In a recent global product development survey, one big difference in the design process came to light between larger enterprises and Small to Medium Businesses: The use of Product Data Management, or PDM, Software. Of those surveyed, 29% of SMB’s currently run a commercial PDM solution compared to 75% of larger companies.
For many smaller companies, different product data is stored in different location and formats, making it difficult to cross-reference all information that’s related to a particular product. Often shared folders and ftp sites are used to manage and transfer information. These are easy to setup but come with some serious restrictions; particularly as the company and the amount of data being managed grow.
Access rights and security are impossible to control, revision management becomes ‘last save wins’, data is often duplicated, non-CAD users can’t see design data until late in the process, problems in producing Bills of Materials or where used reports.
Many of the commercially available PDM systems require too much configuration and management to be valid solutions for smaller companies, however this doesn’t have to be the case. PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is a streamlined solution for SMB’s, based on PTC’s Windchill software, allowing companies to manage CAD data and Documents.
PDM Essentials is easy to deploy, easy to use and easy to maintain and provides numerous benefits including:
–Shortened time-to-market – Increases development efficiency via early visibility and collaboration allowing access to single source of product data for all roles to facilitate concurrent engineering, analysis, manufacturing, etc.–Improves quality and innovation
– Enhanced communication and collaboration improves quality and innovation, increasing the effective utilization of company knowledge and IP.
–Reduces development and manufacturing costs – Helps eliminate errors due to version control, improves data reuse and efficiency through quick searches, and ensures formats are automatically generated upon release for use by manufacturing, purchasing, etc.
To find out more about PDM Essentials and to see how PDM software could benefit your business, contact us on 0845 453 4101 or email us at sales@highpeaksystems.com