CAD Procedures
CAD Procedures
(OP)
Hi all,
I'm currently reviewing our CAD procedures at work. At the moment, we have a very "manual" system - the following is a brief description:
User takes the next part/assembly number from the Drawing Code document. This is an MS Word document and all information is input manually. The numbering system we use is quite good, so there is no change needed there.
We then save the part/assembly/drawing as that number - the tree structure in PDM is set up to follow the number system, so again no real problem there.
We create the model - at this stage all the properties, including the information from the Drawing Code document, are input manually e.g. drawing number, description etc. This is start of the problem, because the wrong number or description can be entered - or worse again, not modified, or worse again, nothing is entered at all! The info can be inserted through either SolidWorks or PDM.
At the moment, the drawing templates are not set up to reference the properties, but this is something I am working on now and will be implemented when we install SW2007.
The parts list on the drawing is generated from the sub-component properties - this is fairly well defined.
However, we then generate Bill of Materials manually in Excel - this can lead to additional problems e.g. wrong information inserted etc.
Overall, I've estimated that only 12% of the process is "automated" - in my opinion this is very low and results in time wasting and errors. So the question I have, what can I do to make things more automated? For example, can the information be fed into SolidWorks from the Word file (or another file)? How do other people create Bill of Materials? Any suggestions at all would be welcome.
Regards,
Bandh
I'm currently reviewing our CAD procedures at work. At the moment, we have a very "manual" system - the following is a brief description:
User takes the next part/assembly number from the Drawing Code document. This is an MS Word document and all information is input manually. The numbering system we use is quite good, so there is no change needed there.
We then save the part/assembly/drawing as that number - the tree structure in PDM is set up to follow the number system, so again no real problem there.
We create the model - at this stage all the properties, including the information from the Drawing Code document, are input manually e.g. drawing number, description etc. This is start of the problem, because the wrong number or description can be entered - or worse again, not modified, or worse again, nothing is entered at all! The info can be inserted through either SolidWorks or PDM.
At the moment, the drawing templates are not set up to reference the properties, but this is something I am working on now and will be implemented when we install SW2007.
The parts list on the drawing is generated from the sub-component properties - this is fairly well defined.
However, we then generate Bill of Materials manually in Excel - this can lead to additional problems e.g. wrong information inserted etc.
Overall, I've estimated that only 12% of the process is "automated" - in my opinion this is very low and results in time wasting and errors. So the question I have, what can I do to make things more automated? For example, can the information be fed into SolidWorks from the Word file (or another file)? How do other people create Bill of Materials? Any suggestions at all would be welcome.
Regards,
Bandh






RE: CAD Procedures
The functionality you're looking for can be provided by a PLM (product lifecycle management) product. Check out SolidWorks partners. There are many solutions to choose from. Of course this costs $$$$, but it appears like you already have pertinent metrics for the justification.
Good luck
RE: CAD Procedures
RE: CAD Procedures
We also saved the part and assembly model templates with our properties fields in them.
Propertyeditorspec
Propertyeditorspec_screenshot
SW07 SP1.0
Flores
RE: CAD Procedures
If anyone has other suggestions, please keep them coming!
Regards,
Bandh