Unlocking Efficiency: Onshape's Cloud Advantage for Product Data Management

Successful product design hinges on seamless collaboration among diverse engineering teams. But beyond teamwork, effectively tracking and managing every piece of product data – from initial sketches to final manufacturing files – is absolutely critical to driving innovation and getting products to market faster.

Product Data Management (PDM) is the backbone that organizes this vast amount of information, ensuring consistency, controlling revisions, and streamlining workflows. However, for many companies, PDM remains a source of frustration rather than a facilitator of progress.

This blog will explore the common challenges faced by traditional PDM systems and reveal how Onshape, PTC's modern, cloud-native CAD and PDM solution, provides the resolution for streamlined product development and data management.

Traditional PDM's Barriers

For decades, product development teams have grappled with legacy, file-based CAD systems and on-premise PDM solutions. While intended to help, these systems have often failed to effectively track product data and, in fact, created significant barriers to engineering work. The issues are numerous and costly.

High Costs & IT Overhead

Traditional PDM demands substantial upfront capital for servers, licenses, and ongoing maintenance. This translates into significant IT overhead, requiring dedicated staff and resources that could otherwise be focused on core business functions.

Version Control Nightmares

The dreaded check-in/check-out process, the risk of overwriting critical work, and the constant question of "who has the latest file?" lead to lost time, rework, and immense frustration. Engineers spend more time managing files than designing.

Limited Accessibility

These systems are tied to a local network, severely hindering remote work, global team collaboration, and access from various devices. Productivity grinds to a halt outside the office.

Difficult External Collaboration

Sharing large design files securely with suppliers, partners, or clients becomes a complex, risky, and time-consuming endeavor, often involving insecure file transfers and version mismatches.

Data Security Concerns

Relying on local backups introduces vulnerabilities to data loss from hardware failures, natural disasters, or theft. They often lack the robust security protocols of modern cloud infrastructure.

Scalability Issues

As teams grow or projects become more complex, on-premise systems struggle to scale efficiently, leading to performance degradation and stifled innovation.

These complications cause more than minor inconveniences; they lead to lost time, expensive rework, delayed projects, and, ultimately, hinder a company's ability to innovate and compete.

Onshape’s Cloud-Native PDM Advantage

Onshape offers a powerful resolution to these long-standing challenges.

Built-in, Cloud-Native PDM

Unlike traditional systems where PDM is a separate, often clunky add-on, Onshape's PDM capabilities are an inherent part of the CAD system. Accessible entirely through a web browser, there's nothing to install, configure, or maintain. Automatic, seamless updates mean users always have the latest features without any IT intervention or downtime. This fundamentally eliminates IT infrastructure costs and headaches, allowing engineers to focus solely on design.

Real-Time Collaboration and Concurrent Design

Onshape modernizes teamwork by enabling multiple users to work on the same design simultaneously, in real-time. The days of file locking, waiting for colleagues, or merging disparate versions are over. Built-in commenting and markup tools, shown below, facilitate instant, contextual feedback directly within the design environment, directly addressing the "collaboration barriers" of traditional systems.

Robust Version Control and Data Management

Onshape's data management is fundamentally different. Every change, no matter how small, is saved instantly and immutably, creating a complete, non-destructive version history. There's no "Save As" needed, eliminating duplicate files and ensuring a single source of truth for every design. Engineers can leverage powerful Branching and Merging capabilities to explore design alternatives without affecting the main design, then seamlessly merge approved changes back – a powerful tool for rapid innovation and parallel development. Granular access control ensures secure and easy management of who can view, edit, or share data.

Universal Accessibility

With Onshape, your designs are accessible from anywhere, on any device – desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone – with just an internet connection and a web browser. This unparalleled accessibility empowers remote work, supports distributed teams across different locations and time zones, and breaks down geographical barriers that limit traditional PDM.

Enhanced Data Security and Reliability

Onshape leverages enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure (like AWS and Google Cloud) to provide superior security compared to typical on-premise setups. This includes automatic backups, robust disaster recovery protocols, and encryption of data both in transit and at rest, significantly reducing the risk of local data loss and ensuring business continuity.

Scalability and Performance

The cloud inherently scales. Onshape automatically adapts to your team's size and data volume, ensuring consistent performance as projects grow in complexity and scope, without requiring costly hardware upgrades.

Cost-Effectiveness

The subscription model eliminates large capital expenditures on hardware and software, significantly reducing IT staffing and maintenance costs. This offers predictable monthly or annual expenses, making it an attractive and financially sound choice for businesses of all sizes.

Key Benefits for Product Development Teams

By adopting Onshape's cloud-native PDM, product development teams experience transformative benefits:

• Faster Design Cycles: Streamlined workflows, real-time collaboration, and reduced administrative overhead lead to quicker iterations, accelerated decision-making, and ultimately, faster product launches.
• Reduced Errors and Rework: The robust version control, clear communication channels, and a single source of truth minimize costly mistakes, ensuring design integrity throughout the product lifecycle.
• Improved Communication and Transparency: Centralized data and real-time feedback foster better team alignment, ensuring everyone is working from the most current and accurate information.
• Simplified Data Management: Engineers spend significantly less time managing files, searching for versions, or dealing with IT issues, freeing them up to concentrate on their core expertise: innovating and designing.
• Focus on Innovation: By removing the burdens of system maintenance and data wrangling, valuable engineering and IT resources are liberated to concentrate on core product development, leading to more creative solutions and competitive products.

Who Benefits Most from Onshape's Cloud PDM?

Norden Mfg uses Onshape's cloud-native CAD and PDM platform to build hay handling equipment for small and mid-sized farms.

Onshape's cloud PDM offers a clear advantage for a wide range of organizations:

• Startups and Small Businesses: With no IT investment required, it offers a low barrier to entry for professional CAD and PDM.
• Distributed Teams: Seamless collaboration across different locations and time zones is built-in.
• Companies with External Collaborators: Easy, secure, and controlled sharing with partners, suppliers, and clients simplifies complex workflows.
• Growing Companies: A scalable solution that adapts effortlessly to changing team sizes and project demands without infrastructure headaches.
• Any Company Seeking Modernization: It provides a clear, efficient path away from outdated, inefficient legacy systems.

Onshape Unlocks Efficiency

Onshape's cloud-native PDM effectively resolves the complications of traditional, file-based systems, transforming product data management from a barrier into a powerful competitive advantage.

By offering built-in PDM, real-time collaboration, robust version control, and universal accessibility, Onshape empowers engineering teams to work more efficiently, reduce errors, and accelerate their design cycles. This leads to faster innovation, better products, and more efficient, focused engineering teams.