Hearing PTC highlight the interoperability issue and confirm the reality that most engineering shops are truly multi-CAD shows just how far PTC and the CAD industry as a whole have progressed. Rewind to a decade or so ago, and most customers were constantly complaining about vendor lock-in and how CAD companies made it next to impossible to share 3D models among different CAD offerings.
"It's weird for us to be talking about it," Mike Campbell, PTC's general manager of its CAD segment, told us. "But the results certainly tell us these are still very real challenges. We have to do a better job providing the flexibility people need to get data in, whether it's JT Open, SolidWorks, or whatever. We have to help them get the job done faster and cheaper, and we're prioritizing investments in those areas."
Campbell said the survey is all part of helping PTC validate its product strategy and its R&D investments. As a result of what it learned, Campbell said Creo 3.0 will dive much deeper into functionality PTC describes as "any data adoption," allowing engineering groups to more easily work with 3D models and 3D data, regardless of the package, and promote greater reuse.
"Companies have built up 20 years worth of inventory of legacy designs, and they're using far more 3D CAD out there," Campbell said. "The ability to repurpose and reuse to address market demands is quickly growing bigger than it was in the past."
How would you answer the questions posed by PTC? Tell us in the comments section below.
Excellent selection of subject matter on CAD challenges and incompatibilities that still persist today. This article addresses the 'white elephant' in the room that CAD vendors are typically reluctant to talk about. I'm glad that PTC is willing to openly discuss solutions for this potentially large productivity gain.
It is a fact that many companies work in a heterogeneous CAD environment and have to edit and work with 3D solid models that are not 100% compatible with each other. Yes, 3D models can be imported between CAD systems using IGES, STP, etc. formats. However, in the majority of these cases, the complete model associativity is lost and the imported design can't be completely edited or modified. Then if a design change is needed, delays typically occur because this imported model can't be truly modified.
I look forward to reading more about PTC and other CAD suppliers approach to this issue.
Yes, Siemens PLM seems to be concentrating on making the managment of design easier. A lot of their recent releases seem to be focused specifically on addressing ways to handle design technology efficiently and effectively.
There is definitely progress and PTC's release of this study and its implications that it will continue to work on solving one of its customers' biggest pain points is a sign of that. Most CAD vendors today recognize that it is a heterogeneous world out there and with today's design initiatives involving suppliers, outsource partners, etc., there is no way everyone is going to be working with the same CAD tool, let alone same version of the same CAD tool. Siemens PLM Software has done a lot of work around open standards with JT Open and most CAD vendors consistently talk about their ability to work with other CAD formats whenever they do a new release. It's not perfect yet, but it's definitely moving there. A far cry from years past, no doubt.
Is there any progress being made toward compatability in CAD, Beth? I remember when there were about 12 different word processing programs that weren't compatible. That changed with time as compatibility improved and one program became the standard (except in the law profession). Any chance of this happening with CAD?
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