I’m preparing for 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025, which will take place in Houston, TX, in a few weeks. For many years, this event (formerly known as SolidWorks World) has been one of the best places to meet the mechanical engineering community and everyone who has been connected to SolidWorks products for years. I put some of my initial thoughts about the conference and the agenda in my earlier blog – Heading to 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 – check this out. I also catching up on many publications online related to SolidWorks community.
The article “37 Things That Confuse Me About 3DEXPERIENCE” written by Peter Brinkhuis came across my feed a few weeks ago, and it deeply resonated with me. Having worked for many years at Dassault and SmarTeam in the past, and also knowing and speaking with many SolidWorks users over the years, I can feel the pain, emotions, and many questions in this article. A follow-up LinkedIn post with numerous comments only reinforced this impression.
The History and How We Got Here
Dassault Systèmes’ vision to deliver a holistic platform (whose marketing name has changed over the last 20 years, starting from V6 and progressing with different spins) aimed to consolidate all applications and services together. In my view, the first step in this journey was entirely unrelated to SolidWorks; rather, it was about improving the CATIA and ENOVIA VPM experience, with the vision of making CATIA work directly with a database instead of files. I believe this was also driven by a business demand to provide a PDM/PLM backbone to CATIA users who were using competitive PDM/PLM products. DS development team in Paris was leading this activity that was started first time as ENOVIA 3D Live (later transformed in a holistic 3D experience of DS platform. However, this was over 20 years ago, making it less relevant today—except for the core idea of a platform that manages CAD data without files, which is fundamentally a good one – DS was not the only company that followed this direction.
I think Google’s vision has resonated with DS managers and strategists for decades. The original idea of CAD+database evolved under the influence of web development, SaaS software, improvements in data management and analytics, and the aspiration to provide a holistic platform. While the trend of “monolithic platformization” remains popular among CAD/PLM providers, everything originating from CATIA/ENOVIA was fundamentally complex due to its development focus on aerospace, automotive, and defense industries. This complexity was compounded by the natural behavior of French engineering—a trait I admire for its ingenuity but which was described by my car mechanic in Israel 30 years ago – “a French car has many spare parts you don’t really need” :).
On the opposite side of the world in Boston, Jon Hirschtick and his team were inspired to bring PTC’s successful 3D parametric design paradigm (developed originally by Samuel P. Geisberg) to a new platform—Windows. They deliberately innovated in user experience by embracing Windows’ simplicity and cost-effectiveness. Together with one of the greatest business and sales minds behind Solidworks – Vic Leventhal (RIP), Hirschtick’s team built a product and a channel that made SolidWorks the leading MCAD design product and community in the world.
However, their approach was the opposite of Dassault Systèmes’ thinking—simplicity and low cost were the cornerstones of SolidWorks’ vision. Combined with Hirschtick’s focus on customer experience and community building, the industry gained what we know today as the “SolidWorks product and community.” Though I am not a professional mechanical designer, I can share my experience from being part of this community and developing solutions for SolidWorks customers—it was (and likely still is) one of the best in the world.
To summarize the historical context, 3DEXPERIENCE Works (and other DS products for the SolidWorks community) represents a meeting of two opposite worlds with different perspectives and approaches. Moreover, as successful as SolidWorks is (a $1B+ business), it was architected and developed in the 1990s and early 2000s using desktop/server-oriented technologies. Thoughtful consideration is needed when integrating it with modern web-based tools and cloud/SaaS environments.
3 Ways to Help Engineers and Companies Using SolidWorks Today
Let me elaborate on possible approaches to help SolidWorks users move beyond the original work paradigm of folders, files, and desktop applications.
1. Host Everything Using Cloud Platforms
Hosting SolidWorks on cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or others is a relatively easy path. Infrastructure providers are doing a great job, and post-COVID internet connectivity has improved significantly. You can put SolidWorks on a cloud desktop and access it from any computer. SolidWorks PDM can also be hosted, though this is more complex and requires additional tools and infrastructure and network administration. However, solutions exist in the market for this.
This approach solves the problem of “using SolidWorks anywhere,” but it does not address issues related to data availability, sharing, or integration with modern SaaS platforms for procurement, production, and other functions. These solutions can support business opportunities to improve product development processes and integration with supply chain for SolidWorks users limited to a single computer. It won’t reduce costs of the platform can improve execution and accelerate innovation for the team using SolidWorks desktop products today.
An example such a solution could be Converge Design, but this is not only solution – you can find others by simply Google “host Solidworks PDM”.
