Stop Using Digital Duct Tape for Multi-CAD Solutions

While pondering the challenge of companies managing multi-cad environments (yes, I know, this is what geeks do…) I couldn’t help but to imagine a Rube Goldberg device. Often, creative and resourceful workarounds (what I like to call “digital duct tape”) are deployed, but the opportunity for improved collaboration and productivity is missed.  The rule of thumb for data management is that as your CAD systems double the complexity quadruples.  In the absence of strategy and planning, data management problems can quickly get out of hand.  The “digital duct tape” can only stretch so far…

Most of us (Rube Goldberg aficionados excluded) do not purposely create complex environments…But there are reasonable explanations as to how companies ended up needing multi-CAD solutions:

1. Mergers and Acquisitions: Organizational and cultural assimilations require rationalizing and connecting different technologies. Engineering departments especially often have multiple MCAD and ECAD authoring tools in place.
2. OEM Supplier Relationships: Particularly in automotive and aerospace, suppliers must submit MCAD and ECAD data to an OEM in a prescribed, proprietary format.  Suppliers must have multi-CAD authoring tools on site to do business with multiple OEMs.
3. Departmental Decisions: Today, global competitiveness demands that all departments collaborate and maximize their intellectual property. Gone are information silos.

The inability of multi-CAD authoring tools to collaborate and share information outside engineering, coupled with the resulting inaccurate Bill of Materials (BOM) potentially is damaging to any company (and your job!).

This article was written by BY RON on the official Dassault Systèmes blog, article source: http://perspectives.3ds.com/collaboration/stop-using-digital-duct-tape-for-multi-cad-solutions/