PDM Recommendations...

[dbower]

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Good Morning,





We had made the the decision to go with PTC's Productpoint, but as
I'm sure you're all aware, it is being retired. Full blown Windchill
is more than we need.





We are a small group, 6-8 Pro/e Users. Maybe 15-20 people would be
using the PDM system. Any others in the same boat as us? Would be
interested to hear what others are using.





Thanks,


David
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[gfogler]

David,


I understand what you are going through, we are in the same boat right now. We are taking this opertunity to look at Autodesk and Solidworks as well as PTC's PDM Link. I have yet to see them all yet so I cannot give you a complete opinion on my evaluation. I have seen Solidworks PDM software and it looks nice, I have talked with the Autodesk Rep and I am expecting something very similar with it. I have talked with my PTC VAR and I am waiting for them to set up a time for me to see their PDM Link, suppossedly that is what PTC is reccommending that we go to with them. I should know more by the end of the month. I am taking my time reviewing the replacement softwares.


Gary

 

[gfogler]

David,


I have had an opportunity to look at PTC's solution and two other vendors. During my demonstration on PDM link, the demonstrator had a lot of the same connection issues that we are currently experiencing with ProductPoint with their "solution." Both of the other solutions that we looked at seemed to run a lot smoother and quicker than PDM Link of PTC. For the cost I am going to do a little more research on Autodesk Vault. If I buy their professional version, I get the integration package that will allow me to attach the server to Pro-E just like I do with ProductPoint. With the professional package I believe that I can integrate the file management package with my office products and Autocad. With PDM Link I have to buy an additional add-on to be able to integrate it to Autocad. Even though the upfront cost is slightly higher, it appears the subscription costs are going to be less and the spead and customization are going to be improved using Autodesk Vault. I am going to be talking to my reseller for some additional testing. Hope this information helps you.

 

[AaronMejia]

David:


I can tell you that, for a large company like the one I work on, PTC's Windchill beats the AutoDesk solution easily, but I'm talking about a company with over 2,000 users in Engineering alone. For us, its web-based integration with Pro/E works just fine, but even for us Windchill packs more than we actually use. We have segregated Windchill into 4 separate "systems" to make it easier to use. My point is, for a small team like yours, Windchill may be just too much and you'll probably be better off with simpler solutions like AutoDesk's or even ProductCenter.


I can not tell you about the solution from SolidWorks because I haven't worked with it. Over here, we are moving out Inventor users and AutoDesk's softare to Pro/E - PDMLink. I can tell you two things for sure about AutoDesk's vaults in large enterprises: 1.- Despite what the sales rep tells you, it doesn't fully integrate with Pro/E. PDMLink 9.1 didn't fully integrate with Inventor or autocad, but I haven't tried with Windchill 10. 2.- Our help desks get a lot more support calls for AutoDesk softwares that for PTC's.


About connection problems, Windchill is web-based, so if you configure it correctly you shouldn't have any issues... but configuring it is a nightmare by itself. I just configured a server for our training environment and you have to deal with Aphelion, Apache, Oracle and, of course, PDMLink servers. The advantage of it being web-based, is that you can access it from any web browser on any computer in your company. For a large company that means a sales rep without Pro/E installed on his computer can connect to our vpn from Vietnam and access the files just uploaded by an engineer in Brazil, but like I said, it packs more that what you'll probably need. I hope it helps.

 

[airion]

My company has been using Solidworks Enterprise PDM for a little over a year now.I would not reccommend using it for ProE data.


Early on they helped us fixed a lot of the bugs, but eventually we were ignored. BOM's don't always load completely during check in, so you end up manually searching indvidual parts to get the latest version, just so an assembly can load the parts that are in there. It also will launch additional ProE windows sometimes during check in and other operations, which in turn takes another license. The integrated menu in ProE is highly unreliable, and using it puts you at risk of crashing and/or locking up both ProE and PDM. Sometimes things won't actually save even though you have them checked out.


We are looking to switch to something else. PTC's PDM Link looks like the best fit, but they are considering other products also.