Migration from AutoCAD to Solidworks - Warranted??

[amptramp]

My company recently hired an engineering manager who is convinced we should migrate from AutoCAD to Solidworks (2D to 3D). He believes we will be more efficient and produce better designs. We are an OEM who manufactures automated brick handling machinery, material handling systems (conveyors, drag chain feeders,...), crushers, pulverizers, etc. Most of the designs are proven by 30 years in the industry (I am not implying the designs could not be improved).

Does anyone have experience with such a migration? What objectives, factors (besides cost!!) were used to make the decision? Can the decision making process be completely objective?

Also, would everyone offer their opinion on whether a conversion was beneficial to them or their company.

Finally, I am unfamiliar with Solidworks other than their reputation (everything I hear is good).

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

There is no simple straight answer to this as it involves personal preference.

I have been drafting/designing for over 30years, starting "on the board", migrating to 2D then 3D. I would not go back to 2D & could not go back to the board. I have found 3D (SolidWorks in particular) helps me in what I do & drastically speeds up the design process.

Having said that I strongly believe in "If it ain't broke. don't fix it". If your company is not experiencing any bottlenecks in design, or excessive errors in drawing/manufacture, then a change may not be necessary. I embrace change if it looks like it might be beneficial, but will fight it tooth & nail if it is just "change for the sake of change". Would changing to SW help your downline processes ... manufacturers, assemblers, etc?

If your assemblies are large you will probably to need to make major upgrades to your computers to be able to handle the extra computing power that SW needs.

I have read other threads here which mention the same type of products you design. Try using the "Keyword Search" for relevant topics.

Also check out thread559-67503

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

If everything is going well, you have obviously overlooked something

 

[TheTick]

I think a move to 3D would definitely be benficial. As far as migrating old 2D data, you probably don't need to do it all.

It's probably best to do 2D to 3D on an as-needed basis. You certainly don't need to migrate obsolete products or things that aren't going through revisions on a regular basis. You definitely want to get current projects and common parts into 3D right away.

SolidWorks has great 2D to 3D migration tools. Much of you transition will depend on the integrity of your 2D geometry. If there are a lot of faked dimensions and geometry out of scale, then it could get tricky.

There are many companies offering 2D to 3D services. If time is a factor, it may pay to get an outside source involved.

There are two types of people in the world: the kind that believe that people can be categorized into one of two groups and the kind that don't.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[Climbmiller]

The previous 2 posts say it all ... once you have experienced the benefits of a 3D parametric modeller (decreaed lead times, faster reworking etc.) there really isn't a case for going back to 2D.

One cautionary note though .... unless you have a compelling reason to go with Solidworks (customer driven, skills already in house etc.) you should persuade your boss to shop around a little. Whilst Solidworks is a good product there could be a better fit for you with one of its competitors.

In the past I worked with one company who implemented Solidworks and another which went down the Autodesk Inventor route, both cases most of the guys were going from 2D AutoCAD. Looking back I noticed a much quicker take up from the 2D guys with Inventor than Solidworks. Dunno if it was the Autodesk comfort factor but they just seemed to get to grips with Inventor a lot quicker. You will also get to hang on to your AutoCAD functionality (it ships with Inventor) and the upgrade cost from where you are now will be half that involved with buying new licenses of Solidworks.

Hope it all works out right for you....

 

[DesignSmith]

Amptramp,

One thing not mentioned so far is user satisfaction. If your design team tends to struggle a bit with their systems, and has numerous cases of bad drawing data; it is worth looking at the alternatives.
Some shops rely heavily on the one AutoCAD guru in the place to keep the block libraries in check and to fine tune AutoCAD to your processes. Simple ECOs can take days to complete depending on the complexity of the drawing and the skill of the CAD operators.

After the initial learning curve many CAD operators are less stressed using SolidWorks than they were using AutoCAD. Dimensions are always associated to geometry, adding extra views is nearly automatic, and items such as gears, or fastners, can be drag & drop simple.

However, that AutoLisp guru may be wanting to maintain the status quo untill someone shows him the value of VB or SolidWorks API.

The other item to consider is the future. In my area, 2 Autodesk dealers have either gone out of business or been taken over by out of state firms. If you plan to hire entry level staff in the coming years, the university students are learing 3D with either SolidWorks or Pro/E. Show them an AutoCAD seat, and they will ask; "But where is the 3D?"

If there are more than a couple of seats involved, push your dealer for an in house demo or short term evaluation loaner. Otherwise, consider having someone on the staff sign up for the free Personal Edition of SolidWorks and try to do some work with it for a week or two. That should give you some justification for going forward with the plan, or whether to make a wider assesment of the alternatives.

