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Engineers need the ability to design hardware products without distractions or worrying about their work being overwritten. That’s where PDM (Product Data Management) comes in, which offers features to protect CAD files. However, traditional PDM solutions don’t meet the needs of modern engineers.
Agile organizations require a solution that can be deployed in hours, not days, without IT support. To achieve this, Duro built PDM One: a simple, intuitive tool to simplify data management and workflows.
This blog covers why Duro developed its own interpretation of a PDM tool, how it’s unique, and where to learn more about this new solution.
Engineers need to protect their work from being overwritten
When working on a file in CAD, team members require a method of preventing others from simultaneously opening a file and attempting to make edits to it. This is especially critical as a team grows and it gets more difficult to find out the status of a file.
Without structures in place to prevent work from being overwritten, the team is exposed to various risks, including wasted time, the burden of redoing tasks, frustrated team members, and constant communication to track everyone’s progress. Therefore, engineers need a more straightforward, automated way to protect their work and alert their team who’s working on what.
Traditional PDM solutions weren’t designed for distributed hardware organizations
Engineers have used PDM to govern processes and manage engineering design files for decades. These tools safeguard engineering designs from overwriting or deletions when multiple collaborators are involved.
However, CAD vendors historically engineered PDM products to work with their unique file formats and structure. Subsequently, many of the available PDM tools come with unnecessary complexities and a surplus of features. They end up consuming valuable time and energy.
Today’s supply-chain-centric engineering means that building products involves many different engineering disciplines and, as a result, file formats. Hardware engineering teams require tools that help them share information across functions and with external suppliers to make fast markups and changes. PDM One was purpose-built for this environment.
Duro developed a streamlined solution, PDM One
Duro recognized that many of the capabilities in other PDM tools are already encompassed within PLM. Therefore, Duro decided to develop PDM One instead of a fully featured PDM solution. The new solution was born out of collaboration with our customers. It utilizes best-in-class cloud storage and offloads complexity such as multi-site replication. The best part is that PDM One is easy to use alongside existing CAD tools and it hinges on three essential factors: simplicity, security, and speed.
Simplicity: PDM One Works with Existing Workflows
Engineers can manage files from their CAD application meaning there’s no need to learn new workflows. They can protect data as they work on it and check it back in once finished, all from within the same application.
Security: Duro's Cloud Storage Keeps Data Safe
Duro’s approach to data security is grounded in transparency, reliability, and user ownership. With Duro’s hosted cloud environment, customers benefit from enterprise-grade security and complete control over their intellectual property.
Customers maintain ownership and unfettered access to their CAD files at all times. PDM One safeguards against disruptions and empowers teams to collaborate and operate with confidence—without vendor lock-in.
Speed: Implementation is Hassle Free
Organizations can implement PDM One in hours. There’s no need to rely on additional IT resources, and it integrates directly with both CAD applications and Duro PLM.
Features of PDM One
PDM One meets the specific needs of engineers, providing a streamlined and intuitive solution for managing engineering data. Here are some highlights of the functionality:
- Check-in/Check-out: PDM One allows users to check-out files for editing from within a CAD application. It protects data from being unintentionally overwritten. Once the editor checks the file back in, it becomes available again for other team members to edit, making it effortless for engineers to collaborate on design files. Furthermore, team members can see when a file is checked-out, unavailable for editing, and who is working on it. This results in better collaboration between engineers, more efficient time management, and eliminates redundancies in file editing.
- Admin Overwrite: An administrator can cancel a file check-out at any time. The file is saved and made available for editing again. Organizations acquire an added layer of control without impacting existing engineering processes.
- Simplicity in Setup and Usage: Duro’s philosophy is to make the lives of engineers easier. As a result, all our products, including PDM One, have simple setup processes and don’t require extensive training. With a simple one-time login, engineers can quickly start utilizing PDM One, allowing them to focus on their core responsibilities.
- Enhanced Data Security: PDM One improves efficiency while ensuring data security to protect IP. Hardware organizations retain complete control and ownership over their CAD files.
- File Locking: The file locking feature effectively suspends editing capabilities, guaranteeing the preservation and integrity of the ongoing work on a file.
- Cloud-Native Syncing: By leveraging the power of cloud-native architecture, PDM One ensures seamless syncing of data across teams.
- Accelerated Workflows: PDM One is compatible with CAD tools such as SolidWorks and Duro PLM. Engineers work with the tools they know and spend less time on administrative tasks and more time designing innovative products, ultimately leading to faster time-to-market.
