PDM Part II: How to manage CAD files without PDM software

The manufacturing software industry is the largest software vertical that has yet to take advantage of the spectacular advances in compute infrastructure and technology that have occurred in the last twenty years. All popular mechanical CAD authoring tools are still written for the Windows OS and architecture introduced in 1995. The companion PDM systems remain locked behind the corporate firewall, requiring special skills to deploy and administer. The best PDM works where you do, online In everyday life we perform many activities online using the web and mobile devices. We connect with friends online. We store our family photos online. We shop online. We do our banking online. Even our fitness activities and diet information are online. It’s hard to imagine a world without mobile and online applications and data. Likewise many business activities have moved online. Customer data and sales campaign information has moved online. Employee performance and compensation management have moved online. Even corporate governance and boards of director activities are performed using SaaS solutions. Yet today’s PDM systems still reside in the corporate data center. PDM systems are complex. They are difficult to deploy, difficult to manage, and expensive. Frankly, they are out of reach for most […]