If all you have is Teamcenter Everything Becomes a 3D CAD Problem

The Needs of a Few Should Not Outweigh The Needs of Many

Is highly automating the use cases of a few hundred individuals working on one product information authoring tool really the best use of resources? Where is the ROI?  The business case? What about the thousands of other engineers managing documents, requirements, embedded software, electronic designs, manufacturing routings, quality… ? Isn’t most of your product information in a format other than 3D CAD anyway?

No question the 3D CAD problem is a thorny one. The 3D CAD vendors have created very complex file configuration management problems. Independent of how you manage your enterprise product lifecycle, you have to worry about breaking the configuration integrity of these fragile 3D CAD systems.

So, what should you do? Make the engineers happy? Focus on the rest of the enterprise?

For starters, here are some questions you should be asking yourself:

1. Given the unique complexity of the 3D CAD problem, do you really expect that a single enterprise tool will be able to manage the entire product information data set and processes? Or is it better to manage CAD with the PDM system provided by the CAD vendor, and use a more suitable enterprise system to manage the majority of the product information and processes?
2. Do you really need to manage the more exotic 3D CAD behaviors that the CAD vendors are (self-servingly) promoting? Of course these behaviors can only be managed well by the CAD vendor’s embedded PDM system. Alternatively, is there a perfectly acceptable and reliable option with an enterprise class tool that manages the file configurations and use cases more simply and, for the most part, effectively?
3. Should you allow a few engineers and a 3D CAD vendor set your product lifecycle strategy? Most enterprise PLM systems accurately manage 3D CAD file configurations very well. BUT for each 3D CAD application there are those exotic functions that can only be managed by one Vendor’s PDM. Are you really willing to make the tradeoffs this requires in the rest of your business?

It comes down to this: Do the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many? Or was Spock right when he said “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”?

Thousands of end users managing the true majority of product information and use cases have been asked to wait decades while exotic 3D CAD centric PLM systems are deployed to the specification and requirements of the few design engineers. But what is the missed opportunity cost to the business?

You really need to ask yourself: Do you have an enterprise product lifecycle management business opportunity or a 3D CAD file configuration control problem?

Teamcenter is an excellent tool for managing NX CAD file configurations and maybe also for CATIA, but just because your design engineers have selected Teamcenter, do you then need to cast every business problem and every business process as a 3D CAD problem?

The risk are many and the costs are high… maybe Spock was right.