This is a really generic question I understand but it's not quite clear to me how and when PDM is a significant benefit?
This is a really generic question I understand but it's not quite clear to me how and when PDM is a significant benefit?
how about a generic answer, revision management.
even for a one man show PDMWW is a nice tool to have.
I have been at a company that doesn't seem to use revisions, they're in machine design.
Between 500-2500 parts per machine. They seem to get by.
What are they missing?
no revisions.
how do you track part history?
how do you know what version of a part is in which machine (as-built BOM)?
are you saying you make parts and during their life they never change (revise)?
say 5 years from now i get a call from a customer who bought a machine from me.
he needs a replacement L-Brkt. he has revision 2 but we are now at revision 5.
i must inform the customer we will send a replacement but some additional features may be present but do not be alarmed, it is backward compatible to your machine.
perhaps this revised bracket has additional mounting for a new optional part.
when a customer asks for the option part it is nice to know whether they need a new L-Brkt or whether the one they have is the latest.
it could be valuable to know this going in because it takes 7 hours to replace the L-Brkt.
hth
There is no need for PDM/revisions if the products/files are unique (used in one project per time). But when the docs are multiused in several projects then PDM will most likely help. For example doing mold designs for injection molding, those are most likely unique and you get no value of revisions. But If you do machine designs where parts are shared between different products then there is two options: 1. Copy each document to new folder and take new number to each document 2. Use PDM and share the same files between different products. Caveat on option 1 is that in few years you have all the server discs full of same documents with different numbers and backupping these can also cost a lot of money. I have seen the setups where PDM would only slow down the process and also seen the situation where is no other option than use PDM, but it just depends what you are doing.
offers fast and significant return on investment (ROI);
is easy to implement and use;
is easy to administer;
requires the least amount of customization;
can be adapted to your workflows and processes;
requires minimal training;
does not require significant hardware acquisitions;
has minimal needs for IT support;
offers an open architecture that can integrate with existing
systems, such as material resource planning (MRP),
enterprise resource planning (ERP), and other
business systems.
http://www.solidworks.com/sw/data-management-pdm-whitepapers.htm
Slash design time
Leverage proven concepts
Increase quoting speed and accuracy
Reduce data duplication and SKUs
ntegrate global resources
Find the right design quickly and easily
Manage access to secure data and control revisions
Collaborate and share data globally while keeping it secure
Streamline change management
Automating workflows, standardizing modeling practices