What are some strategies for managing CAD data complexity?

The level of management required depends on the complexity of the system you are designing and your level in the supply chain network. A top-level OEM designing cars, trains, and automobiles will need a full scale PLM system such as 3DEXPERIENCE, Teamcenter, or Windchill. A smaller tier 1 or tier 2 supplier could use those tools or save some money by using the cloud-based versions given that the exchange formats and methods are decided in advance with the OEM. Small manufacturers of sub-assemblies and simpler products (appliances, toys, etc.) can use smaller team-centric CAD solutions like Onshape and then cloud-based management tools like OpenBOM. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are enough choices to find that works!

I would highly recommend using a data management tool, preferably the same software or publisher as the CAD tool the team is using. It saves the company so much time and helping the engineering team automate the process.

do not start any production with cad software unless the purpose of the service has been fully verbalised and designed in your mind. always work with more than 1 cad programme so that you can get different results and checks that can support each other. before the production order is given, test the operation of all parts in a complete cad environment.

One thing I have found using Autodesk360 Document Manager is very helpful in terms of managing data and sharing real-time progress across teams and management.

One important aspect is to use common standards and formats for data creation, exchange, and storage. This ensures consistency across platforms and minimizes compatibility issues. Additionally, employing a good product data management system can streamline data organization, version control, and change management, reducing complexity and improving efficiency. Utilizing data management tools and software that allow for efficient searching, filtering, and extracting of CAD features can also help in managing complexity. Taking these strategies into consideration can greatly contribute to effective CAD data management and reduce complexities associated with it.

Schedule a meeting or training sessions with your CAD reseller. They normally don't charge for these sessions as part of being their VAR or value added reseller. The tips and tricks sessions go along way in teaching users to simplify models and processes.

One thing I have found is that making drawings with minimal repetition of data in a single sheet makes the drawings more simple and readable.

Um maneira de simplificar os modelos, é determinar a quantidade de recursos necessários do CAD. Fazer com que esses recursos sejam o mínimo possível, exigindo menos recursos do CAD, exige menos da máquina e Fatal error.

Es una buena estrategia la simplificación de los modelos, puesto que en el proceso de dise?o, se puede modificar algo y sería mucha la perdida de tiempo, si desde un comienzo se incluyen todos los detalles.

-I think we can also break the complex design to different parts and can combined them according to design nature. If your model is simple then you can think of it's output which is difficult to find for complex model.

Having a best practices process for file naming and organization should be set up on every company's workflow process. The amount of time and resources you save can help hit project deadlines and improve the quality of your process.

one thing I have found is that while naming a file make sure it has a project and client name or initiation so that in future it will be very simple to get the required data from the pile of archives.

Revision control is very important in best practices. Create a logical and standardized part numbering system. The structure of the part number should convey information about the part, such as its type, category, and other relevant details.

Ter um padr?o de arquivos, facilita e deixa organizado todos os modelos de arquivos. Usando nomes específicos, projetos, revis?es, ano de execu??o, entre outros meios de organiza??o. Podendo utilizar um 5S.

La nomenclatura y organización de archivos es importante, pero es diferente en cada empresa. Por ejemplo, en una empresa en que trabajé, tenía solo los números y nombre de la empresa y el nombre del plano. En su tiempo de producción, tenian retrasos, y este era uno de los motivos, les faltaba orden y organización. Otra tenía absolutamente todo especificado y solo se indicaba en el lugar exacto en que estaba con un enlace, y con un solo click se encontraba el archivo que se necesitaba. La última empresa en que estuve, era bastante el desorden, solo tenían un código para cada carpeta, y muchas veces no se encontraban los planos, porque se colocaba todo junto. En ocasiones tenían que volver hacer el plano.

Keep in mind that standard formats and protocols are required for exchanging data with other users OUTSIDE your current platform. When you are using a single platform like Windchill+, TeamcenterX, or 3DEXPERIENCE, you can work directly on the full CAD format. However, when exchanging with suppliers or contract manufacturers or designers, you may need to export data and this is best done using STEP242 as it is the most complete specification that is supported by all major CAD and PLM platforms. There are proprietary formats as well such as JT (Siemens), PV (PTC), or XPDMXML (DS), but these are primarily useful when the same CAD system is the target (respectively NX, Creo, or CATIA).

