Worried about mixing up versions or losing data between sites? Take steps to unify your Design and Production Facilities

SolidWorks^® Enterprise PDM (product data management) software is enabling a U.K.-based aerospace design firm to collaborate across 14 time zones without worrying about mixing up versions or losing important ideas and modifications between sites.

Aero Sense Technologies Ltd. purchased 25 seats of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software to coordinate operations between its production facility in Sri Lanka and its design sites in Exeter, U.K., and Los Angeles. SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software stores CAD models and supporting documents – anything from documents to images – in an indexed central repository. Secure access and built-in audit functions protect data from accidental and deliberate damage while tracking who accesses design data, what they changed, and when.

Aero Sense Technologies produces specialized measurement products for the aerospace industry. Typically, either the company’s Los Angeles or Exeter team will create the initial design using SolidWorks CAD software, then share it with each other through SolidWorks Enterprise PDM. Both teams validate each others’ design and adjust the parameters, and the two teams work back and forth to perfect the design. Exchanging data across time zones enables Aero Sense Technologies to work on its designs almost around-the-clock and bring them to production sooner. When a design has finished the prototype stage and first production, the staff at the Sri Lankan production center uses the CAD files to design and implement the production processes.

“We need robust data management and revision control between our three sites. Working from a common data model in SolidWorks Enterprise PDM gives us the control and functionality to maintain our documents’ integrity,” said Aero Sense Technologies Senior Mechanical Engineer Ashley Roy. “There are many different document formats involved in product development – SolidWorks files, Word documents, other CAD files, etc. SolidWorks Enterprise PDM creates a common environment that enables our staffs to collaborate while maintaining authoritative versions of documents and data models.”