We all make parts. All of us are in the business of producing physical pieces of something. When we make things, inventory is a way of life such as tracking raw material, how many finished products you have on hand or how many endmills you have lying around. We are all accountable for it. To successfully manage all of this we all have a system that may be numbered shelves, bar codes, cells or physical tags. This system works well, when we need to find something we know exactly where to look.

So what about your CAD models? They are created. Engineers and designers are paid to make them. There are many states of CAD models; Parts, assemblies, library parts, BOMs, and drawings are just a few states in which CAD models exist. Now add all of your CAM files. Think about all your G-code files. Now add in all the marketing material and accounting stuff…it quickly becomes overwhelming. We need to make sure that not only are these assets accounted for, but are easy to find. To have a file on one computer that is only accessible by one person, is like having a machinist lock a part in his toolbox.

So let’s get organized. Teamcenter is an amazing tool that takes your CAD (and CAM) inventory and tames it. It’s easy to find and manage your CAD assets. The time has come to think of your CAD files as a valuable asset in your business and make them work for you.