Saving Time & Mitigating Risk with Automated PDX
September 27, 2022
The old cliché "time is money" has never rung truer for design professionals in today's manufacturing industry. With ongoing labor shortages, a weakened global supply chain and growing inflation, the ability of design engineers to focus on essential results-oriented design tasks is vital to maintaining a smooth operation and fast product turnaround. That is why manufacturing CEOs must find ways to alleviate design team workloads in any way possible.
Automated Product Design Data Exchange (PDX) tools, like Rocket TRUfusion® Enterprise, simplify design file packaging and streamline processes. Moreso, automated tools mitigate errors and help improve file accuracy and security. Utilizing automation to improve productivity, accuracy and data integrity while simultaneously reducing employee workloads can have a noticeably positive effect on a manufacturer's bottom line and employee satisfaction.
Let's take a closer look at why manual PDX methods are becoming costly and outdated and how Rocket Software's TRUfusion Enterprise automated tools eliminate costly errors and save teams time.
The Problem with Manual PDX Methods
Designers will be the first to tell you that manual PDX methods are a pain. Employees spend a good chunk of their day pulling files from multiple applications and third-party software to manually translate them into neutral formats (e.g., IGES, STEP) or native formats (e.g., Creo, CATIA, NX) based on client mandates. After all the data is double-checked and the files are finally ready to be sent to the client, nearly a whole day has passed.
Also, manual processes leave PDX operations more vulnerable to errors. Designers are responsible for performing multiple tedious, error-prone tasks by hand during file packaging. A simple misspelling or incorrectly shared file could lead to the client rejecting the CAD file and forcing the design team to restart the entire PDX process—forcing teams to waste further time and resources. Still, this is a better case scenario than if errors are overlooked during manual CAD file checks. PDX errors that slip through the cracks can lead to supply chain delays and costly consequences later downstream.
Saving Time & Mitigating Errors with TRUfusion Automation
Implementing an end-to-end automated PDX process with tools like Rocket TRUfusion Enterprise solves many of the problems traditional PDX methods create by simplifying the entire design data exchange process. TRUfusion Enterprise software conveniently integrates with your PLM software (e.g., Windchill or Teamcenter) and CAD systems (e.g., Creo, CATIA, NX) to allow designers to perform each stage of the PDX process from a single platform. This eliminates the strain of exporting and saving files on multiple systems and makes client files easy to trace for designers.
Once connected, the software processes data and intuitively segments and formats relevant files according to each client's specific needs. The software automatically checks the quality and integrity of the results to guarantee the data is accurate and secure. Once finished, design engineers send the finalized CAD data via a secure web portal to the client. A fully automated PDX method takes just minutes to complete--compared to hours with manual processes—freeing your design team to focus on core design activities.
Automated PDX tools also mitigate the potential for errors by removing human liability. Many of the same tedious and repetitive tasks that consume a design team's time—file renaming, formatting, permissions, etc.—are also highly susceptible to errors. TRUfusion Enterprise's automated functionalities let teams preconfigure their software to perform all these tasks at the click of a mouse, eliminating human error and increasing first-time accuracy.
Automated tools, like TRUfusion Enterprise, accurately and securely perform product design data exchange processes in a fraction of the time, reducing employee workloads while increasing right first-time delivery. The increased productivity and accuracy created by automation will allow your highly-skilled design teams to focus their efforts on core design activities.
To learn more about how Rocket Software's Trufusion Enterprise and its automated capabilities can improve your business operations, learn more at by clicking here.
