New admin with a few questions

[eddie57]

There is no doubt that having the same PDM and CAD by the same company is the way to go. But, We priced Windchill and they told us to implement would take 5 to 6 weeks and cost around $360,000.00. We already had Teamcenter and have not spent near that much. I agree with looslib in that you cannot compare teamcenter with intralink. Intralink is very low end PDM. We had it for awhile when we purchased another company and dumped it as soon as we could export all of the data out of it. It is a cheap way to get into PDM and is not that bad but does not hold a candle to Teamcenter. Once you have had a high end PDM it is hard to go back wards to a low end. If you can afford Winchill I would highly suggest it is you are going to ProE. If you stay with Catia go with Teamcenter. It works really well. Been using it for 7 years now.

 

[S2Roush]

Again guys you are a wealth of info. being a new admin here has not been a fun task.


This is what we have decided. We are going to keep Catia and Smarteam. I have bids coming in from a handful of consultants to do discovery, optimization and mentoring. Once we can get a baseline then we can go forward and really decide if the system is stable or if the users need to be recalibrated. I have a feeling that we have some PEBKAC and ID10T errors but I would never tell my users that I thought that

 

[MichailS]

I have used Pro/E in combination with Pro/PDM and Pro/Intralink, and that worked great in both cases. I have also worked with various mixed-brand CAD and PDM solutions that just added extra work and migraine. I would stick to the one-vendor solutions if I were you.

Also want to point out that swapping from one CAD system to another is usually about as pleasant as ripping out ones own brain with a cheese-cutter, so change as little as possible.

I am currently using a very unstable CAD system but to change it for a better one mid-project would likely destroy my work, life and possibly the company as well. =[

 

[sonialondon]

Incisive Edge is a Business Development Consultant company whose core competencies have a definite positive impact on small and medium-sized businesses. Our mission is to ensure the success of client businesses through the creation of sustainable revenue streams.

 

[srieger]

I am in the racing industry and I had the same dilema around 18 years ago. Of course the options were quite different at the time. However, I've had no regrets and have been happy with the growth of the PTC products.


Pro/Engineer and PDMLink are great options. That being said, there is a learning curve to seriously be able to get up and running efficiently and to be able to use all the tools available.


Many people get a piece of software, leart about 15-25% of it and then complain about what a piece of crap it is. PTC Products are great products but you need to spend time to learn them and determine what tools best suit your needs. Very difficult to do when you are trying to decide on which software to use.


Winchill Products are great products. PDMLink not only works for your CAD data but also all your other data. Every piece of software out there has issues. To say that anything doesn't is a bit naive.


Windchill is an extremely diverse piece of software and a lot of thought has to go into its initial configurations and workflows to determine the best way to configure it. Most people that complain about it either don't know how to properly use it, or have a configuration that was never thought out for their workflow, security and contol. You can configure virtually everything and this is why it can be diffictult to implement.


You also have web base tools to get information from the database from drawings, 3D viewables, attribute data, etc that can be configured and used for everything from paperless shop floor operations, to providing information to vendors without compromising the data integrity, security or too much disclosure.


You can do change notifications, markups job scheduling, work assignments, etc. Just so many tools available in the Windchll products that you may never use them all.


I highly recommend using an implementation specialist to help with it if you go that route and don't get in a hurry to get it going. Plan very carefully as some things are more difficult to change later on down the road once you have data.


Catia is also a good product but in my opinion lacks the overall integration that the PTC products have. From CoCreate (Now Creo/Direct) to Pro/E (Creo/Elements), Pro/Manufacturing,Windchill products, MathCAD, ArborText, Mechanica, etc. All integrate together virtually seemlessly. Or some of the newer products like CoCreate are in the process of being fully integrated.


Considering all this, you have to also consider how your workflow is, what you would like it to be, what your true needs are now and in the future, as well as the cost of changing. There will bea large investment in the software, implementation, training, etc. If it is well thought out, and planned with people in engineering, management, marketing, etc. it can be well worth the investment.


I will say that the majority of the software salesman don't know much of anything about what they sell. They know bullets. Talk to people that use the products, get the salesman to show you specific things that you want to be able to do. They have specialists that will do these demos and do have some better expertise in areas. Don't ever take the salesman's word for it as sometimes what they hear it can do, they have never seen and will mis-interpret the true functionality. See it, believe it, understand it.


That's my 12 1/2 cents.