Smarteam

[mahrle]

Is anyone using the latest version of Smarteam? We are considering it and have had a great demo, but....some on here seem skeptical. Looking for any feedback on this software or subject.

Thanks,
Mahrle

 

[alexsasdad]

Mahrle,

There was some smarteam info posted to one of the threads that I started, 559-21647. Check that thread for some info.

Regards,

Mike

 

[alexsasdad]

Mahrle,

Sorry, I thought the thread number would be helpful but I couldn't figure out how to use it. If you list 20 threads per page, you will find the post called "PDM Works" on page 5.

Mike

 

[KWC]

Mahrle,

We are using SmartExpress. It is a lighter version of SmarTeam. Apparently some functionality is removed, but I'm not sure what is missing. At the moment we are just really starting to get it rolling and are only managing SolidWorks documents with it. Once we get the hang of it we will start to control other Engineering documents with the software. I am currently reviewing the SmarTeam add-on called SmartFlow, as we want to make our ECN process totally electronic.
I am just a beginner with the software but I will help you anyway I can.

Kevin

 

[mahrle]

Kevin,

Thanks for the feedback. We also are considering SmartExpress. How do you feel so far about its ease of use? Are you using SmartBom?

Thanks,
Mahrle

 

[Standing]

Check out PDM/Works. We used SmarTeam for about two years. We switched to PDM/Works. PDM/Works does not have all the bells that SmarTeam has, but is earier to use and cheaper too. Bradley

 

[MadMango]

My company is usings ProductCenter SolidWorks Integrator from Workgroup Technologies Corp. If anyone is currently using this, I would be interested in discussing further.

rreynolds@riconcorp.com "The attempt and not the deed confounds us."

 

[grobison]

Mahrle,

We are using smarteam and have smartexpress, smartdesk, smartflow, smartvault and everything works great.
It manages everything from assigning part numbers, saving all revisions, workflow between mutilple facilities via smartweb. Upon initial implementation we imported ~25000
autocad documents and linked attributes in the files to
smarteam profile cards. All solidworks custom property
mapping is automatic. I think I increased my productivity by
at least 50% by using this product due to property mapping
and the workflow options.

Any question you can let me know.

Greg Robison

 

[KWC]

Mahrle,

We are going through the learning phase right now. I'm not having too much trouble with it. I gave two of our better drafters some basic instructions that I created and they seem to be picking it up fairly well. We all had professional training with the software but it was so long before we actually started using it that we forgot what we learned. So the morel of the story is have your software installed and ready to go, get the training, come back and start using it right away. An additional problem we have is that our drafters only knew UNIX, so they are learning Win2000 at the same time.

We are not using SmartBom.

Greg looks like the guy we both should be brain picking.

Kevin

 

[deadeye]

Hey Greg,
I tried to send you an email but it came back as undeliverable. Where'd you go?

 

[grobison]

deadeye I'm here
try grobison@surebeam.com
or grobison@titan.com
or gregory.robison@titan.com

Greg

 

[RawheadRex]

I've posted about SmarTeam in the past and have hands on knowledge of what a nightmare the software can be (or used to be). My company purchased it in spring of 1999 and we gave it a heck of a run for almost a full year. I was tagged as the resident "guru" and spent at least an hour everyday on the telephone with the Application Engineers and Tech Support from SmarTeam itself. Being that their U.S. office is located in MA where my own company is located (not to mention SolidWorks headquarters) we also had people down trying to resolve all of the problems that were encountered over the course of our problematic year.

Bottom line, it turned out to be so much trouble that management decided to dump a very significant investment in time and money in favor of NO PDM SOFTWARE AT ALL. I have to admit that I was skeptical when they chose that route but believe it or not in many aspects this works better (at least for our group).

Anyhow regardless of all that one would want to believe that the product has improved since I last dealt with it hands-on. However, I have to echo the sentiments of other contributors to this thread and encourage you to look into PDM/Works who has a far superior reputation to SmarTeam overall (even among all of the VARs that I know). I've recently heard through the grapevine that SolidWorks actually has acquired PDM/Works so that ought to give an indication of the software's high esteem. Although in fairness SmarTeam has the same parent company as SolidWorks so there's a "family" connection there too.

What I know about SmarTeam is that it is a sophisticated and complex piece of software and when I used it very prone to bugs, errors, and other nasty behavior. Also at the time we had the full-blown version versus the dictatorial and non-customizable SolidWorks-centric version of the software. The majority of the problems that arose with SmarTeam were with the SolidWorks integration and vaulting functionality of the package. These impacted our design efforts quite significantly when we attempted to roll it out within the design engineering group after pilot testing. Basically it screwed up so much that we had much difficulty getting any actual work done and I had a line of whining engineers, designers, and drafters at my desk almost everyday when I arrived at the office. And you probably don't even want to know what it was like when I took a day off!

Anyhow I could go on for a very long time about this (if I haven't already) so here's what I'd like to impart in closing if you're seriously looking at SmarTeam.

1. You're going to need someone in the engineering design group to administer full-time. (DON'T BUY INTO ANYTHING THEY TRY TO SELL YOU THAT CONTRADICTS THIS OR YOU WILL REGRET IT.... I PROMISE!)

2. Put your best CAD guy on the implementation team. No offense intended to engineers but a designer or drafter with exceptionally strong SolidWorks skills (i.e. understands "manual" file management of solid models) will work best in most cases in my opinion as opposed to an engineer who might not necessarily eat, sleep and breathe SolidWorks. It's all the better if they understand programming, database, and networking concepts as well.

3. Plan on a fairly lengthy implementation/pilot period (I'd plan on 3-6 months at least).

4. Get management "buy-in." PDM software can't be perceived as a "choice" by the people using it. If it is you'll be sunk until management throws a public beating on any dissidents.

5. Formal training and standards regarding how to use the software are key as well. Everyone needs to know how to work with PDM in the same manner as the next person.

SmarTeam hopefully has improved in the years since I last dealt with it however regardless of that I encourage you to check out as many PDM packages as possible before deciding.

Please post additional questions if you'd like.

Best Regards,
Chris G.

 

[matrix027]

Hello ,

I am a mechanical engineer , and we use smarteam version 4.0
it seems that saving in smarteam takes a lot of time.
does anyone now how i can reduce this?
Also the check in and out times are verry slow.

thanks michael

 

[techwebspace]

HI,

We are using the lastest version of smarteam with CATIA and Autocad and we are very satisfied so far. I must say we have had a number of problems during the implimentation and there were performance issues during the initial startup. With the help of a Canadian business partner we managed to solve most of the problems.

At this point, I consider Smarteam the best solution price vs functionality. The product is stable but what is more important is when we had a system crash we were able to re-store the entire environment quickly.

good luck!