There are ways to increase your efficiency and effectiveness using SolidWorks® software. Small gains in effectiveness — and increased usage of the software — can yield significant gains in productivity in the long term especially when these small productivity productivity gains especially when multiplied across several users.

The goal is to learn ways to lower your organization's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in regards to using SolidWorks. Below, we highlight ways to increase your productivity.

Implementation

When implementing any new technology, consider the user, process, and technology changes and how the new tool can be best employed within your organization. SolidWorks Corporation — including our network of authorized SolidWorks resellers and solution partners — are prepared to assist you. While the initial SolidWorks implementation is important, it is equally important to look at ways to continually improve your current use.

SolidWorks offers numerous administrative references on the SolidWorks support site.

Additional consulting partner references can also be found within the SolidWorks Manufacturing Network.

Whether your company's background is 2D CAD or 3D solid modeling, creating an effective plan for fully using the capabilities of SolidWorks will pay big dividends especially in terms of time to market.

Training

Training is an important aspect in empowering your organization and your most valuable resource, your employees, more productive and effective. One of the most important and under-utlized concepts is training plans tailored to each individual's skill level. Examples of training plans can be found within the Implementation Guide (see the link above).

SolidWorks Corporation offers a number of training courses and programs available through our authorized resellers. Here's a complete list of SolidWorks courses. Check with your local VAR for course offerings. Here you can review a list of courses and training centers.

There are other sources and types of effective training solutions. The following list includes some of these sources and also provides hyperlinks to the information:

Installation

One of the advantages of Windows Installer (WI) is the ability to create an administrative image and install clients without any interaction on their part (silent). This allows an administrator to install SolidWorks software on a server and install clients from that source. Updates are made to the administrative image only.

The Administrative Director helps guide the administrator through the process and add additional functionality. The two main features are the ability to configure SolidWorks during the client installation (see Configuring SolidWorks below) and clients will automatically update when a new version is loaded on the server.

For more information about the Administrative Director, see the SolidWorks Express technical tip.

There is also a technical tip on updating SolidWorks.

Configuring SolidWorks

When deploying SolidWorks, you should review and modify the default values based on your organizations needs. For the most consistent implementation within the organization, dedicate one individual as a CAD administrator.

Settings can be found within the Tools/Options menu within SolidWorks. The Copy Settings Wizard can be used to create a file that can be used by users or by the Administrative Director. The system options are defined within this area.

Important Tools/Options settings:

• File Locations. The common documents and other objects should be stored within a common location and write protected.
• Default Templates
• External References
• Performance
• Collaboration

Document settings are related to part, drawing, or assembly documents. These settings are defined within a template and shared with other users. Define templates for the common types of documents (e.g., materials, drawing styles, and more) that are used often.

Important document template settings:

• Custom Properties
• Units
• Material
• Image quality

As an administrator, it is good practice to install and test SolidWorks, define and export the settings and templates before creating the administrative image (Administrative Director) or client installations.

Conclusion

If you have reviewed the information in this technical tip, visited the various links for further details, and still have questions about further improving your efficiency using SolidWorks, please contact your nearest SolidWorks value-added reseller to learn more.