Managing CAD revisions with multiple contributors can be a challenging task, especially when you need to keep track of changes, avoid conflicts, and communicate effectively. In this article, you will learn some tips and best practices to help you streamline your CAD revision process and collaborate more efficiently with your team.
One of the first steps to manage CAD revisions with multiple contributors is to choose a CAD software that supports collaboration features, such as cloud storage, version control, and real-time editing. These features can help you access, share, and update your CAD files from anywhere, without worrying about losing data or overwriting each other's work. Some examples of CAD software with collaboration features are Autodesk Fusion 360, SolidWorks PDM, and Onshape.
In the ever evolving space of manufacturing, collaboration is, now more than ever, one of the most important aspects of quality CAD designs. I have been involved in design in both large and small companies and I have always valued the smaller work environments higher where I had the luxury of working directly beside my team, usually within the same room. However in larger environments it is important to maintain ease of collaboration with colleagues by using CAD software that offers cloud based storage, and real time editing, to ensure everyone needed on the project has access and no one is editing files without the rest of the team being able to track changes.
Another important step to manage CAD revisions with multiple contributors is to establish a consistent naming and numbering system for your CAD files, folders, and drawings. This can help you organize your CAD data, identify the latest versions, and avoid confusion and duplication. A naming and numbering system should include information such as project name, part name, revision number, date, and author. You can also use prefixes, suffixes, and separators to make your naming and numbering system more clear and readable.
It is critical that each part file is labeled with a unique part number to prevent miscommunication and confusion during collaboration on the project. It is ok to maintain some semblance of similarity within the name of the parts if it is necessary to differentiate that these parts are from the same family however, there should be something within the name that differentiates the parts from each other within the part family. It can be as simply as calling one part in and assembly 1001 and the other part 1002. It is also very valuable to people manufacturing the parts if rev changes are documented describing the changes that were made to the part. This allows someone to understand what it is that changed about the part quickly and easily.
To manage CAD revisions with multiple contributors effectively, you also need to define roles and responsibilities for your team members, such as who can create, edit, review, and approve CAD files, and who is responsible for managing the revision history and documentation. You can use tools such as CAD permissions, workflows, and notifications to assign and monitor roles and responsibilities, and ensure that everyone follows the agreed-upon rules and standards.
Every team needs clearly defined roles and responsibilities to work efficiently and effectively. This is true in many aspects, not just CAD design. It is easy to get in the way of progress if you do not have set expectations for everyone within the team. It is crucial to define these responsibilities early to ensure projects are executed with precision, quality, and in a timely manner.
Another way to manage CAD revisions with multiple contributors is to use comments and annotations to communicate and provide feedback on your CAD files. Comments and annotations can help you explain your design decisions, suggest improvements, ask questions, and resolve issues. You can use tools such as CAD comments, markups, and redlines to add comments and annotations to your CAD files, and make them visible to your team members. You can also use tags, filters, and statuses to organize and prioritize your comments and annotations.
To manage CAD revisions with multiple contributors, you also need to review and compare revisions regularly, to ensure that your CAD files are accurate, complete, and up to date. You can use tools such as CAD compare, diff, and merge to review and compare revisions, and see what changes have been made, by whom, and when. You can also use tools such as CAD check, validation, and verification to review and compare revisions, and ensure that your CAD files meet the design specifications and requirements.
Regular meetings to discuss what has changed and what needs to change is required to ensure the project continues moving forward in a timely manner. It is important to note that there should be some effort put into communicating before the meeting, explaining what is to be discussed and what everyone should bring with them. This will ensure the conversation is productive and expedient.
The final step to manage CAD revisions with multiple contributors is to document and archive revisions, to keep a record of your CAD data and its evolution. You can use tools such as CAD logs, reports, and metadata to document and archive revisions, and capture information such as revision number, date, author, changes, comments, and approvals. You can also use tools such as CAD backup, export, and purge to document and archive revisions, and save, transfer, and delete your CAD data as needed.
Documenting the revisions along the way is very important to the understanding of the design. You must know both where you are and where you came from. It will help to understand the reasoning behind the changes that were made. I would note that it is vital that you update the revisions on the Blue Print of a part to ensure the manufacturers know exact what changed and when. It helps to limit confusion and non-conforming parts after a revision.