Solidworks PDM was always a very interesting place to spot. Two decades ago, Solidworks didn’t focus much on PDM. Partnership solutions made a great deal out of this status quo and Solidworks picked those solutions that provided greatest value for majority of Solidworks users and gradually acquired them at the right time. That was the way Dassault Systemes acquired SmarTeam in 1999, Solidworks acquired PDM/Works in 2002, Conisio (GSC Scandinavia) in 2006, which will become Enterprise PDM. The latest acquisition or partnership wasn’t much clear to me – RevZone Manage (aka as Solidworks Manage) introduced last year. I didn’t hear much about that solution in the field. It was probably tactical step for Solidworks while 3DEXPERIENCE solutions were coming to their maturity.
Last week at Solidworks World 2019, I’ve heard the story about Solidworks PDM from Kenneth Hallberg, founder of Conisio (Enterprise PDM), probably the most widely used PDM product today among Solidworks users. The product (Conisio) was a successful implementation of data management paradigm behind simplicity of Windows File Explorer.
I captured four short fragments of Keneth Hallberg’s presentation speaking about how modern Solidworks PDM (not sure this name is relevant anymore) will be transformed using 3DEXPERIENCE and ENOVIA collaborative applications.
Here is the first one – more about history of PDM in 2009.
https://youtu.be/qFbvCB9RMDc
In this one, Keneth speaks about the value of introducing 3DEXPERINECE to Solidworks users.
https://youtu.be/kWF27B2j6ZU
Another interesting point – importance of multi-disciplinary approach and going beyond design – functional and other aspects of data management for Solidworks users.
https://youtu.be/hnvYwWsOEdw
In this final fragment, you can see connection between Solidworks, 3DEXPERIENCE and model-driven approach
https://youtu.be/xU-4dfUsdfk
What is my conclusion? This is a very interesting story of PDM transformation for Solidworks users. All makes sense and sounds very compelling, especially for larger companies. The real validation of the story will be done by Solidworks users. The big amount of Solidworks users are very small companies with 1-2 engineers working on mechanical design individually or as part of the team. It will be very interesting to see an adoption of new 3D EXPERIENCE solutions by this group of the team. Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing cloud based bill of materials and inventory management tool for manufacturing companies, hardware startups and supply chain. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.
