Razorleaf has just released the new CADFIT tool for public consumption.  I don’t recommend actually eating or consuming the tool, but I do recommend that you use it.  “Well of course you do, you work for Razorleaf.”  Okay, that factor not withstanding, CADFIT is a really great tool to help you determine the health of your SolidWorks files, to check and see if they are “fit.”   Read the rest of this entry »

Many of the systems our clients work with could rightly be considered business critical systems.  Whether its Design Automation (DA) tools, a PLM/PDM system, a custom application, or a tool for electronic process automation Razorleaf’s clients would be hard-pressed to efficiently complete their day’s activities if the system was down or not operating as it should.  There are a number of items that should be considered when making a change to one of these systems including ensuring proper documentation, training, system design, and testing.  One of the most overlooked best practices to ensure success is having a staging area where applications can be rigorously developed, tested, and deployed.  Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever attempted to map a process, only to get bogged down in the details?  What seemed like a simple flow chart with four or five boxes got really complicated when you started accounting for all of the special case scenarios?  If you’ve experienced this situation, then you’ll certainly appreciate this installment of my blog series about “Changing Your Process.”  To avoid the pitfall of never fully documenting your process, consider the 80/20 Rule (also known as the Pareto principle).  Applied in this context, if a “special case” happens 20% of the time or less, it should not be covered in your baseline process.  Read the rest of this entry »

With Dassault recently announcing the spin-off of SmarTeam V5 development to Artizone, a lot of people have opinions (and concerns) about what Dassault Systemes (DS) is doing with the ENOVIA brand these days.  I can’t offer definitive answers since I don’t work for DS, but I know enough people at the ENOVIA brand that I think I have some insight to offer.  The net of my thinking: Dassault is positioning itself to accelerate ENOVIA V6 development while ensuring that V5 support is strong – and that means they are not killing SmarTeam.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve sold and demo’ed it all. SolidWorks, Pro/ENGINEER, SDRC, Autodesk, you name it. And one of the biggest selling points that we had for parametrics was the argument for data reuse. “Why would you spend all day doing File, Save As when you can build once and use as many times as you want?” Besides, its popular to recycle these days – even if you’re just recycling data.  Read the rest of this entry »

Whether it’s automating something in SolidWorks, adding functionality to your PLM implementation or increasing the computing power and flexibility of an automated process, we engineers frequently stop short of programming. Why is that? Now I admit, I cannot write a product like DriveWorks or SolidWorks EPDM (then again, I never tried). Even though I don’t have a Linux penguin sticker on my car or a shirt with the caffeine molecule on it, I’m not scared of the code (granted, I also won’t be putting that “No Fear” sticker on my car either). Read the rest of this entry »

The launch of nearly every new business system requires some level of legacy data load.  After all, you have probably been doing the things the new business system does, just by some other means.  I believe a successful import begins with quality source data.  Remember, garbage in, garbage out.  The more consistent your source data is the more consistent your import will be.  Read the rest of this entry »