DesignSmith

http://www.DesignSmith-Services.com

 

[Arlin]

One issue that may show its ugly head going from 2d to (any) 3D CAD package is that 3D can be more restrictive, but more accurate.

With 2d systems, it is very easy to cheat. 3D forces users to pay attention to every single detail of a design wherever that design is used.

Difficult to explain. I would highly recommend getting an evaluation copy of SWX, or any 3D cad program to take a look at it. Get a feel for how 3D really works, and how it would fit into your companies practices.

Keep in mind that any major change such as 2d->3d WILL have some teething problems.

 

[ctopher]

More companies are using 3D solids and SolidWorks is getting more popular. I used ACAD years ago and will never go back. SW is the way to go....(unless you can afford Pro-E or UG)

 

[TheTick]

Interesting point about "cheating", Arlin[/i].

Many times I have I been in the situation of making 3D models from old 2D drawings and finding that the numbers don't add up. If I made the model to match dimensions on the print, one or more dimensions couldn't be held because they didn't add up. What's more, this usually exposed some sort of conspiratorial malfeasance between shop floor and inspection, where parts were sent out that were correct but didn't match the print.



There are two types of people in the world: the kind that believe that people can be categorized into one of two groups and the kind that don't.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[ctopher]

I have seen the same problem. We moved from Applicon-Bravo to SolidWorks. Everything was 2D in Bravo. All files were exported to DXF or DWG, but nothing can be used because alot of geometry was 'cheated'. We're better off redoing everything from scratch in SW 3D.

 

[Bouke]

You shouldn't underestimate the switch. Especially If you have a lot of elder most experienced colleque's. It really is another type of setting up your concepts. The top-down design strategy will be more hard to accomplish. Futher more you probably will have to change the directory-structure you are using. Like said above you have to work very precise and if your directory-sctucture is kinda chaotic, your models will collaps before you know it.

But I think going for 3D is something almost every company have to do if they want to keep up. It's the future...

 

[NanoMan]

There are numerous reasons to make the change to a parametric modeler.

To me, one of the simplest has nothing to do even with 2D/3D stuff. It's that you can do simple things like determine a dimension by typing 3.173" - 2.934" instead of using a separate calculator to determine the number.

I also find the ability to mix units within a dimension to be very useful. For example, I often enter dimensions as mixtures of feet, fractional inches, and decimal inches. The software is smart enough to handle the conversions internally.

The real benefit, though, is the ability to capture the design intent in an assembly. For example, you don't really care what the bolt circle on the mating part looks like, you only care that the holes match their counterparts. You dimension the bolt-hole pattern on one part and let that pattern drive the holes on the mating part.

To me, it's much more intuitive.

 

[Nellysdad]

Since ProE and Solidworks are now the same price, go the whole hog and get ProE. Its ability to save in just about any universal file.extension is priceless when you have a diverse customer base. I suggest that the life expectancy will be much longer with this system.
Training on Solidworks is 6 weeks full-time to superuser status.
Training on ProE to superuser is 6 mths. There is no comparison. Both will need super graphics cards and/or fast motherboards...ie new hardware.
I have used all three and I have to say that I was pro-Autocad for years from rel 11 (DOS)till rel 14. I actually began on Computervision so was exposed to 3D around 1990.
Buy one seat at a time and make it a gradual move with the aim of keeping one system current in A'cad to preserve Archives...until all work has been transferred. Make it a project to gradually transfer all records. Keep hard copies on file, off-site. Good luck

 

[SBaugh]

thread559-86804
thread559-84931
thread559-81156
thread559-62883
thread559-68203

Above are all the threads I could find on this CAD vs Solidworks. This has been discussed numerous times and the above posts, has a lot of good information in it.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[amptramp]

Thanks everyone for your help and your opinions! Keep them coming...

 

[JNR]

Wow, good input and no emotional baggage - nice work everyone.

Regarding TheTick's comment on "cheating" etc. We have found simlar issues in migrating old drawings in the past. But one good thing happens if you build your new 3D models (oh yes, yes, yes ONLY on as-needed basis!!!!) from dimensioned drawings (prints). Even though they were wrong/inaccurate, someone has been making the parts by interpreting the drawings as they appear to be and you have been successfully using the parts for years. So your new 3D CAD parts will be what you ARE making, not what you thought you had designed but were never really using. A couple of interesting thing result. First you suddenly understand why that part was always a bitch to make or assemble even though no-one could figure out why. Second when you re-use it in a new design it will fit and function perfectly. (Been there.....)

John Richards Sr. Mech. Engr.
Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics

There are only 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't.