CAD File Management and PDM

Across the previous four articles in this series, I made a case that can sound almost philosophical. A Part Number...

The five hard problems engineering and manufacturing teams face in 2026, and what it actually takes to solve them. Engineering...

Sheet metal design has a manufacturing reality that solid parts do not. The 3D model is only the beginning. Before...

A practical guide to working folders, Smart Sync, design structure, locking, revisions, and conversational commands inside SOLIDWORKS Introduction: Why PDM...

Earlier this week, I previewed CAD File Agent for SOLIDWORKS. If you missed that, check these two articles: Why did...

A new kind of experience for engineers who never wanted a PDM system in the first place We Started with...

When I left Autodesk, I had a strong gut feeling about where the industry was headed. CAD vendors, I believed,...

Engineering work starts with files. CAD assemblies, parts, drawings and other related design files are the foundation of product development....

There is a moment in every engineering company when Excel stops being a helpful tool and becomes the bottleneck. At...

A SolidWorks model is essential. A BOM is essential. Drawings, PDFs, STEP files, and DXFs are essential too. Many teams...

In the previous article, I wrote that engineering teams usually do not lose control because CAD design is wrong. The...

How file-based workflows, disconnected BOMs, and the limits of PDM combine to create a product data problem most engineering teams...