Top 3 Reasons to Connect SOLIDWORKS to the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

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Managing product changes in an ever-changing work environment can be a challenge for even the nimblest product development teams. Most designers and engineers are familiar (sometimes painfully so) with PDM and PLM solutions that typically leverage onsite servers. When working offsite in this scenario, VPN or Remote Desktop connections are typical, and often fickle and slow.

Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS® connects the SOLIDWORKS application to the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE® platform, so the data management functionality is already integrated into the workflow. Here are three money-and time-saving reasons to consider Collaborative Designer.

#1: You Can Work Anywhere

With work locations becoming more and more spread out, companies must maintain efficiencies even when product development resources reside in varied locations. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform not only accommodates your internal team’s project work but also allows key customers, suppliers, and managers secure access to the data they need.

Collaboration is a snap when the entire extended team is connected in a single environment. The platform enables spur-of-the-moment reviews of 3D models from any device, helping to speed product development turnaround times. Communications among team members are automatically tracked, so problems can be discovered quickly and solved even more quickly. Design can be cleanly and efficiently handed off to colleagues or critical suppliers via the platform’s virtual product development environment.

#2: Data Management Is Built In

Today every engineer knows that product changes are necessary—whether they like it or not.  Products may even be changed on a day-to-day basis. Managing updates is an integral part of designing and engineering products, whether major design issues or minor changes. Connecting to the platform enhances your ability to make informed decisions faster by leveraging real-time data. With all the data in the same place, everyone is up to date with access to a single source of truth. And because you always access live data, there is no risk of being out of sync on model revisions or assembly configurations.

Advanced data management capabilities such as revision control, product maturity, permission management, and more are automatically enabled when you make design changes on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The platform provides the technology infrastructure to manage product design data and documents on cloud-connected SOLIDWORKS.

#3: IT Overhead Is Minimized

Collaborative Designer enables you to securely manage and share SOLIDWORKS data and access it from any location with an internet connection. All stakeholders are instantaneously up-to-date and can see the latest project status at any time and at their convenience. There is no need to rely on dedicated in-house servers. Your IT team no longer needs to worry about server space, cooling issues, physical protection, or other concerns Network infrastructure, storage, backups, and disaster recovery plans become a thing of the past. Plus, software updates, such as upgrades, service packs, and downloads happen automatically.

Connecting to the platform eliminates the need for VPN or other connections, which can also require regular management. By using Collaborative Designer to connect to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, designers can continue their work in SOLIDWORKS from any location, while the design data becomes part of a unified product definition that enables its seamless use throughout the connected enterprise.

Working Together Made Easy

 Whether a small company in a single location or a multisite international firm, it is vital that product development teams stay on the same page, including managers and executives, regardless of location.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables teams to simplify their communication workflow and improve productivity. All the platform apps needed for design are directly available within the SOLIDWORKS environment. Multiple teams can work on a product definition in a concurrent, safe, and real-time computing ecosystem.

If you have more questions about the 3DEXPERIENCE platform or Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS, please contact your local reseller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerome Marget

Jerome Marget

Jerome joined SOLIDWORKS in 2008. He held different technical roles including large accounts management before he joined the Product Management Team in 2016. He is now focused on data management products and specifically on SOLIDWORKS PDM. Jerome likes new challenges and is always eager to fix any issue. Consequently, in his spare time, you may find Jerome writing code using SOLIDWORKS’ products API to bring even more to the user community.