Does SWx work and play well with MS Access?

[MMike1]

Did a search and din't really find anything.

We're a small company that is beginning a "growth spurt" shall we say.

I have finally convinced the boss (who likes to keep things simple...a little too simple) that we need to start keeping a proper parts data base and physical inventory. We want to do this with Access. Can assembly BOM's and parts lists be linked to Access?

Am I just reinventing the wheel? PDMworks is more for managing drawings...revision levels and stuff. I realize PDM obviously will create various reports of top-down parts break downs and all of that. But I think that is the only feature I would want from PDM. I would like that same feature, but generated from my assy's and then put into Access.

Am I out to lunch here? (I actually am eating lunch right now...but that is beside the point. I do enjoy my wife's leftover lasagna though)

 

[Heckler]

MMike1,

A small company I use to work for had something like what you want to do before PDM Works was bundled with SWx. I was a nightmare....because Access has some significant limitations with users access. What we ended up doing is writing a VB application along with mySQL to create a multi users part number database and BOM generator. Don't stay out to lunch to long on the Acess thing because mind control is Micro$oft's biggest weapon.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 5.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
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"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." - Henry Ford

 

[MMike1]

So would I be better off trying to get PDM up and running? The thig is, we want this to be tied to the parts inventory...and now that I'm thinking of it, we also have purchased parts that we would want in the inventory. (And I'm kinda sorting this out in my mind as I type this). I guess what I would want is for SWx to populate my database for our manufactured parts, (p/n and where used, next higher assy)....of course we would have to manually input how many we physically we had in stock...

 

[rgrayclamps]

Hi, MMike1:

Just as Heckler pointed out, VB plus SQL will be a lot more flexible. But that does not mean you can not use ACCESS. You can link your ACCESS to your SW documents. But is it a good idea to link your SW documents to the ACCESS database? My answer is "No". You have to realize which one is chicken, and which one is egg between your SW documents and your ACCESS database.

An advantage of using ACCESS (or other database application) is SQL for super indexing. You do not want to link your ACCESS database to your SW documents. You should maintain your ACCESS database manually to sync your SW documents.

But anyway, going database is a good approach. You will have more discipline and allow you do automation down the load.

Alex

 

[ctopher]

For what you want to do, I think something like Smarteam may work. We use PDMWorks for all CAD files and Access for all BOM's. They are not linked to each other. We will be moving to Smarteam beginning of next year.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[rgrayclamps]

Chris:

Why do you use ACCESS for all BOM's? PDMWorks can not handle your BOM's, or can it?

Thanks,

Alex

 

[kmarencswp]

MMike1,

I wouldn't create the wheel. There may be a solution out there already. I was at a user group recently that had a vendor there that may do what you want as an add on to PDM works. They have been around a long time as their own PDM system but decided that "if you can't beat them join them" was the best business bet. Go to

http://www.centare.com/solidworks.html

I don't use this so I am not representing them so selling for them I just know that it's there and a good but inexpensive set-up. You may need to call because this switch as an add-on is relatively new.

 

[ctopher]

For major aerospace/military programs, we are req'd to have a config control system that all docs are kept up to date. Access allows us to run "where used" on all products when a revision changes. Boms on dwgs do not show revisions, so it is not used and not accepted by our customers.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[Stoker]

Yes you can communicate between the two programs and can either push or pull boms into Access from SWX. However, having done a fair bit of VBA and Access work, I can say that it is very possible that you will spend more time & money to get a truly useful application by coding it yourself than by going for an entry-level BOM/inventory package. This is even if you are experienced at the programming. You will most likely be far better off configuring an off-the-shelf package to your needs than developing one from the ground up and will definitely take less time to implement it.