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by Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor Posted on Tuesday, August 23, 2005 4:03:00 PM   | Abstract: | Interoperability woes persist despite a range of data-sharing solutions that enable engineers to share CAD geometries but not the intelligence and features history associated with a design. |
Put a group of engineers in a room 20 years ago, and they'd grouse about how difficult it was to share CAD files between different CAD systems. Today, not much has changed. Despite years of workarounds, an alphabet soup of independent standards and multiple generations of tools launched to help mitigate the problem, interoperability remains among the engineering community's primary productivity challenges. Exhibit A: Only 30% of 1,250 engineers surveyed by CAD vendor Kubotek USA (Marlborough, MA said they consistently received CAD models from internal co-workers in their preferred tools' format. The problem is exacerbated when collaboration with external colleagues is considered -- a trend that shows no sign of abating as outsourcing rises. [Click to continue] |