CAD File Management ≠ PLM

Yesterday Deelip and others from the 3D Insiders' Summit 2010 tweeted this quote from an automotive CIO: "CAD geometry is 1/20 of what it takes to produce and maintain a part.”

My reaction?  EXACTLY!!  And we’ve been saying it for years. What got me fired up, and motivated me to write this post even though I recently covered the same topic in another post, is that despite the fact that CIOs know this stuff, they STILL let engineering drive their PLM selection.

Don’t let your design engineers kid you.  Just because they use product X for CAD file management, doesn’t mean you have to standardize on it for PLM.  PLM is a business system – choose the one that works best for your entire business, not your 10, 50, 100 engineers.

I’m not saying don’t let the CAD guys use what they want.  Let them use their system of choice for CAD file management.  That’s no problem – today’s enterprise PLM systems can move data in and out of it easily. But you’ve got bigger business issues than CAD file management, like LEAN, configuration management, workflow processes, quality, compliance, supply chain integration, FMEA, etc.

If CAD only accounts for 1/20 of your product, don’t let it drive 100% of your decisions.