The goal of the project was to establish a bi-directional connection between ZWCAD and Windchill PLM system in the same manner as it had already been implemented for other CAD packages. AMC Bridge developed a highly specialized solution designed to fully meet specific customer needs. It provides seamless collaboration between the newly adopted CAD system and the customer’s primary PLM tool, which helps avoiding the risk of failures in the manufacturing process while improving the engineers’ productivity at the same time.

CCC uses a proprietary PLM system to control different processes throughout the company. The PLM system provides advanced capabilities for working with design data stored in the proprietary C3DX file format, while Autodesk Revit is used on large number of projects. For this reason, interoperability between Autodesk Revit and the PLM system became a priority issue.

SOLIDWORKS has been providing SOLIDWORKS Workgroup PDM (PDMW) application for years, which was successfully serving needs of small-to-medium size engineering teams, with a relatively straightforward workflow and processes. For reaching bigger clients, with large amount of data, dozens of users accessing the data management application concurrently, as well as clients with offices distributed through multiple locations, a strategic decision was taken to introduce new generation of the data management application, which was called SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM (EPDM). The challenge was to be able to continue developing and maintain PDMW and at the same time allocate development resources for building SOLIDWORKS EPDM solution.

SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM does an outstanding job managing SOLIDWORKS designs, but today's global businesses need more. Companies need additional functionality for business needs at the enterprise level, and control over processes that extend beyond engineering to encompass the entire company, while still retaining core product design functions and capabilities.

The design solution was Aras MS Office Connector, a full-featured, business-ready solution built on top of MS Office. It extends MS Office functionality into Aras PLM, providing a simple and flexible way to incorporate MS Office documents into PLM processes.

PLM solutions need to accommodate collaboration, as well as providing markup and visualization capabilities. The PLM process involves many tools besides the PLM solution itself: e-mail and IM for collaboration, CAD tools and viewers for visualization, and various solutions for markup in 2D and 3D. But ideally, a PLM solution should be all-in-one, a single, comprehensive solution that integrates all PLM activities and users.

The design solution was a Microsoft Office Connector for Aras Innovator product that enables users of Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook applications to create, store, edit, search and manage documents in Aras Innovator while working within the familiar, easy to use Microsoft environment. At the same time the solution provides administrators of Aras Innovator with sophisticated capabilities for document control and security, including need-to-know access, configurable automatic document numbering and naming conventions, optional use of corporate templates, and more.

The goal of the project was to develop a stand-alone, tablet-based application that provided only the essential functionality of the Aras Component Engineering application and was accessible to any user from any location at any time. AMC Bridge developed Aras Component Search, a custom, stand-alone mobile application that supports the component search and procurement process.
The Aras Component Search application provides direct access to the IHS CAPS Universe electronic component database. Users can also initiate part approval requests and corresponding approvals directly through the application.

Deployment of Aras Innovator based PLM system (or any PLM system) can be challenging, because the functionality needed for the business processes of a particular company may not be available when the system is installed out-of-box. But because Aras Innovator is a highly customizable platform, it is possible to fine-tune its functionality to make the system cover 100% of company processes. Customizing the system to fully address specific needs is a challenge that most companies face during deployment of an Aras Innovator-based PLM system.

AMC Bridge enables Digital transformation for Clients in Engineering, Manufacturing, and AEC industries. We do it by creating custom software solutions that eliminate data silos, connect complex applications, unlock and promote innovation, and democratize cutting edge technologies.