LesPaul82
Mechanical
- Oct 3, 2003
- 109
Our company has been using PDMWorks for a few years and we're trying to improve our use of the software. Right now we've got about 10 PDM users in our Engineering department and of that only 5 use the Solidworks software. We've also got 2 PDM users in our Purchasing department who as well don't use Solidworks. Our process right now is when a user is finished a SW drawing and has the paper copy signed by the manager, they place all of the files associated with that drawing in a folder on out Network drive and send me, the admin, an email telling me a drawing ready to be checked into PDM. (I'm the only one with rights to do so). I open the file on my computer and check the naming of all the parts and assemblies so they do not conflict with that which is in the vault. (We have lots of similar parts & assemblies that have minor differences and could easily be called the same name) I make a pdf of the drawing file and check in the SW drawing to the correct project and set the lifecycle to 'Issued for Manufacturing'. I then add the pdf as an attachment to the drawing. The users in the Purchasing department and the Engineering department have RO access to files in this lifecycle. If an Engineer wants to do a revision, they open a copy of the file on their local hardrive and change the lifecycle status the 'Revision in Progress'. Users in the Purchasing department have no access to files in this lifecycle but can still see them so they know the file is being revised. After the engineer has the revision approved they follow the same procedure as the new drawing. This whole process seems to be working but it's starting to get to be a lot of unnecessary work on my part, especially since our users keep increasing. Does anyone have any suggestions or examples of our their company uses PDM? Thanks.
Sean
Carmanah Design and Manufacturing
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Sean
Carmanah Design and Manufacturing
Vancouver, BC, Canada