SAPPLM & Pro/E - Just say "NO"

[MugenPower]

Maybe "HELL NO" would be even better.


My company decided to replace Intralink (which worked flawlessly)with SAPPLM (which was cheaper but completely unproven). We switched over in April of this year and it has been an unmitigated disaster

A third party software company call .riess wrote the interface between SAP and Pro/E and left many holes. Their suggestions have been to dumb down the way that we use Pro - like discontinue use of family tables, remove the BOMs from the drawings, don't show balloons on drawings etc, to overcome the shortcomings of their interface. This was totally unacceptable so our IT folks tried to make workarounds with very little success. As a result, drawing release has completely ceased in many cases. Best case is that it now takes much longer to accomplish,


The big selling point for going to SAP (other than the supposed cost savings) was that it was supposed to make things much easier for those downstream of engineering, like our contract manufacuring engineering group and our contract manufacturers, but it has yet to work at all for them. Those responsible forchampioningour migration to SAPwill not admit fault and have no fall back plan so we are committed to live (or die) with it as our DBMS. Another case of logic being thrown out the window for politics and economics

Edited by: MugenPower

 

[zpaolo]

I understand your frustration, the company I work for is abandoning Intralink and has been working with an external software house to implement a reverse engineered solution to adapt a data management system born for storing AutoCAD drawings to Pro|E. I was not involved in the choice at the time, but my fear for family tables and other format issues are the same.

At the end of the day, having largely reduced the number of CAD designers and due to financial problems, we are now working without a data management system at all, but I'd rather work this way than have to go mad adapting to a sub-standard solution...

 

[MugenPower]

When the powers that be started hearing rumors that Intralink was being phased out and would soon be unsupported, they formed a committee (of which I was amember)to explore other options. We had started to look at Windchill, Agile and another whose name escapes me at the moment but before we got very far along, my company bought another company that used SAPPLM along with SolidWorks. The acquired company had numerous unused SAPPLM licensesand theyconvincedour IT guys that it could be adapted for use with Pro/E. Maybe if we had dumbed down our methodology like the SW guys did it would have been OK but as is stands, SAPPLM is much more of a hindrance than a help. I'm just hoping that we aren't going to be forced to go the SW next

Edited by: MugenPower

 

[Francisdt]

Are familiar with .reiss ?


They write a direct integration for ProE & SAP PLM

 

[MugenPower]

Yes, we are using.reiss integration software and it is underwhelming, to say the least. They are very slow to adapt it to newer versions of Pro so we are stranded on WF3 indefinately. After a year and a half + of using SAPPLM, I've become accustomed to it but it has so many issues that it is just frustrating to work with and a large time waster. It also flies in the face of collaborative design - more than 1 person working on an assembly simultaneously spells trouble. The promised benefits to downstream users (e.g. contract manufacturers) has also yet to appear. Just say "NO" still applies

Edited by: MugenPower

 

[ChiefCAD]

Pro/E- Creo direct integration to SAP

MugenPower-- I was hoping you could update me on your experience with the Pro/E (now Creo) integration to SAP by .riess. I am aware .riess is a German company and therefore I am not sure if you are located in the United States or in Europe.

Did you have .riess implement the solution or did you hire outside consulting services? I find it surprising to read your review of the direct integrations poor performance since its main function is to optimize your entire engineering/product development process, not slow it down (would you say the training/learning curve on your companies part was a big issue after the implementation?).

I look forward to your response.

Greetings!

Yes, we are using.reiss integration software and it is underwhelming, to say the least. They are very slow to adapt it to newer versions of Pro so we are stranded on WF3 indefinately. After a year and a half + of using SAPPLM, I've become accustomed to it but it has so many issues that it is just frustrating to work with and a large time waster. It also flies in the face of collaborative design - more than 1 person working on an assembly simultaneously spells trouble. The promised benefits to downstream users (e.g. contract manufacturers) has also yet to appear. Just say "NO" still applies

Edited by: MugenPower