Your CAD Files Don’t Need a Local Vault

On Monday we said that nobody has a BOM problem. On Tuesday we followed a design out of CAD and into a digital BOM. Today we ask a simpler question: where do your CAD files actually live, where do you store them and what is the easy way to manager their changes?

For most engineering teams, the answer sits at one of two extremes. Either the files live in shared folders with names like Bracket_v7_FINAL_final2.sldprt, or they live inside a heavy PDM vault that took months to deploy and needs an administrator every time something has to change. Neither answer matches the way engineering teams work today.

OpenBOM takes a different path. Everyone keeps working in their desktop CAD system, exactly as they do today, save files in local folders, but OpenBOM keeps those files in the cloud. We call it “Design Folders”. OpenBOM Design Folders with the SmartSync function keep the local working environment and the cloud in sync, so engineers get the comfort of desktop CAD and the team gets one controlled home for every file, with no local vault to install. Lock function preserves users to change and sync the file by multiple people at the same time. The rest of this post is about why that model works.

Why Traditional PDM Feels Too Heavy

Traditional PDM systems were built around the local company vault and PDM server. The vault is a controlled server environment where every file is locked away, every workflow is configured up front, and every change goes through the system administrator. That model made sense when engineering teams sat in one building and IT departments ran their own servers. While you can “host” it, the hosted environment will be too heavy and too expensive. 

It comes at a cost. A vault means servers to install, licenses to manage, replication to configure for every remote site, and upgrades that everyone dreads. For small and mid-size manufacturing teams, the overhead of a traditional PDM system often exceeds the value it delivers. Many teams look at the price of admission and go back to shared folders, which is how the version chaos starts.

Cloud PDM changes the equation. There is no server to install and no vault to configure. With OpenBOM, engineers keep their familiar desktop CAD environment while Design Folders with SmartSync move the files to the cloud, the team gets controlled access from anywhere, and IT overhead drops to near zero. OpenBOM was built on this model from day one: it is multi-tenant SaaS, so every team is on the current version without an upgrade project.

File Version Control Still Matters

Rejecting the vault does not mean rejecting control. The problems the vault was invented to solve are still real. Two engineers editing the same assembly at the same time is still a disaster. Not knowing which revision was sent to the supplier is still expensive. A design history that lives in file names is still not a design history. Also the relationships between files (eg. Assembly-Part) cannot be preserved. 

This is why generic cloud drives are not the answer either. A shared drive does not understand CAD. It does not know that an assembly references parts and drawings, it does not manage revisions, and it cannot tell you who has a file checked out.

OpenBOM provides the control layer without the local vault: Design Folders sync CAD files to the cloud, engineers check files in and out so changes never collide, and revision history is kept for every file. You get the discipline of PDM with the simplicity of a cloud service.

Files Without Context Are Just Files

Here is where most PDM systems stop: they manage documents. But a CAD file is not the product. The product is items with part numbers, quantities, suppliers, costs, and revisions. It is the bill of materials that manufacturing, purchasing, and contractors actually consume.

When file management and BOM management live in separate systems, someone re-enters data by hand, and the two versions of the truth start to drift. The file says one thing, the spreadsheet says another, and the shop floor finds out last.

OpenBOM connects the two. Files are linked to items, and when a design is released, the bill of materials is extracted from the CAD data automatically. The product structure and the files that define it live in one connected model, so a change on the CAD side is visible on the BOM side without a copy-paste step in between.

Here is a story from one of our customer about why Contromax didn’t chose a traditional PDM/PLM system/ 

Contromax looked at the major platforms. What they found were systems built for organizations an order of magnitude larger — expensive to license, complex to implement, and loaded with features built for problems they didn’t have.

Capturing CAD Data Automatically

Everything above depends on one thing happening reliably: design data has to get out of CAD and into the connected structure without manual work. Capture is the first stage of building trustworthy product data. If capture depends on an engineer remembering to export, fill in properties, and upload, it will be skipped on the busiest day of the release, which is exactly the day it matters most.

This is the job of the CAD File Agent for SOLIDWORKS, currently offered in limited availability. The agent captures CAD files, metadata, and product structure from SOLIDWORKS designs into OpenBOM automatically, so the cloud PDM layer and the BOM stay current without a person in the loop for every save and release.

Capture is only the beginning of the story. What happens to product data after it is captured, how it is reviewed, and how it flows to the people who build the product is where this series is heading later in the week.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is cloud PDM?

Cloud PDM is product data management delivered as a cloud service. Instead of installing and maintaining a vault server, teams sync CAD files to the cloud, control changes with check-in and check-out, keep revision history, and access files from anywhere. OpenBOM provides cloud PDM that is connected to items and bills of materials, not just files.

Does OpenBOM support check-in and check-out for CAD files?

Yes. OpenBOM Design Folders with the SmartSync function sync CAD files to the cloud while engineers keep working in their desktop CAD system. Users can lock/unlock files, which is a modern version of check-in/out functions and by locking files engineers control who is editing what and keep version history and design revision structure, all without installing a traditional local vault.

Can OpenBOM extract a bill of materials from CAD files automatically?

Yes. When a design is released, OpenBOM extracts the bill of materials from the CAD data and links files to items, so the product structure and the files that define it stay connected in one place.

What is the CAD File Agent?

The CAD File Agent for SOLIDWORKS, currently offered in limited availability, automatically captures CAD files, metadata, and product structure from SOLIDWORKS designs into OpenBOM, reducing the manual steps needed to keep product data current.

Try It Yourself

You do not need a vault to control your CAD files, and you do not need a second system to connect those files to your BOM. Create a free OpenBOM account, sync your first CAD files to the cloud, and see the bill of materials extracted from your design.

Register for free at openbom.com to try how it can help you. 

Best, Oleg