DriveWorks Design Automation & Product Configurator software, from the company of the same name in Thelwal, is for companies where designs or orders are the ‘Same but Different’. DriveWorks software is used to automate repetitive tasks in the design process and to streamline the generation of design, manufacturing and sales documents (Pricing &Quotes) and data. It aims to help users create custom designs in minutes, not days, on any device desktop, mobile or tablet by engineers, sales teams or…
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Solid Edge
Score 8.2 out of 10
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Solid Edge is a software solutions for product development — 3D design, simulation, manufacturing, data management, and cloud collaboration. Solid Edge aims to combine the speed and simplicity of direct modeling with the flexibility and control of parametric design.
DriveWorks is well suited for companies that could benefit from task automation. Anything that is repetitive is especially well suited, this can free a set of hands that can take on other tasks. Some situations where DriveWorks could not be beneficial are for small companies that have no need for automation if the workload does not require it.
For simple steel construction, it is great. When you want to do other stuff like electrical wiring, factory planning, etc. it's not great, and the solution you can buy does not fit our needs so we need to develop our own.
Allows designers to work as they choose and not have to acclimate their work for the product's requirements. This results in productive use of Edge, thus an ROI for the company.
Manage large (high count of components) assemblies very well. Users spend little to no time trying to overcome speed issue with respect to assemblies.
Synchronous Design! This highly productive design process is unique to Edge and very addictive
In some cases, the exchange of documentation between different users is not so automatic. Some operations still have to be done manually.
All the variables and design parameters introduced by the user are not always visible and can be analyzed simultaneously. Sometimes changing the parameters related to the characteristics of the products is not so easy.
DriveWorks allows access to a limited number of users at the same time. This issue sometimes makes the use of the software difficult for many of our students.
Being used to 2-key and 3-key commands from the keyboard, it would be nice if this was more robust in Solid Edge. The capability of programming keystroke commands exists in Solid Edge, but it would be more user friendly in that regard.
Editing hatches can be a challenge.
I'm not a fan of the ribbon bar, but that seems to be a feature across software platforms in Windows.
As mentioned previously, Siemens Solid Edge is not the most user-friendly of products at all. It requires intense training to make sure that the basics are understood, and after that, there are numerous other training interventions needed to be able to perform expert-level CAD functions. The GUI is not intuitive, as many other packages are, and the features built-in are not well defined. The process to use many of these features is counter-intuitive and requires a mind-shift.
I have been involved with support and training of Solid Edge for 24 years. Given that I based my business model on support, and have been successful for all these years, I know excellent support. Siemens support for Solid Edge, "GTAC", is the definition of support for a product in every aspect.
DriveWorks is the first software to configure custom products that I use. So I cannot make comparisons with other software right now. However, the difficulties encountered in allowing a large number of users to log in simultaneously will prompt me to look for another similar software. However, the features that enable the user to calculate the prices and costs of a product quickly, design the product in 2D and 3D, and manage e-commerce modes are factors that would push me to keep using DriveWorks.
SOLIDWORKS has a really intuitive interface for a traditional CAD package. It is easy to use, easy to learn and is perfectly suited for any user. Solid Edge lacks this ease of use. Autodesk Inventor is great for personal use as well as in small businesses. It is easy to learn, produces great models quickly and is very reasonably priced. My personal favourite, Onshape has redefined what CAD is meant to be, as well as the way in which it is meant to be used. It is highly functional, intuitive, and changes the way in which CAD is perceived by the user. It is much more interactive than traditional CAD packages.
