"We just speak the same language."
Markus Preininger
Technical Director Design and Application Engineering
About Schmid Jakob GmbH & Co. KG
Schmid Jakob GmbH & Co. KG (JSO) has been manufacturing cutting tools such as drills, milling tools and tool chucks for over 135 years. The tools for industry and trade are used in various sectors. Different cutting materials are used. HSS, carbide or diamond cutting edges tailored to the right application. The approximately 4,500 design documents that JSO produces every year contain an enormous amount of technology and diverse experience from many years.
1999: Dual-track PDM with GAIN and Autodesk Vault.
Since 1999, JSO has been managing the CAD documents it creates in-house - in addition to AutoCAD files, mainly Mechanical Desktop (MDT) drawings - with GAIN PDM. As a result of this history, in addition to the management of these documents by GAIN, around 5,500 Inventor documents in version 2011 were managed in a second PDM system (Autodesk Vault). In 2012, the decision for one of the two systems was to be made.
2012: Decision for GAIN PDM
Markus Preininger, technical manager of design and application technology: "It was obvious to us that we wanted to continue working with GAIN in the future. Just because of all the functionalities, such as the sophisticated search in our variant products. Today we can also save multiple search results. That was not possible in this form with Autodesk Vault.
Or calling up all files for a specific process. For example, if a customer wants a special tool that we have not yet manufactured. Then we let the GAIN system generate a drawing number variant of the most similar tool. This number then also functions as our project number. And under this project we drag and drop all the additional documents into the system during a process.
In addition, our employees have of course also gotten used to the system over the years. It is also quick and easy to use. The production employees can also simply enter a number on the terminal and pull up the drawing they need."
PDM Migration: Merging into 1 PDM System
The GAIN system was migrated from GAIN 7.6 to the then current version GAIN 11. Since GAIN 11 enabled the check-in/check-out process for the first time, the references of existing MDT files were first determined and entered into the PDM system. The MDT and AutoCAD drawings were also transferred to GAIN 11 using the metadata from GAIN 7.6. While this step was more complex, the subsequent PDM migration of around 5,500 Inventor files from Autodesk Vault to the GAIN system was much faster thanks to the GAIN migration program. All in all, it was a big leap at the time, but one that ultimately brought all documents back under one PDM roof. Preininger: "The switchover brought us enormously forward even then. We were and are very satisfied with how clearly we can work now."
2020: Update to GAIN Collaboration
Eight years later, the switch from GAIN 11 to the current GAIN Collaboration took place. "Of course, the new GAIN Collaboration should be just as easy for all employees to use as the old, familiar version. Before the new GAIN Collaboration went live, we therefore initially inserted a test phase," says Preininger. "A designer and a technical draftswoman initially carried out some of their usual activities on a separate computer with Autodesk Inventor, ZWCAD and the new GAIN. Once everything was running smoothly, GAIN Software activated the new PDM system.
Mechanical Desktop unter Windows 10?
Markus Preininger: "While the upgrade to the current GAIN Collaboration was carried out without any problems, our MDT files turned out to be a real challenge." For a long time, JSO relied on the CAD application Mechanical Desktop, which was discontinued in 2008. A number of drawings were created this way over the years. Now two problems have arisen: The Mechanical Desktop (MDT) application does not run under Windows 10. Attempts to open MDT files under AutoCAD Mechanical failed. In addition, MDT files cannot be easily managed by GAIN Collaboration. Should all MDT drawings now be unusable?
The solution was ZWCAD Mechanical, which is comparatively very similar to AutoCAD. To the delight of the employees, the program from ZWSOFT opens the Mechanical Desktop documents without any problems. Markus Preininger: "The differences between the programs are minimal. Our designers do not experience any problems when working with ZWCAD Mechanical. In addition, we have now decided to only implement 2D designs in ZWCAD. This means that certain topics that we do not want to design from scratch again are copied to ZWCAD as a variant. The editing of MDT documents in ZWCAD Mechanical is limited to the drawing content itself and not to the model in it. However, this is negligible for us in the meantime. Because we are designing more and more in 3D with Autodesk Inventor 2020."
The subsequent major challenge was the migration of the MDT drawings. During the migration phase, JSO decided to move away from AutoCAD Mechanical to ZWCAD. GAIN Software developed a concept that would allow existing MDT drawings to be given the unique GAIN Collaboration identifier using ZWCAD.
More than just a PDM
Today, 6 designers work with Autodesk Inventor and ZWCAD Mechanical. Users of the viewer version of GAIN Collaboration are work preparation, the CAM department, production and sales. Preininger: "With GAIN Collaboration, our sales department can, for example, answer questions from our customers that are not covered in the catalog. For example, what inner diameter a certain intermediate ring has. It's good that the new GAIN Collaboration has become much faster here too, i.e. when it comes to direct access to neutral files. We really appreciate being able to give our customers quick, reliable answers. GAIN Software has already optimized the PDM at JSO in many areas. Preininger: "We are very satisfied with the services provided by GAIN Software. Be it the many migrations so far or the constant availability of employees. Even outside the box, for example with typical CAD questions, the good advice from GAIN Software has always helped us. We just speak the same language somehow."