We looked at the performance improvements and the streamlined workflows available in SOLIDWORKS® 2020. Today we’ll take a look at how SOLIDWORKS helps you grow your ecosystem from design to manufacturing in the cloud, connecting to the platform 3dEXPERIENCE®.
As companies grow, they find it increasingly difficult to manage geographically dispersed teams to have them collaborate effectively on product development projects. The deployment of stand-alone solutions does not support multidisciplinary collaboration and the sharing of data and knowledge between different departments. Operating technologies on premises requires the deployment and management of an internal IT infrastructure which can be expensive and time consuming.
And this is where the platform 3dEXPERIENCE intervenes. It is a cloud-based platform for the planning, design and delivery of products. Like apps for smartphones, a growing number of cloud solutions are running on 3dEXPERIENCE — a fully scalable design-to-manufacture platform where you can add tools and functionality as your business grows.
Beyond engineering and design tools
The platform 3dEXPERIENCE allows you to manage product designs and documents in a collaborative environment connected to SOLIDWORKS. You can easily complete orders and engineering change requests, understand how a product is assembled and manufactured at the part level, manage projects, and more.
This platform goes beyond what you would typically expect from design and engineering tools. With all data centralized in one place, everyone is up to date, with access to a single source of truth. This helps teams avoid the risk of not synchronizing model revisions or assembly configurations. And because all project data is in one place and in a secure cloud environment, only people who need to have access have access to it, eliminating the need to email project files or use of project files. ‘other less secure forms of communication. All team members, regardless of their location, have access to project files, which facilitates collaboration.
With the 3dEXPERIENCE software upgrades are automatic and new products can be purchased and used immediately, with the click of a button. Imagine eliminating all the hassle of purchasing, managing, and maintaining expensive software and hardware. The platform 3dEXPERIENCE on the cloud provides access to an ever-expanding portfolio of solutions that work together seamlessly. It serves as a portal on which applications for the development of complementary products are made available. Here are some key solutions on the platform.
3D Sculptor
3D Sculptor is a new offer for the modeling of subdivisions (Sub-D). 3D Sculptor works in a browser and integrates seamlessly with SOLIDWORKS desktop solutions. Complex shapes, such as electronics, office equipment, and automotive products, typically have highly stylized surfaces or are composed of organic shapes. When modeling parametrically such elements, you must create the underlying structure of the model before creating the surface. This represents a lot of work.
3D Sculptor is different. It is a bit like shaping an earthen model to achieve the desired shape. With 3D Sculptor, you can build your model faster the first time, and then edit it quickly. And when you get to the final design of a model, you can easily integrate it into SOLIDWORKS.
Business Innovation
Business Innovation is a set of collaboration tools, such as dashboards, communities, and file sharing that allow you to share critical data quickly and securely. You can easily customize your dashboard to display the information most relevant to your teams in one convenient online place. You can also keep your project team informed by sharing any type of media including images, videos and CAD files.
Rather than sending emails, you can invite your team members to your own “community”, post 3D data and images there, and facilitate online discussions. All members of this community are thus informed and can post comments, to get instant feedback on your ideas and design patterns. You can even hold a vote for the best design idea.
By connecting your ecosystem from design to manufacturing to the platform 3dEXPERIENCE, your teammates can set up on any device and work immediately, wherever they are. This platform offers seamless interaction among a growing set of connected solutions, both on the desktop and in the cloud.
Have you tried any of these solutions? Request a demo of a 3DEXPERIENCE solution
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Let us know what you think in the comments!
SOLIDWORKS design software is as simple as it is powerful. It enables companies to realize their visions and reach markets around the world. SOLIDWORKS® solutions focus on how you work every day, with an intuitive and integrated 3D design environment that covers all aspects of product development and helps maximize your design and engineering productivity. Over 2 million designers and engineers around the world use SOLIDWORKS to bring their designs to life, from fun gadgets to innovations for a better future.
