Category Archives: MechWorks PDM

MechWorks PDM VAR conference in Bologna Italy (2019).

June of 2019 was a very busy month. Perhaps the highlight of the month (for us) was the MechWorks PDM VAR conference that was held in Bologna Italy. It was a technical conference where the leading MechWorks PDM VARs got together to share technical details. Fantastic solutions related to customer critical needs were shared and it certainly reinforced the overall flexibility of MechWorks PDM.

Mille Grazie!!! The conference was greatly appreciated with many great conversations around key topics. Having the opportunity to participate with the extended MechWorks VAR team was very refreshing. Seeing those we have known for approximately 20 years was great and being able to finally meet others for the first time was welcomed and will prove to be helpful throughout our future. The  conference was a huge a success.

MechWorks PDM represented at Siemens Realize Live 2019.

Thank you for the great conversations from the Solid Edge users that stopped by the MechWorks PDM booth at Siemens Realize Live 2019. The show was in Detroit (in June) and was a great success. We look forward to follow-up conversations and building strong business relationships with the Solid Edge community that is in need of a great PDM solution that is both affordable and mature.

ECR and ECN presentation from Solid Edge University 2016.

The MechWorks PDM breakout session from Solid Edge University 2016 was focused on advanced Engineering Change Requests (ECR) and Engineering Change Notices (ECN) functions. The features were well liked and highlighted the flexibility of the core MechWorks PDM solution. If you would like to see a focused presentation on ECR/ECN functions, please contact us at info@na-ips.com . To see some of what the presentation contained, please select the following URL:

 

https://community.plm.automation.siemens.com/siemensplm/attachments/siemensplm/solid-edge-tkb/428/1/PonterG_SEU16_%20MECHWORKS_%20PDM.pdf

 

MechWorks PDM R16 – Task Manager.

R16 SP 0.1 was released on June 24th, 2016. MechWorks PDM R16 has many customer-based enhancement requests, too many to try to write about in a single post. MechWorks continues to improve the overall user experience by embracing enhancements to the interface, improving core performance, and adding advanced features. MechWorks continues to lead the PDM/PLM applications with some superior features that make MechWorks PDM arguably the most flexible PDM/PLM application available. Its tight integration with SolidWorks (DBWorks), Inventor (DBInventor), and Solid Edge (DBSolidEdge) continues to push all related PDM/PLM applications aside.

One of the most exciting enhancements within MechWorks PDM R16 is its internal “Task Manager”. This is an advanced module within R16 that allows users to offload work to allocated workstation(s) that can address the tasks that consume computer processing time, allowing the users to continue to use their computer for tasks that they need to work on. As we all know, releasing an assembly and many children at once (perhaps automatically generating PDF output files, etc. for all related drawings) can consume computer processing time. Without the “Task Manager”, users would not be able to continue to interact with other design files within the related CAD application during this process because they would need to wait for their computer to finish the requested task. With the “Task Manager”, users are able to direct tasks that normally take time to an alternative workstation that is waiting for assignments – allowing the users to swiftly move onto their next task/assignment while the background requested task is handled by the “Task Manager”. This concept is very similar to how printers manage many spooled requests during the day – but it is now available for R16 MechWorks PDM environments.

As you can imagine, this is a pretty sophisticated module and it is directly available for all DBWorks, DBInventor, and DBSolidEdge R16 environments. It requires some initial configuration as there has to be at least one workstation (more if desired) that is configured to answer background requests. The database has specific tables for managing and reporting on these scheduled background tasks and the user’s interface has additional features as well. While we recommend hiring your MechWorks PDM resource to configure and validate this new functionality, it is certainly something that customers can configure on their own. As with previous releases, the R16 WhatsNew documentation has a pretty detailed explanation of the “Task Manager” environment’s needs.

Do yourself a favor and take some time to explore the R16 WhatsNew documentation. There are also webinars that will demonstrate specific details regarding features of MechWorks PDM R16 (please try to attend them). Integrated Partner Solutions, Inc. will be posting dates for these webinars on our calendar in the near future, so please monitor the following web-site [ https://na-ips.com/event ] for scheduled events. Also, please feel free to contact us at support@na-ips.com for details regarding the “Task Manager” that is available for all R16 users.

Simplified view for Web Client users.

The default Web Client interface includes the [Project], [Composed Of], and [Used By] structures to show detailed design relationships. While these structures may be important for some users to see (designers), many users asked for a simplified Web Client interface. The users that requested a simplified interface usually knew some specific searching criteria (like the Part Number) that they need to search for, view, and perhaps print it if needed.

The latest Web Client now has two [Tabs] so users can either be assigned to the [Classic] or the [Simplified] Web Client view. The Administrator can configure the assignment based on the needs of the specific users. Searching from within the [Simplified] Web Client view does not force the user to determine which Projects to search within as all of the advanced searching functions have been replaced by a simple “google-type” search.

Do yourself a favor and take some time to explore the new [Simplified] Web Client view. Many users will certainly appreciate its overall ease.

Simplified

 

Technical Videos.

Please take advantage of the technical videos that are posted at the public site ( https://na-ips.vids.io/ ). While it requires a login for accessing the additional training videos, we will continue to post helpful videos on the site’s public page. The goal is to share knowledge regarding tasks that are frequently addressed at many organizations. You are able to search the videos for specific categories (DBWorks vs. DBInventor vs. Licenses etc.). Please feel free to contact us at support@na-ips.com if you have any questions regarding accessing the videos or event the technical contents of the videos.

MechWorks PDM R15 SP 2.0 is released.

This release has bug fixes, behavior changes, and enhancements. One of the enhanced areas that is worth looking at is a new set of BOM Options (Options <=> General <=> Drawings). As an example, you can now configure the resulting balloon display based on these options. It is even possible to have the Part Number displayed instead of the BOM Item Number for NO_BOM items. Please reference the release notes for R15 SP 2.0 for additional details.

Welcome to our updated web-site!

We hope that you find the updated web-site easy to navigate and full of information. Please note that it has a [VIDEOS] page. The [VIDEOS] page has videos that can be freely viewed which are used to address more of the knowledge based information. It also contains core training videos for the companies that purchase the subscriptions to its access. Please contact us if your organization would like to purchase the subscriptions to its training videos.