Creo, windchill VS solidworks

[cncwhiz]

I am not trying to start a proe/ solid works topic. I am looking for some help on which way to go. Currently we are running WF2.0 with intralink 3.4. They are finally looking at upgrading us to be back with the real world. I understand that creo has a different gui than wf2.0. Changing from intralink to windchill looks to also be a major issue. I am also looking into solidworks to see what else is involved in changing software. I also run pro manufacturing and have very custom post processors that took years to develop into what I have now. Does solidworks have a CAM package? How much time as well as headache is their post configuration? I am a heavy user of proe parameters to drive the documentations that I build. I pretty much live and breathe proe/ proman on a daily bases. I know that this is a large amount of questions but this is what I need to know.

Thanks
Terry

 

[cgosnell]

Going from WF2 and Ilink 3.4 to something like CREO1 or 2
and Windchill 10 will be about as different as going to
Solidworks 2012. The only difference will be the
automatic opening of old .prt, .asm, etc... files in CREO
as opposed to SW.

Solidworks is not an 'all in one' software suite as is
older software like PTC pro-e / CREO. SW concentrates in
design and CAE, and allows other software to be tightly
integrated in this environment. Running NC in SW can be
similar to working in MS Word and embedding a table or
spreadsheet, you will seem to be working with EXCEL
inside of WORD.

If your post is GPOST or ICAM, there is no reason you
can't keep using this as an external post-processor along
with a suitable NC software package that outputs NCL
files. look for 'Gold' partner software that is fully
integrated into SW.

If you decide to go to SW, will you be using a PDM system
like Windchill?

 

[ProE_Addict]

Don't switch to SW. From one Pro/Lover to another, you'll agonize everyday.


If you test out SW, try to do something similar to Copy Geometry, replace edge in sketcher, sketch a conic arc, or create a custom mapkey.


SW uses edges exclusively for projecting onto sketch planes and looses these references frequently (i.e. fail, fail fail, delete and remodel)


Don't let any SW saleman tell you that you can import your ProE models and featurize them (unless your company makes hockey pucks, this rarely works with usable results - especially on plastic parts)


Here's my list of positives/negatives


2012-07-11_092917_CAD_Comparison.zip

 

[SRINIVASANIYER1]

With a PTC suite in place, it would only be wise to go in
for the latest that PTC has to offer. Your data remains
intact including the feature history.

 

[AaronMejia]

I will only say that I work at a large company and we decided to get our SW users to use Windchill Work Group Manager for SW first, and migrate them from SW toCreo 3as a second step. During our tests, it was fun to hear the engineers that were performing the tests and are SW experts refer to it as "SometimesWorks", but Creo isn't bullet proof either.


Due to the nature of our products, we make heavy use of SheetMetal and large assemblies. If it was us, we'd stick to Creo / Windchill as it integrates better than the SW alternative, but that's just my humble opinion.