Sometimes CAD can be used to start establishing PLM practices. Since PLM systems rely on data to be effective, ensuring consistent and correctly-entered information is paramount. Things like classification with properties and meta-data can rely on CAD very heavily to be effectively used. For example, let’s consider the classification and data for a machined part. If the part is going to require machining, we could assign it a classification of “Machined.” Since the part is going to be machined, we would want to ensure that “Stock Size” is one piece of meta-data to be tracked. Most CAD systems have a way to ensure this “Stock Size” is at least filled out, and some could even be automated to calculate the stock size without any user intervention. Of course a repeatable logic would need to be utilized, but once that is done, time spent completing stock size calculations and potential errors would be eliminated.

Case in point: Utilize iLogic in Autodesk Inventor to calculate stock size for machined parts. Once this is done, users can forget about manually checking all the measurements; all they need to do is flag the part as “Machined” and the system does the rest!