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Pro/E vs. Solidworks (THE WINNER IS!)

my opinion like 6 years Proe user



Finally for everyone of us the most important is to do the work
faster,better and if is possible without a lot of work

May be the software we like is software we understand better

For very complicated instance of design i think Proe is better than SW

Sw is easier to learn;simply to use;very friendly;;;;;;;;

But for me is imprtant the same a verry good product
management,and until you sale the products is long,,,,,,,, long
way,,,,,,,,,



And until now Sw is not very inovative product

The SW programers try to have the same functionality of software like others High End package



After you see is easily to produce the same software

I think PTC have much more in comune with real engineering than SW company producer



And SW is finaly child of Catia,,,,,,,,



Cristel
 
When we decided to dump CoCreate we looked at both SW and ProE. Biggest drawback to SW was the drawing package. It was just too weak.


Gary
 
Update: We are now starting a competition between Pro/E guys and SolidWorks guys. We have given them a project to complete and then present to upper management. The company expects to make a decision on which system to implement before the end of the year. So far everything we have researched they are basically even. Pro/E can do more functions but SolidWorks seems to get along better with AutoCAD which is the system we are using now. I will update when I have more information. Thanks to everyone who replied. I still would like more replies from people because we will bundle all the information we have gathered and present it to the President of the company.

Thanks

John
 
Good luck on the testing! If you don't mind giving specific details of the test after completion, I'm sure others, including myself,will be very interested in your results.
 
That would be really interesting JVF-Design to see what the project is and how you are going to judge what is positive and what is negative. Do you think you could share your results with us....


... I did something similar with the design of a robotic arm, I was getting input from lots of people in my department about what criteria to judge on. political standings meant that the matrix was huge so I decided to select a core group of criteria that was important to our business.


This exercise should shave about 6 to 7 hours off your life span if it goes anything like mine did!!!
smiley4.gif

Edited by: pmcgowan
 
I have to ask why you wouldn't consider the latest 3D offering from
AutoCAD in the mix. If indeed there is a large database already
in AutoCAD, a broad base of experienced users and a previous "de facto"
standard, why switch?



If there is need to carry forward work from AutoCAD Pro/E is probably
one of the worst pieces of software for importing data and working
concurrently with other software packages. I can only surmise
that PTC has purposely choosen to create problems in an ill advised
attempt to force customers into a one vendor solution.



I've heard SW will take Pro/E 2001 files and import them with
intelligent features. WF of course PTC has changed to "protect"
their customer base. It's been my experience that this is
standard operating proceedure at PTC. That is, screw the customer
and do whatever the marketing geniuses think will force the users to
buy more software from PTC because of inconveniece rather than stand on
it's own merits. Failure to offer the Intralink client for Linux
is a prime example.



The SW vs Pro/E debate makes nice foder for discussion groups but there
are other very capable CAD systems that also deserve a look if you are
considering the huge step of replacing a large installed base of
AutoCAD.



-B. Hayden-
 
Hello


I just started using wildfire again after being in SolidWorks world for two years. I had problems adjusting to SW in the beginning but really got used to it, really wished I could have had more time on it. SW had tricks just like any other CAD package, ways around LARGE assemblies and drawings. But SW seems to be ahead of PRO-E in the user inter-face, PROthere alot of commands being made fora small amount of work...Anyway BACK to WILDFIRE....Those of you saying that PROhas better marketability watch out soon its all going to be OVER-SEA.....Keep the home fires burnin.....





OUT


smiley18.gif
 
I have used CATIA and SW since 1996 and Proe since 2003. When i started learning Proe i missed SW and on every mouse click, but now i like Proe very much too. The ease of use andpotential of SW is amazing. Proe still lacks the first one. Both are very capable so don
 
dept664 said:
When we decided to dump CoCreate we looked at both SW and ProE. Biggest drawback to SW was the drawing package. It was just too weak.


Gary
Click to expand...


Hey Gary, we also Cocreate users, since 1990, and we also look to dump OneSpace Designer. Mainly we design plastic parts and we have to much problems with blends and tapers. We did a benchmarking with 6 other packages and or own exercise and the winnersare Pro/E and Solid Works. Now we need to decide which of both we takes and that's not so easy.
 
jvf-design,


I would be interested learn your results also. I've been used pro-e when it was called PT-Modeler in the the mid nineties, and currently use WF2. I use to swear alot when I used Pro-E.


I've just started using Solidworks 2004 and like the software so far, I think solidworks is easy to learn, costs less than the PTC software line.


lae_low
 
Update:

Below is a list of motivational factors that has prompted the evaluation of a new software. The competition between SolidWorks and Pro/Engineer is in process. I will add an update later as to the problems to be solved and the results.