By adhering to these standard formats and protocols, you can facilitate efficient and accurate data exchange between different CAD systems, promoting collaboration and interoperability across diverse design environments.

Using standard formats and protocols should hold true if you are using one software tool. If you have multiple tools under different software publishers, then that is a big challenge. You will need to convert those files every time you need to collaborate/share each file or project.

We use neutral file formats to communicate with vendors and customers, but data intelligence isn’t retained in these formats. A number of add-on packages are available, and they can facilitate the exchange of intelligent data between different software platforms. On average, each time design data is updated and output either to or from our mechanical design software to our PCB design software, our engineers estimate that they save 2 to 4 hours – the time they didn’t have to spend adding the intelligence back into their design.

If you have multiple users ad multiple locations, you better have standards in your data and CAD files. Layers, colors, text, dimension styles and units are critical to data management integration

Adding the documenting and communicating process on your workflow helps everyone on the team. If someone goes on vacation or if a project has been passed on to another group, it's very important the next group or person can go back on notes if needed to make changes.

A documenta??o do produto é uma etapa essencial tanto para a fase de desenvolvimento do produto, como para etapas subsequentes de utiliza??o/manuten??o do produto. Os artefatos do produto possibilitam que o projeto seja revisto com maior assertividade e eficiência. Uma boa estrutura??o dessas informa??es pode trazer grandes benefícios para um desenvolvimento de produtos cada vez mais avan?ado e eficaz. Esse assunto tem sido bastante estudado na academia relacionando-o aos gêmeos digitais.

Know/Read about the instruments you are drawing into projects! Guessing is not productive. Having a man in the field to fix your "Guess" is costly. When a machine leaves the plant/It should work as designed..just doing some homework could save thousands $.

The software manufacture houses, offers tools for store, share, control and administrate all technical documents. From my experience, i've got the oportunity to work with Autodesk BIM 360 in buildings projects, which integrate all workteam involved, with many options for control the manage and flow of the documentation, and at the same time can give opinions about the designs of all teams. This avoids using other unofficial communication channels. For face-to-face or non-face-to-face communications between work teams, traditional means can be used, such as email, video conferences and phone calls.

Providing training and education to CAD users on best practices for data management can significantly improve efficiency and reduce complexity. This includes training on CAD software features, data organization, and file management techniques.

Recent merger and acquisition trends are driving the need to merge CAD data sets. In two of our acquisitions, we spent too many man-hours sorting through engineering data that was rat-holed all across the network, on local hard drives, and sometimes even on removable drives. One of our acquisitions brought in a company that was using a completely different software system than we had standardized on. Data management is a critical business requirement at any scale. If you are a large organization, the need may be more obvious, but even as a small company, comprehensive version control, data sharing, access control, and avoiding data loss offer enough value to look into available data management systems and find one that fits your needs.

Arquivos CAD foram um padr?o de comunica??o da constru??o civil por muitos ano no Brasil, sendo inclusive utilizado até hoje, porém poucos profissionais tem real domínio das ferramentas e principalmente fluxos de trabalho, o que torna um desafio a realiza??o de trabalhos colaborativos que envolvam diferentes empresas e profissionais. Mesmo com o advento do BIM o CAD ainda se mostra uma ferramenta importante, principalmente no processo de aprendizado dos novos profissionais, mas infelizmente está cada vez mais raro encontrar profissionais com um nível avan?ado ou mesmo intermediário nestas ferramentas.

Respecto al análisis de elementos finitos en Software de dise?o asistido por computador, como Autodesk Inventor, sí este pesa demasiado, lo mejor es realizar el análisis por partes, cuando tenemos un proyecto demasiado grande, donde el software podría estar un día completo haciendo este análisis. De esta manera nos ahorramos tiempo.

The CAD drawings were very vague...due to rushed production.. In 2013..Rushed production failed! The Sales staff should not make unreasonable promises. At $10,000 a day for late delivery is not acceptable and should not be tolerated. And hiring 100 + or - workers that have no clue did not help. A lot of gray hair that year!

Algo que aprendí con los a?os, es no dejar los detalles para último momento, muchas veces peque?os detalles hacer que una solución no funciones y se necesite replantear (eto lleva a que se genere un retraso y una pérdida económica).