QuadTech choose DesignDataManager.
NEWBURY, Berkshire, UK, March, 2008 - Concurrent Systems Inc Ltd, a leading developer of design data and document management solutions today announces that QuadTech, designer and manufacturer of automated control systems for print, has decided to invest in DDM to provide a comprehensive design data/document management and sharing solution for Pro/ENGINEER®, Promis-e® electrical CAD, ExpertCAD® and AutoCAD®.

Background: - QuadTech has been involved with CAD vaulting since the late 1980’s when it initially used a product developed by Cimlinc® called DMS (Drawing Management System). With the purchase of Pro/ENGINEER® in 1996, we chose to use CMS® (now known as ProductCenterTM from Softech). In 2000, we began pursuing the concept of PDM and purchased Windchill® Workgroup Manager from PTC®, which looked to be a promising, integrated solution. Our expectation was that it would help us manage Pro/ENGINEER® files, as well as AutoCad®, Promis-e®, and ExpertCad® files. PTC® abandoned the Workgroup Manager solution shortly thereafter. We chose to migrate our files from CMS® into Pro/INTRALINK® and to use Windchill® for the other CAD applications.

Since then, the QuadTech staff has become very proficient in managing Pro/INTRALINK® and Windchill®, in creating workflows, supporting change and release management, and in developing our own print-on-demand solution. Subsequently in 2006, we upgraded Windchill® to PDMLinkTM and ProjectLinkTM and by 2007 QuadTech implemented IFS as its new ERP/MRP system.

Moving Forward: - By 2007, we had concerns over the multiple paths related to Pro/INTRALINK®, PDMLinkTM and Windchill®. We also realized that our continued vision of pursuing a high level of PDM or PLM would be too costly and increasingly complex. We began looking for a substitute vaulting solution that would satisfy the needs of our growing and evolving CAD environments, yet not with the overhead associated with larger PDM/PLM systems. The solution needed to satisfy our key requirements, which were:

  • Floating licensing that would extend the utility to different geographic company sites.
  • Network performance needed to match or improve on that provided by Pro/INTRALINK® and PDMLinkTM.
  • Non-compromised ability to import over several hundred thousand files and handle our assorted CAD formats, especially the complexities of Pro/ENGINEER® file-types, associations and part/assembly family tables.
  • Ability to provide workflow for check/approvals to satisfy our release and change management processes.
  • Flexibility that would handle our custom versioning convention.
  • Lower (affordable) total cost of ownership, including reasonable annual software maintenance costs and lower overall hardware and RDB costs.
  • Be neutral, yet aligned, with assorted CAD vendors that would enable us to deal with alternative CAD systems to handle partnerships, acquisitions, or tool change.
  • Handle Engineering, Administrative, and Manufacturing (machine and fabrication shops) functional requirements and be relatively easy to use.
  • Licensing that would allow for test and development flexibility, and proactive disaster planning.
  • Maintain Pro/ENGINEER® file relationships when importing from Pro/INTRALINK®.

    We investigated about eight alternative vendor’s solutions, including our IFS system. To satisfy all our requirements, we ultimately chose to implement DDM and to abandon our current vaulting systems. Our users, as determined in several working pilots, accepted DDM. We are now using SharePoint as our project collaboration tool.

    Financially, the ROI to implement DDM was very compelling. In addition, the annual sustainment costs that we calculated will be considerably less than our current costs. We are confident that we can solve our growing and diverse file vaulting needs with this single solution, and without the complexities of more costly PLM-type systems. The expertise and helpfulness offered by CSI and Drew Engineering throughout our investigation and piloting was professional, responsive, capable and reassuring. CSI’s ability to address our data migration challenges and unique functionality requirements was refreshing. Glenn Schoepke

    Glenn Schoepke, a 24 year employee with QuadTech, manages a five person Engineering Services staff that possesses a combined 100+ years of CAD and related data management experience. The staff are well versed in OpenSource tools and applications, ERP integration, relational databases, data migration projects, print-on-demand, viewable creations, workflow, project management tools, UNIX and Intel-based system administration.

    About QuadTech
    QuadTech, Inc. is a worldwide leader and innovator in manufacturing automated control systems for commercial, newspaper, packaging and gravure publications printers. Founded in 1979, QuadTech sells its automated control systems in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Sussex, WI, USA, QuadTech maintains a worldwide network of sales and service operations, including facilities strategically located throughout Europe, Japan, China, North and South America, Singapore and India. QuadTech is a subsidiary of Quad/Graphics. Quad/Graphics is the largest privately held printer in the world. QuadTech, Inc. leverages extensive CAD capabilities & expertise that spans the mechanical, electrical, electronics and packaging disciplines. QuadTech products range from large special purpose machines with upwards of 70,000 parts to complex optical electro-mechanical control systems used throughout the printing industry. www.quadtechworld.com

    About Drew Engineering
    Drew Engineering is the value added reseller for DesignDataManager in the US and Canada. Services include consulting, installation, training, and support for the DesignDataManager product line. Drew Engineering has resellers throughout the US to better serve customer needs. Drew Engineering also provides a full service machine shop with sheet metal and machining capabilities. www.drewengineering.com