Thanks for the info...however, what we would like to do is have eDrawings print a current time/date stamp, not SolidWorks (company standards). Example, if someone on plant is looking at a drawing (using eDrawings) and prints it, somewhere on the printed drawing it would have this:
"THIS DRAWING VALID FOR 7 DAYS AFTER: 8/10/2004, 7:14am"
The date and time would always be current to when it was printed. This would have to be done transparent to the user. We couldn't rely on them to manually place this on the drawing thru a note in eDrawings.
Does this make since?
We are using a 3rd party drawing view now. Sometimes we run into some compatibility issues. We thought if we could get eDrawings to place a stamp on the printed drawing we could scrap the 3rd party software. eDrawings would be so much more valuable/useful to our company.
I will also check to see if there is a way with eDrawings.
Just curiuos, why do you use "THIS DRAWING VALID FOR 7 DAYS AFTER: 8/10/2004, 7:14am" ? Just for my info, I have never seen anyone use this on a dwg.
We also use this 7-day method. People on the manufacturing floor are suppose to go to Document Control to get released drawings for production. Sometimes these drawings get lost or destroyed on the shop floor. The folks on the floor don't always check our ERP system to see if parts are under revision. Having a 7-day expiration date on drawings forces them to get new drawings instead of using a drawing for a month, when it could have been modified.
Frankly, I hate it as it throws accountability out the window, but its what the organization has agreed upon, and so far it seems to be working.
Ray Reynolds "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
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It's part of our ISO Standards. This way manufacuring/production are always using a current drawing. Without it someone could have a drawing in the shop that was printed a year ago and not know for sure when it was printed. It could have been updated 3, 4 or 5 times since then.
In your company, Document Control distributes the drawings? If MFG or an Engineer needs a drawing, they go to Document Control to get one, is that correct?
At our company, we have all released dwgs on a server in PDF format for mfg to use. If a dwg is getting updated, it gets stamped with initials who has it and date. If someone needs to get the current dwg, they need to go to the Drafting/Doc Control dept. Production Control & QA make sure mfg/prod are up to date.
We tried using an expiration date on dwgs. We were asked at every end of the date for a new copy of the new rev. But very few of them were getting updated. It didn't work for us. Just my 2 cents.
I hope someone can get the time/date working for eDrawings for you.
[blue]deek05[/blue], the floor does not use a 3rd party viewer, we use the free SW Viewer from SolidWorks, or they use eDrawings if the files are available in that format. We have begun to do as [blue]ctopher[/blue] mentioned,, using PDFs. This way the floor needs nothing special, just a web browser like IE.
Document Control controls our documents in my company, so yes, if anyone needs a released/production drawing, they go to Doc Control. They print a current drawing out and manually stamp it with a gigantic green stamp with the expiration date.
Ray Reynolds "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
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