How Git-Style Version Control in Onshape Unlocks Faster Product Development

Innovation doesn’t occur by accident – it’s the direct result of rapid iteration. Each iteration represents an opportunity to refine, test new ideas, and ultimately produce superior designs. Software teams discovered this secret years ago, embracing platforms like GitHub-style version control to iterate freely, collaborate simultaneously, and innovate continuously.

Yet, most mechanical engineers remain stuck in outdated file-based CAD systems – systems barely changed since Windows introduced file management via the C:\ drive. If you’re designing products using software like SOLIDWORKS, you’re likely familiar with the pain of missing file references, duplicated files, and restrictive workflows that severely limit your ability to iterate.

It’s time to rethink your approach. Agile, database-driven platforms, like Onshape by PTC, provide Git-style version control, empowering mechanical engineers to iterate rapidly and innovate more effectively than ever before.

The True Cost of Sticking With File-Based CAD

When you manage your designs through traditional, file-based methods, iteration is inherently slow and expensive. Let’s consider two critical metrics:

Cost of Change

In traditional CAD systems, changes become increasingly expensive as the design matures. Late-stage design modifications involve tedious file duplications, manual conflict resolution, and hours spent fixing broken references. Every design iteration increases the likelihood of introducing errors and confusion, directly raising project costs.

Cost of Delay

With file-based CAD, only one person can work on a design at a time – effectively creating a design "bottleneck." Delays stack up rapidly, directly harming your ability to innovate. Waiting for someone else to check a file back in isn’t just frustrating – it costs your project time, money, and competitive advantage.

If you recognize these problems, you're already feeling the pain of traditional CAD. But it doesn't have to be this way.

How Agile CAD Unlocks Iteration and Innovation

Onshape introduces the proven Git-style workflow of branching and merging directly into the mechanical design world, eliminating the limitations of file-based CAD.

Instant Branching

Want to try a bold new idea or alternative manufacturing strategy? Simply create a branch – an isolated workspace for experimentation. Branches give you the freedom to rapidly iterate without ever duplicating files or fearing accidental changes to your main design.

Precision Merging

Ready to integrate your successful experiments back into your main project? Onshape clearly visualizes differences between branches, just like GitHub does for software code. You choose exactly which changes to keep, merge them precisely, and avoid costly mistakes.

This streamlined process enables significantly faster iteration, directly translating to more frequent innovation opportunities.

Workspace Protection: Protect Your Innovation

Iteration demands both flexibility and safety. Onshape’s Workspace Protection provides a powerful way to secure your core designs, ensuring your team maintains compliance and avoids accidental changes.

• Protected workspaces can only be modified through deliberate branches.
• Changes must undergo a controlled review and merge process.
• Your master design remains secure and compliant, reducing risk and preserving integrity.

Think Google Docs, Not Your C:\ Drive

Traditional CAD forces you into a single-user, single-file paradigm – much like working with documents stored locally on your computer. Only one person edits at a time, limiting your ability to quickly respond to new ideas or urgent market demands.

Compare this outdated model to collaborative, cloud-based tools like Google Docs. Multiple users can edit simultaneously, iterate freely, and see each other’s changes in real time. This collaborative freedom, now standard in software and document workflows, is precisely what Onshape brings to mechanical CAD.

With Onshape, your entire team iterates simultaneously. You see changes live, merge designs seamlessly, and iterate faster – exactly what modern product innovation demands.

Feeling the Pain? It’s Time to Innovate Differently

It’s easy to overlook how your CAD software might be holding you back. But consider this honestly:

• How many promising ideas never see daylight because iteration seems too costly?
• How often are your designs compromised by avoidable delays?
• How many hours – and dollars – are wasted managing file duplicates and resolving conflicts?

You wouldn’t tolerate such inefficiency in your software development processes, so why accept it for your mechanical designs?

Iterate More, Innovate Better: The Onshape Advantage

Companies that embrace Onshape’s agile approach to CAD quickly discover they can iterate faster, more cheaply, and with fewer risks. They test more concepts, refine more ideas, and produce superior products in less time.

Switching from SOLIDWORKS or other legacy file-based systems to Onshape provides tangible benefits:

• Reduced Cost of Change and Delay: Branch, experiment, and iterate without fear or significant overhead, enabling true agility in product development.
• Real-Time Collaboration: Team members collaborate simultaneously, greatly increasing design velocity.
• Secure Innovation: Workspace Protection ensures your designs remain safe while your team freely explores new ideas.
• Faster Time-to-Market: The speed gained from Git-style branching and merging lets you bring superior products to market quicker.
  
  

Your Future Is Agile CAD

Iteration is the heartbeat of innovation. Companies that iterate rapidly innovate faster, deliver better products, and win in competitive markets.

The time has come to let go of the constraints of traditional file-based CAD and embrace an agile, collaborative future with Onshape. You owe it to your team, your customers, and your business to explore a better way to design.