*Attracting new engineering talent is difficult.
*Converting ProE/Solidworks engineers to AutoCad isdifficult.
*Autocad does not have seamless features we need: sheetmetal, analysis
*Autocad has infrequently been unable to create some geometry.
*Some Autocad users are not using Autosolids forcing the need to outsource creation of 3D data off our 2D prints.
*Our archival and revision management is a manual process, sometimes not upheld, making change management easier, but not complete.
*We do not share engineering resources and information fluidly.
*We do not share software licenses of Cosmos and Autocad corporately.
*One engineering group implemented four seats of Solidworks and has very positive results.
*Another engineering group has three seats of ProE. Productivity and analysis capabilities have been enhanced.

JVF
 
I love to hear how SW is much cheaper the ProE, it is really not anymore when you compare packages.
I also love to hear how fast someone can create a model. I can create models quickly in UG, however try and change things and modify them, requires many clicks and such and no one can figure out what others did.What you have to worry about in the end is good models and being able to modify them. We found SW lacked some of the tools that ProE has.
We looked at both in the past as a company and found that the large assys in SW were very lacking, surfacing and analysis was not as good. IF you are doing simple things than any cad package will do, it depends on what you are doing.Advanced surfacing PTC has the better product.
Data management is also a big deal and the package that SW has is a joke. Its a glorified Information Services product that can be tricked. I hear of companys using PTC products and others for Data management of Solidworks files, now you are dealing with2 companysfor software.
As for the learning curve I would say WF2 has closed the gap with SW.
We had a model recently that the SWs guys were monkeying with and could not analyze with cosmos. They spent over a week and even brougt a SW engineer in and they still could not get it to run. Finally they asked us to look at it in Mechanica. Analysis was done in minutes. For some reason SW and Cosmos could not handle the meshing of some surfaces where mechnica did.
 
Update: Below is a simplified list of what we asked both vendors to demonstrate, this is some of the things we do daily. They have had 2 weeks to prepare and have only 5 hours to present.
 
Update:

The Presentations were held and both had their highs and lows, after all the presentations were done we created a spreadsheet and asked everyone to rate the different areas of the presentations......guess what? They both scored within 1% of each other. We still do not have a clear choice. We finally received quotes from both SolidWorks and Pro/Engineer......guess what? They are basically the same price. Still no clear winner. We are now starting to dig deeper into the analysis capabilities, the data management capabilities along with what can be done with our current AutoCAD data. I will keep posting updates until a clear winner arises. If anyone has any comments or suggestions I welcome them.

JVF
 
JVF,


Just a thought. . . I gather your company will be consolidating to one CAD software when all is said and done. Do you plan on doing any testing using your own people? I suggest developing a simplified test (due to time constraints and money involved)and have each team tackle it using the "other" CAD software. In other words, your Pro/Egroup will use SolidWorks, and vice versa. This should be a good test on how quickly your designers and engineers can adapt to the possible new software they may have to use based on your testing.
 
THE WINNER IS......PRO/ENGINEER, with an alternative.

We wanted to implement a software package that would benefit our company. SolidWorks would be a great enhancement to our company for the most part, but we felt we had a little more power with Pro/E, at least from an R & D standing. The two softwares are very close for the most part in capabilities and on cost, but Pro/E seems to get you closer to the solution. Our decision group has written an AFE to corporate for the implementation of Pro/E as the preferred system with SolidWorks as an alternative. I will give an update as to the final outcome when we hear back from corporate.

Thanks again for everyones input.

JVF
 
Good Afternoon,


If what is read is corrrect, your faciliity does design through manufacturing. With that said, if you are going to realize the most out of ProE, then you would have to try and convert your manufacturing group to also go Pro for the full integration and streamlined process. Then and only then would your realize the maximum benefit from Pro. If they are currently using Mastercam or other, then (and I hate to say it) Solid works would be the way to go IF you do not plan on converting your manufacturing group.


Now, if your manufacturing group is willing to look at changing over their process to Pro then your are talking about a huge expense to get this to work. To start, a license for up to five axis cabability is around $15,000.00. That is just for ONE license. Next you are talking about training, system implementation, and do not forget, post processors. The post processor is what takes the information from pro and converts it to machine code. Without this critical link, you can not run your machines. Post processors takes time to develop and is an additional expense. There are ways to reduce the cost, but changing manufacturing is a HUGE implementation. In the long run though, you can really reap the benefits of an integrated streamlined process!!!! It reduces engineering time, time to market, and can be automated to help manufacturing reduce process times.


If you still have questions, please feel free to e-mail me. I used to work for PTC as a Manufacturing Implementation Consultant and haveset up manufacturing groups with Pro! Good luck!


Christopher
 
Christopher,


Your argument does not hold water at all. From what I read he did not talk about programming cnc's. And pro and soild works will both have to IGES files in and there is not advantage or disadvantage at all between the two. You sound like a soild works salesman to me?
 
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