When making an investment in a business system, most people’s primary concern is the up-front cost of the software license, however, there are a number of additional factors that are also very important in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), such as training, implementation, hardware, and staffing and administration. Nonetheless, the most obvious system-related cost is the price of the software license, whether a one-time charge, an annual fee, or a subscription. As such, system owners are eternally seeking ways to maximize the benefit gained for the software license fees paid.
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Most manufacturers already know what they need to share with suppliers and customers, they just don’t know how, or perhaps better said, don’t know the best way to share that data. That data is probably drawings, or perhaps a rendition of a drawing, product information, product structure or BOM information, etc. If you have implemented a PLM system, it is likely that this data, or a large part of it, is already stored in that system. Continue Reading
Many mechanical design companies think of the bill of materials (BOM) as a report of the components used in their design. Increasing levels of design sophistication and higher levels of cross-departmental communication has lead to a different view of this piece of product documentation. Actually, the piece of documentation isn’t viewed differently, but its contents are seen in a different light. Continue Reading
Most engineering and manufacturing businesses that need PDM expect they will need multi-site capabilities in their PDM system someday due to geographic expansion, mergers and acquisitions, etc. Just because a PDM vendor says they support multi-site functionality doesn’t mean they have the right architecture for your situation. To help you understand the options and what they might mean to you, let’s take a tour through the most common multi-site scenarios. Continue Reading
In today’s 3D CAD world, we have to question many of the “rules of thumb” put in place over the course of many years of 2D drafting. One challenge worth proposing relates to the concept of dash numbers for representing families of parts. While dash numbers have a place in many design environments, the use of them requires some clear rules to ensure success and consistency. Continue Reading
Since the introduction of the document/file management capabilities in ERP/MRP systems in the 1990’s, the debate has raged about where to keep product data. It is hard to argue with the fact that manufacturing needs access to drawings, specifications, and other technical information to be able to produce a company’s product. Conversely though, very few documentation owners are satisfied with how transactional systems like ERP manage document records and collaboration. So the debate continues today, but has been refined down to a simple question: “If I have ERP, why do I need PDM?” Continue Reading
You analyze your processes, you tweak them, you redesign them, you implement improvements, but all you get is a meager return on your invested efforts. While you may have benefited from redesigning your internal processes, it doesn’t take long to realize that in most cases, it’s not your delays and errors that are the most costly problems. The bigger problems lie in the external parts of your process. Most designs begin by identifying the long lead items and letting those items drive all of the timing. The bulk of design automation and PLM workflow layout is focused on designing these components as quickly as possible, because this typically results in the most bang for your invested buck. Continue Reading
