Save Time on the Middleman with SOLIDWORKS Inspection

posted 2014-02-04

I LOVE IT.

I love this software.

A Real Process Workflow Timesaver

That's why I love it. 

  • No theoretical improvements to your design cycle by enhancing the conceptualization of ideas.
  • No empty promises of reduced time to market by decreasing change orders.
  • And no confusion as to what, where, and how this software fits into your existing workflow.

Everyone Inspects

This software benefits every single SOLIDWORKS user out there, either directly or indirectly.  I make this encompassing statement because everyone inspects their parts, or at least they should.  From sole proprietor machine shops to multinational corporations, parts need to be inspected to verify they meet requirements.  Some businesses may perform ad-hoc inspections.  Others perform formalized inspections and inspection reports per AS9102.  SOLIDWORKS Inspection automates the process of creating formal (or even informal) inspection reports.

A Step Closer to Paperless

Model Based Enterprise (MBE) may promise a future of the paperless environment, but there is still a transition step between the drafting board and MBE.  Although CAD software has done a fantastic job at solving the problem with geometry creation, it hasn't done much in the way of getting rid of paper.  Therefore, improving the way companies handle paper is a guaranteed benefit to the end user.

I have seen my share of paperless companies manually create inspection reports.

  1. They print off a drawing, usually on B-Size paper.
  2. Their Inspectors then take a rubber stamp with red ink pad and balloon each feature and attribute to be inspected.
  3. With their red pen or pencil, they write numbers in each balloon.
  4. After opening Excel, usually with a custom Inspection Report template loaded, they manually type in the description of the feature or attribute as best that can be communicated from the confines of a spreadsheet cell, cross-referencing the red-ballooned drawing.
  5. When finished, they print the spreadsheet.
  6. Finally, because they are a paperless company, they scan the ballooned drawing and inspection report into a single pdf file.  Which, of course, can't be edited with the free Adobe Reader so it gets printed again to manually fill in the actual inspection values and rescanned once more into their paperless system.

Does this sound like you?  Do you not love SOLIDWORKS Inspection?

Source:

http://blogs.solidworks.com/solidworksblog/2014/01/announcing-solidworks-inspection.html