1. CAD Files Lead to Data Management Chaos

In the spirit of art being in the eye of the beholder, the World’s Largest File Cabinet reminds me of the struggles that product designers and engineers have with organizing their CAD data. According to the State of Product Development and Hardware Design 2020, an independent industry survey of nearly 1,000 manufacturing professionals worldwide, data management issues are one of the biggest obstacles slowing teams down.

Consider:

• 83 percent of respondents reported they have trouble accessing the correct design data when they need it.
• 82 percent of respondents reported they have trouble locating the correct design data when they need it.

For users of legacy file-based CAD and add-on Product Data Management (PDM) systems, the core reason for these problems might be surprising. The fact is that the challenges of managing digital CAD files are very similar to the issues managing paper design files.

The required process of checking in and checking out CAD files from a PDM system is just like pulling the designs out of a file cabinet. Once a colleague grabs a file (digital or paper), no one else on the team can work on it until it is returned to the vault/drawer.

And if you’re not using any kind of PDM solution for data management, the old-school file cabinet analogy becomes even stronger. What kind of naming conventions do you have for your files? Is it possible that different documents from the same project are being stored in multiple folders? When you make copies of drawings, how do you know which one is the latest version?

To eliminate this confusion, many forward-thinking companies have switched from on-premise product development tools to cloud-based ones. Working in the same secure cloud workspace, everyone on the design team is always looking at the most up-to-date design, a “single source of truth.”

As an example, let’s shift our cabinet conversation from metal to wood and see how one manufacturer is transforming their product development process with Onshape, PTC’s cloud-based CAD and data management platform.

2. Striving for a Paperless Factory Floor

Premier Custom-Built strives to combine the rich woodworking heritage of Pennsylvania Dutch Country with the latest cloud CAD and data management tools.

At Premier Custom-Built, a Pennsylvania-based cabinet and furniture manufacturer for the luxury market, no two cabinet designs are alike. Everything is made to order, and built twice – first in digital form and then in the physical form that gets installed in kitchens, living rooms and even yachts.

One of Premier’s long-term goals is eliminating the amount of paper documents used on the manufacturing floor. Although the company designs and builds its own specialized machinery, and uses the latest technology across its multiple facilities, there is still a dependency on old-fashioned 3-ring binders (known as “the book”) to reference product information.

Eventually, all the product specs in those binders will live inside the Onshape CAD models, says Premier software engineer Chad Stoltzfus.

“With Onshape, we can take data from the CAD model and turn that into data for the shop,” he says. “Essentially, the definition of our product can exist not in paperwork and the model, but solely in the model.”

“One of the things we frequently talk about at Premier is this idea of having a single source of truth,” Stoltzfus adds. “And that's the logic behind using a cloud-based platform. What we are aiming to do is make our product models the single source of truth.”

Watch the video below to see how Premier Custom-Built uses Onshape’s cloud-based data management to streamline collaboration between its IT, engineering and manufacturing teams:

Get Your Copy of the “Beyond Data Management” eBook

Interested in learning more about how forward-thinking companies have benefited from switching to a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CAD platform?

In Onshape’s eBook, “Beyond Data Management: How Engineering Leaders are Turning Data into Insights,” we explore how leading firms are rethinking data management in order to empower employees, streamline processes and ensure accelerated time to market.

In this eBook, you’ll learn how on-premise CAD systems are slowing product development down – and how switching to a cloud-based platform can eliminate these time-killers. You will explore the following critical issues:

• Access to Design Data – File-based CAD users are locked to individual computers and licenses. Cloud-native CAD enables access on any computer, tablet or phone.
• Version Control Errors – Multiple design file copies often lead to engineers accidentally working on the wrong version, which can result in costly manufacturing mistakes. Cloud-native CAD relies on one master 3D model as the single source of truth.
• PDM/PLM Administrative Headaches – The check-in and check-out process of file-based Product Data Management systems creates slow serial workflows. Cloud-native data management enables simultaneous collaboration.
• Lack of Analytics/Visibility – Because file-based CAD users store their work on individual hardware, managers have no visibility into a project until formal design reviews. Cloud-native CAD enables 24/7 access to designs by critical stakeholders.

With the increasing need for remote collaboration tools for distributed teams, cloud-based CAD and data management are no longer a nice-to-have technology, but a business necessity.

Download your copy of “Beyond Data Management: How Engineering Leaders are Turning Data into Insights” today and get a headstart on your company’s digital transformation!