CAD Consolidation: CAD Collaboration, CAD Data Migration, and More

Manufacturers typically purchase multiple tools for different reasons like meeting customer requirements, the needs of their employees, developing industry/product demands, and more. Ideally, the goal is to find a single CAD platform that meets industry/product requirements, can provide all the functionality needed, is easy enough to use for all users, while also including the ability to add extensions/features for ongoing growth.

Why CAD Consolidation?

Your organization has been using disparate programs to design products for a long time. The longer this goes on, the more people get accustomed to inefficient processes and simply start disregarding the hassles that often arise. However, CAD consolidation is key to improving processes and business overall:

• Improve CAD collaboration: Consolidating makes it easier to communicate throughout the entire product design process. Regardless of location, teams can more easily share design intent, review changes, and more.
• Increase productivity: Manage the entire product development process seamlessly between teams by eliminating the need for data translation and improve overall communication. Using one platform increases the chance of part and design reuse and makes it easier to fully leverage IP and legacy data.
• Speed up time-to-market: When communication and productivity improve, products get to market faster.
• Improve product quality: When everyone is working within a single platform, the chance for human error is significantly reduced and product quality improves.
• Reduce costs: CAD consolidation means no more managing different technology contracts and payments. By finding the right platform, you can consolidate everything into one solution, significantly simplifying the management of subscription and perpetual maintenance contracts.

CAD consolidation can be an essential part of your digital transformation strategy. Using a single CAD system creates a single digital thread that connects everything throughout the design and production environment.

Finding the Right Solution for CAD Consolidation

Finding the right CAD platform for consolidation is essential in making this process work. You want to consolidate on a platform that includes all the features you need and that also provides extensions/options for growth. You don’t want to have to supplement with other tools – since that defeats the entire purpose. Make sure to ask yourself:

• Does this CAD system have the tools I need now? Does it have tools I will need in the future?
• Can I access my non-native files and legacy data?
• How easy is it to get my team up to speed? How long will it take for me and my team to become proficient?
• Are there clear ROI metrics that prove the benefits of consolidation?

Future CAD Tools

Migrating or consolidating CAD platforms is no easy task. To stay competitive, you’ll want to have access to the latest tools and optimization technologies to design innovative products. You can’t just think about your needs now, it’s important to also think about your needs in the future as your business grows.

CAD Data Migration

Besides finding a platform with the features you need, it’s important to find a solution that will allow you to transfer legacy data. Many engineers leverage and modify existing designs, so you don’t want to set your company back years by losing tons of existing work just for a new CAD system. Find a solution that makes it easy to migrate data, or even better can open any CAD file regardless of the original design platform.

Training and Support

If you’re consolidating CAD solutions,  you want to minimize the learning curve as much as possible. Training should be focused on the products you make and how you model rather than learning tiny details of the software that you will never use. Finding a platform that offers this type of training helps to ensure that you have as smooth of a transition as possible.

CAD Consolidation with PTC Creo

PTC Creo is the ideal solution for CAD consolidation. It combines powerful tools and functionality with extensions and advanced packages for growth so you can develop the products of tomorrow. As a PTC reseller, 3 HTi has worked in the discrete manufacturing space for over 18 years. Over this time, we have worked with design and engineering teams using all types of CAD systems and find that Creo consistently meets the needs of our highly-technical clients. Creo helps these companies design superior CAD models with intelligence for improved manufacturing.

Now – let’s look back on that list of questions from earlier:

• Does this CAD system include the tools I need now and in the future? Creo includes a powerful and innovative design environment and is the most robust CAD software on the market today. It has an easy-to-use interface, and annual updates add new innovative tools with every release.
• Can I access my non-native files? Creo makes CAD data migration simple. Using Unite Technology, users can import and open files from all the top CAD systems without additional licenses or buggy conversion software.
• What about training? We train our customers in a way they want to be trained. At 3 HTi we take the time to understand your manufacturing needs, including how your design and engineering department works. We then tailor our training based on your needs for quick adoption and proficiency.
• Are there clear ROI metrics that prove the benefits of consolidation? CAD consolidation is not always the best solution for every manufacturer. If you want to explore if CAD Consolidation makes sense for your company, let us know. We have helped many of our customers develop metrics to see if there is an ROI that supports moving forward with this process.

PTC Creo is the ideal solution for CAD consolidation. It provides all the engineering tools you need to design products, improve CAD collaboration, streamline CAD data migration, and more.

Ready to Learn More About CAD Consolidation?

Fill out the form below, and we will have one of our specialists connect with you to see if consolidation makes sense for your business. We are interested in solving your problem and helping to grow your business.