2. Integrated Desktop-Cloud Solution with a Modern SaaS Tool
This is the corrected vision that DS 3DX was intended to deliver. The key to successfully delivering this solution is adapting to all important behaviors of SolidWorks users and existing desktop tools, understanding the way they work, and seamlessly integrating with a cloud-based solution that is natively integrated with SaaS eco-system, but does not interfere in a fundamental way with how SolidWorks customers have used and developed their solutions and products. (I know—it’s easier said than done.)
Here are five principles that I believe can make this integrated solution successful:
- Acknowledgment of the desktop’s existence for a foreseeable future and allowing SolidWorks to work with local files as it was originally designed. From my experience, CAD desktop tools don’t respond well when you “steal files” from them.
- Avoiding conflicts with existing tools and solutions that run on the SolidWorks platform, developed over the years and customized by partners and company developers. These tools bring years of experience and value. Customers like them and want to continue using them.
- Providing a flexible data modeling system capable of delivering an intuitive user experience and a simple user interface that requires minimal learning. The solution must leverage UX best practices developed over the last two decades for web and SaaS applications. It should be convenient for the “digital generation” while still being accepted by engineers who have used SolidWorks for 15+ years with traditional desktop behaviors. Spreadsheet-like behavior, combined with a Google Docs-like user experience, makes adoption easier and provides the fastest learning curve.
- Seamless integration to capture information from SolidWorks in a way that preserves the complexity of design data created by engineers. Design complexity is natural—assemblies, configurations, design patterns, special objects such as weldments, imported geometry, optimized structures, custom attributes, data created by add-on tools, and even unusual naming conventions. This is just a short list of challenges when capturing SolidWorks data into a web platform. Therefore, the flexibility of the data platform mentioned above is critical.
- Focusing on the core product loop with business benefits that matter to companies. One of the biggest challenges engineering teams and manufacturing companies face is integrating data from MCAD tools like SolidWorks into downstream processes such as production planning, procurement, and contract manufacturing. Making data seamlessly available, instantly shared with distributed teams of contract manufacturers and suppliers, and accessible to other online tools is a core imperative for a successful solution for SolidWorks users today.
By following these principles, companies can preserve SolidWorks products and existing implementations while seamlessly integrating them into a new ecosystem of SaaS applications and tools. Over time, the old applications and tools developed for SolidWorks desktop will migrate to online and SaaS platforms.
An example of this approach can be demonstrated by OpenBOM (I’m co-founder), but other engineering solutions integrated with SolidWorks running on the desktop can be used for the same purpose). There is a growing ecosystem of new online tools. Check Engineering Software Moat Map created by Blake Courter.
3. Do Nothing or Switch to Alternative Tools
Do nothing or switch to alternative tools. While SolidWorks is probably the industry standard for professional MCAD software and many students learn it in colleges, there are other tools on the market that can help customers (see the next section for more details). Some of these tools will appeal to SolidWorks customers because of their low cost, and some because of their solid vision and modern technology.
Do nothing can work. While I’m not working for DS, knowing how long DS supports existing products (I guess customers can still use V4), I wouldn’t expect the traditional SolidWorks desktop product to disappear. So, for many companies, it can still be a viable path for the next decade. (I always remember a story about a man who was ready to buy a button phone only after rotary phones were no longer available.)
Alternative tools. Let me speak about possible alternatives below.
What Are the Alternatives?
Among the first candidates here for SolidWorks users is PTC Onshape. Onshape is essentially a browser-based “SolidWorks remake” by the original SolidWorks team. It offers a strong vision and a solid web architecture, delivering a “CAD-in-a-browser” experience with embedded PDM capabilities.. Darren Henry of Onshape – 37 Ways Onshape Simplifies What 3D EXPERIENCE overcomplicate.
Autodesk Fusion and Autodesk Platform Services provide another alternative. Fusion, launched around the same time as Onshape, has become a solid choice, especially for CAM users. Its integration with Autodesk’s CAM and simulation tools, along with APS (formerly Forge), makes it a strong offering for cost-conscious customers.
Of course, continuing with Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCE remains an option for those who believe Dassault Systèmes will listen to SolidWorks users and improve the platform.
What is my conclusion?
SolidWorks is an amazing product that will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2025. As I prepare to attend 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 in Houston, I look forward to meeting friends and colleagues there.
If you’re coming to Houston, please comment or contact me at oleg @ openbom dot com—I’d be happy to meet you!
Best, Oleg
Disclaimer: I’m the co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM, a digital-thread platform providing cloud-native collaborative services including PDM, PLM, and ERP capabilities. With extensive experience in federated CAD-PDM and PLM architecture, I’m advocates for agile, open product models and cloud technologies in manufacturing. My opinion can be unintentionally biased
