Want to see how best-in-class manufacturers manage their data? DesignPoint Solution is holding FREE Hands-On Data Management Workshops near you to introduce you to the benefits of SolidWorks' premier data management solution: Enterprise PDM. Sign up to learn how Enterprise PDM can help you:

• Automate routine tasks for improved consistency and efficiency.
• Use electronic workflows to organize and manage documents.
• Collaborate and communicate better within your design team, other departments, and partners.
• Develop structure and create traceability to comply with company and industry standards.
• Find data faster, manage BOM data better, and capture change history easily.

Register Now for an Event Near You!

New Jersey Event

Wednesday, May 23rd
10am - 12 noon
DesignPoint Solutions
136 Central Ave.
Clark, NJ

Pennsylvania Event

Wednesday, May 30th
10am - 12 noon
DesignPoint Solutions
1851 Charter Lane
Lancaster, PA

I am frequently asked the differences between Enterprise and Workgroup PDM or why do I need PDM? So I thought I would draw some comparisons with a story about my experience with a familiar technology. My old cell phone seemed to be just fine when I had it. It had basic smart phone functionality: e-mail, cell phone, and occasional picture taking capabilities. A friend of mine kept telling me that you can do so much more and be more productive with the latest touch screen smart phones with large app libraries. I really didn't understand how. Well, I decided to make the move at some point to an Android phone and I was amazed at how much more productive I had become. I had all these note taking, file management, and other tools that would sync with my work laptop and home desktop. Granted my up front cost was a little more, but my overall benefits were signifcant and well worth it. The scalability was amazing.

I look at Enterprise PDM as the highly fuctional smartphone of PDM. It offers capabilities that you probably are not thinking about and don't realize you how much you would benefit from. Workgroup PDM offers you some good entry level functionality, but for the difference in price, Enterprise PDM just offers so much more. I am not going to get into those details here and I am definately not going to say just trust me. I encourage anyone who wants to learn more to reach out to us and ask or attend a hands-on event.

So where does No PDM (as stated in the title) fall into this. I look at that as working with a dumb-phone (old traditional cell phone without email or other productivity tools) or no cell phone at all. In a business environment, many of us need some basic level of productivity tools to make our work more efficient. Otherwise, we are just making unnecessary compromises because we don't know what the benefits are. In business that doesn't make sense.

Upcoming Topics (Feel free to comment on what you would like to hear about next):

• DIY Internal Help Desk With EPDM
• Quick Notes with Enterprise PDM
• EPDM Configuration Ideas to Improve Performance

Simulation can help you build better products faster. Composer can help you publish technical content better and faster. What are you waiting for? You're already making CAD files. Leverage that data. Have someone at your organization learn more at our June 8th SIMPOSER Road Tour Event! Heck, there will be free breakfast and lunch. That's reason enough to come.

We're still working on the formation of the EPDM User Group!

Recently during a demo I was asked if you could use Composer to show a BOM with a view of a full assembly, and make is so you could click on the individual BOM items and show where those parts are located.  The answer is yes, and there are several possible ways to go about this to get different effects.  The key is that you can create links on your views so that when you click in a given area it will show a view of whatever you want to display.  The same goes for animations.  For example, you can click a part and play an animation that shows how to assemble or dis-assemble that part.  The possibilies go on and on.  People use this interactive content for lots of things... documentation for in house assembly, marketing material, online catelogues, etc.  Here's a quick video showing one way to address the question I was asked:

It can be difficult to get everyone to follow procedures or to share resources effectively. Sometimes, the information is not their when the user needs it. In a software environment simple instructions and resources at the point of use can help users significantly. EPDM can do this very well with data cards.

A data card can shows up in Windows Explorer when you select its file or when you save a file to the vault from an application. In the image below is a SolidWorks data card. It has a tab that includes instructions for the user with guidance to fill out important data on the previous tab. The other tabs include resources that are important to the designer (e.g.: vendor resources like McMaster Carr or strategic partners). Even resources to SolidWorks tips and tricks, direct access to DesignPoint help, and more. These cards can easily be customized for folders and files.

Putting this information in the hands of the users is useful for any organization trying to promote consistancy and efficiency. The great part is this is very easy with Enterprise PDM! Let me know if you have questions or thoughts. Thanks.

Upcoming Topics (Feel free to comment on what you would like to hear about next):

• DIY Internal Help Desk With EPDM
• Quick Notes with Enterprise PDM
• EPDM Configuration Ideas to Improve Performance

Simulation can help you build better products faster. Composer can help you publish technical content better and faster. What are you waiting for? You're already making CAD files. Leverage that data. Have someone at your organization learn more at our June 8th SIMPOSER Road Tour Event! Heck, their will be free breakfast and lunch. That's reason enough to come.

We're still working on the formation of the EPDM User Group!

The digger is a really slick tool, but one thing used to drive me crazy and I never took the time to figure it out until now… You turn it on and get it all set up the way you want and it looks real nice and crisp.  Then you hit the little camera icon to "Capture Picture in 2D Image", and your crisp lines go fuzzy!  There are no properties associated with the digger itself so there seems to be no way to bump up the resolution.  But wait!  There is an answer!  The resolution of the 2D image is actually tied to the resolution settings in the High Resolution Image workshop!  Before turning your nice digger image into a 2D image, open that workshop and adjust the settings on the High Resolution tab.  THEN create your 2D image (and smile because the frustration is over).  Here's a quick video demonstration: