Why CAD Needs PLM

Jon Hirschtick is on a Teams meeting to talk about PTC’s integration between Onshape and Arena originally covered here, but first, a more important question: Where do you get the best Italian beef?

A Chicago native, Hirschtick grew up eating the city’s Italian beef sandwich. He seeks out the Italian beef offering in every city he visits. Has he seen The Bear, a Hulu hit about two squabbling brothers trying to keep the lights on in an Italian beef shop in Chicago? He knows the family that owns the restaurant where the show is set. He promises to take me for Italian beef the next time he is in San Francisco. Good luck, I think, imagining Chicago beef on sourdough.

What about Onshape and PLM? Does Onshape really need PLM?

Onshape does PDM. We used to not call it PDM because PDM systems were separate from CAD, whereas it’s just part of Onshape. The PDM is built in. We made a new paradigm for a new generation. Traditional PDM goes as far back as paper drawings—release management of paper drawings. Onshape provided a new generation of PDM. We have PDM, yes, but it’s a new generation. There are no files, no copying, but still, there is release management, custom workflows, notifications.… All the power that you want in PDM, we have without a need for locking files, copying, maintaining a central server. Oh, you could move the server in the cloud. That helps a little. But you’re still copying files. With Onshape, the data is managed. There’s never a need to copy a file like in PDM systems. PLM centers on the BOM [bill of materials]. I’m no PLM expert, but learning about Arena and Windchill—it’s the BOM that is the center of that world.

Why would Arena and Onshape users care about the connection?

Arena is used to managing the BOM in manufacturing, where vendors are we using, updating, sourcing information. In Onshape, we’re doing the typical design process. We’re designing new shapes, we’re grabbing parts. Does this fit? Is it strong enough? Does it look good? And so forth. The PDM process is done in Onshape. So, people want to leave it in CAD, keep the connection. Otherwise, you have to send it over the wall. You are exporting it from CAD. It’s much better to have it connected.

People use their BOM and PLM system as a master. And so, there’s a need for the two systems, whether they’re connected or not. There’s a need for PDM and a need for PLM. We’re connecting those. The nice thing about Arena is Arena never did PDM. It didn’t do it before, it doesn’t do it now, and it isn’t going to do it in the future. It doesn’t do CAD file management for in-process design. That kind of makes it a beautiful fit with Onshape. Whereas if you look at other PLM systems, like Windchill, it is arguably most powerful on the PLM side but also does a lot of PDM for Creo, in particular. Teamcenter is like that, too. But not Arena. Arena is just BOM PLM. So, a perfect fit with Onshape.

How would Arena appear to Onshape users and vice versa?

The Onshape user is not going to see Arena from inside Onshape. They might see Arena data coming into Onshape, like a part number. They might say, “Hey, I need a part number. For my new part, [I will] get it out of Arena because that’s the master.” They might see metadata come in. They might get a note like “Hey, I’ve checked in a part” or “Part released for this model.” Arena may come in and say, “Let’s not even say it’s released because I’m working on a design” and Arena may add metadata to an object when the part is proprietary. Again, the Onshape user is not going to need to see the Arena user interface.

The Arena user may see Onshape, though. They are looking at a part number and if they want to see the CAD model, [they can] click on the URL, and boom! It’s so easy. Nothing’s installed. You don’t have to worry about what is the version of the file and the software. You don’t have to worry about getting someone a license. Just click on the link and you can view it. That’s an incredible thing for the Arena user.

The part will always be visible in Arena’s BOM, or is it an option?

I assume the part won’t be always visible. It might be a thumbnail, but if you want to look at the CAD model, you will have access through the link, the URL. I imagine a company may have a reason to turn that off. That might be possible.

Do you see Onshape and Arena working together like Creo and Windchill work together?

I would say it is similar but not the same. If you’re an auto company and using Creo and Windchill—bigger organizations doing a lot of interesting projects—you’re getting a lot more power with a Creo-Windchill setup even though it’s going to take you a lot of setup. You can’t do it with one click and a dialog like you can with Onshape-Arena. Creo and Windchill are not cloud native.

Is the Atlas^[i] platform for small and medium-sized businesses?