We're starting this process now, I'll try to post occasional updates on progress either here or on my "fledgling" blog.
This looks like a slick system for managing revision changes from PDM to our ERP (Epicor 9).
We're starting this process now, I'll try to post occasional updates on progress either here or on my "fledgling" blog.
This looks like a slick system for managing revision changes from PDM to our ERP (Epicor 9).
Corey, Will the bridge be between "Enterprise" PDM & Epicor 9? Working with QBuild? -Patrick
Yes, data from PDM to Epicor 9
Corey,
Will be curious to see how it works. We are going to be rolling out Epicor 9 in the next month or so. (beem working on the implementation for quite a while). I want to start pushing SolidWorks meta data into Epicor.
The Qbuilt software looks like it would do the job.
Cheers,
Anna
Any updates from Anna or Corey? We're looking at migrating from a legacy ERP to Epicor 9 and CADLink. You're both a couple months ahead of us so any tips, probelms or general impressions would be appreciated.
We have not implemented Epicor yet. It is still a work in progress. Engineering does not need Epicor for our work, so it will be a while after we have gone live with Epicor before we work to link our engineering data to it.
Cheers,
Anna
Yes I would say we are now complete with this implementation. So here's how I've set this up for us.
After an Engineering Change is approved (or could be at any time), a user will right click on an assembly or item and select "Run CADLink". They are then prompted with a login for Epicor.
Cadlink then reads the PDM BOM, and asks you for the BOM template you'll be using. It pulls all the variable data from the default tab unless you specifically tell it to read from the @ tab. It then shows you a grid display similar to this picture below, any changes are highlighted yellow, new parts in green, etc....
You can add a generic BOO to the file, which is generally only useful on a first time part upload. Or just hit save changes, and that will write the data into Epicor.
Prior to all of that:
The first thing I did was make a CADlink tab on our CAD data card:
All of those variables appear in the BOM template BOM-ERP that I created, along with "configuration", and "found in" version.
There were several customizations that I requested, and suggested to CADLink that we implemented:
A couple suggestions that haven't made it through yet:
Other notes
Overall this took us a couple months from start to finish. Qbuild never came on site, but they were normally very fast to respond to problems. It did require a lot of remote connection time on my part. I think they are good on the Epicor and API end of things, and ok, but not great in Enterprise. And the last few customizations they wanted to quote me a price for implementing, I passed. Spec out exactly what you want before you agree to purchase.
If you have any other questions just ask:
Corey Hinman,
CEPA, ePDM Black Belt
I guess I didn't mention, yes I like the system, it works well and makes my life easy. I just need to ensure that the PDM BOM is DOB accurate. Some things in epicor (like UoM) are hard to modify later if there's an issue.
This is the kind of interface I expected and wanted back when we were sold on Service Connect, which is nothing like CADLink. This is the system you want.
Anna,
Are you using CADLink with pdm professional or with Solidworks?
We just finished our implementation of CADLink with EPDM & E9 almost a month ago. Just like Corey, we are very pleased with the results. I would also caution you to have a good SOW or Spec before hitting the go button. We are now working on implementing QBuild's ECN Manager which will allow us to tie EPDM, CADLink, & E9 all into our ECO process. It's looking quite promising so far.
I opted out of the ECN manager, for the price I think I can provide a more robust system in PDM, meaning folders, supporting documentation, approvals, etc.
That was one of our considerations as well, but the material disposition cabability that ECN Manager will give us sold our manangement on the entire package. If we have known that we could add the "Epicor Jobs" tab could be added like what you did, we may have opted out of ECN Manager as well.
I guess I didn't mention, yes I like the system, it works well and makes my life easy. I just need to ensure that the PDM BOM is DOB accurate. Some things in epicor (like UoM) are hard to modify later if there's an issue.
This is the kind of interface I expected and wanted back when we were sold on Service Connect, which is nothing like CADLink. This is the system you want.