versions. Simple rule for starters – never ever use words “last” or “final” in names, otherwise (guess what) all you versions will be “last” of “final”.

To manage versions of CAD files is harder than manage Word documents.  For many engineering organizations, it was the main reasons to bring PDM tool. I can tell you endless stories about people spending days of work because overwriting the deleted version or companies losing weeks of work trying to restore project baseline in their communication with subcontractors.

Unfortunately, to manage CAD files using PDM is a hard job too. CAD projects are combining multiple files. These files are interconnected and it is hard sometimes to resolve the complexity of these connections together with management of proper versions. The main reason for that was related to the need to keep multiple files in some location on your computer (usually called workspace) and switch between these files in order to get a desired version of your project  with right parts and sub-assemblies.

Here are some good news, in my view. Cloud and more specifically cloud CAD systems can finally solve hardest PDM problem. The main reason for that – cloud CAD system should build a solid data management foundation to manage CAD data in the cloud. So, it will fix a broken link between CAD files saved on your computer and PDM storage.

The main outcome of cloud CAD data management is the ability to manage versions and merge branches design. In my view, this is a functionality CAD / PDM users dreamed for years. I remember many requests to support the ability of branching revisions and applying changes done by two engineers together.

In the past I speculated about future of CAD / PDM data management and how cloud can simplify management of design versions. You can read my old posts from 2010 – PDM and management of CAD files and Future CAD and Assembly version management. The technologies are getting mature and we can see some interesting results these days. I captured two recently published videos from Autodesk Fusion 360 and Onshape demonstrating how you can branch design, collaborate and merge results using cloud data management tools.

Autodesk Fusion 360

Onshape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9i5sHwUX64

What is my conclusion? Back in 2010, I was dreaming and speculating about “invisible CAD data management”. Fast forward in 2015 – it is a time to see changes in new products. Cloud technologies are reshaping traditional boundaries of engineering tools. For many years, CAD and PDM tools were separate. Integration between CAD and PDM was complex and painful. Cloud allows us to focus on user experience and hide data management form users. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Image courtesy of pakorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
26 October, 2015

Historically, PLM products are well know for being complicated and hard to use. It has deep roots in the way...

21 December, 2018

I attended The State of PLM economy webinar organized by CIMdata – leading source of information and analytics about PLM...

23 March, 2016

Desktop virtualization is a technology that separates you desktop environment and installed apps from the physical computer. It became popular...

5 November, 2017

Worldclass Access blog by Ralph Grabowski caught my attention earlier today. The article says – Dassault on why Solidworks sells...

3 November, 2024

For my 20+ years of experience in PLM business, I can see see the age-old struggle in the world of...

11 February, 2010

Recent presentation on SolidWorks World 2010 about evolution of PLM drove me to think about what is the future of...

8 November, 2010

Today, I had an interesting experience in my life. I had a chance to attend Dassault System Enovia Collaborative Innovation...

18 August, 2009

Another prompt today. Oracle is devoting two full days and 70 sessions at the upcoming OpenWorld conference to its Primavera...

27 September, 2012

Usually I talk about technology and software related to engineering software and PLM. Today, I want to break the rule...

Blogroll

To the top