This article is the practical companion to our free guide, The Automation KPIs that Make or Break Your ROI. The guide goes deep on each of the eight KPIs. Here, we focus on the groundwork: how to set a baseline, how to track the numbers after go-live, and how to avoid the mistakes that make ROI impossible to prove.

Why a Baseline Comes Before Any ROI Claim

ROI is a comparison. Without a reliable starting point, there is nothing to compare against, and every improvement becomes an opinion. A baseline also protects you from the opposite problem — a new automation project that gets blamed for a dip that was really caused by a seasonal order mix or a staffing change.

A good baseline does three things. It defines each KPI the same way everyone will use it later. It covers enough time to reflect normal ups and downs. And it records the conditions behind the numbers, so you can explain changes instead of guessing at them.

The 8 Automation ROI KPIs at a Glance

These are the eight KPIs covered in the full guide. Use this table as a quick reference for what to measure and where the data usually comes from.

Four notes on the formulas:

• Machine utilization — run time ÷ scheduled production time is the availability calculation used in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Many shops use “utilization” to mean run time ÷ total calendar (available) time instead, which usually produces a lower number for the same machine. Pick one definition, label it clearly, and keep it consistent before and after go-live.
• Quote-to-production lead time — you can also split this KPI into quote turnaround (quote request to quote sent) and order-to-production (order received to production start) to see where the delay sits.
• Setup time per job — count each job once. If a job runs as multiple operations, such as Op 10 and Op 20, all of its setups roll into that one job rather than counting as separate setups.
• Scrap and rework — count a unit once, even if it is reworked and then scrapped, and consider weighting scrap by cost so one expensive part does not count the same as an inexpensive one.

For why each KPI matters, how automation moves it, pro tips, and what good looks like, download the full guide.

How to Baseline Your Automation KPIs in 5 Steps

Step 1: Start With the Workflow, Not the Metric

Pick the process you plan to automate — CNC programming, quoting, configured product design, change management — and choose the two or three KPIs it affects most. Tracking all eight for every project spreads your effort thin. If you are still deciding where to automate, The Manufacturer’s Workbook to Automation Opportunities walks you through finding friction across engineering, programming, production, data, and quoting.

Step 2: Pull History From Systems You Already Have

Many manufacturers have more data than they realize. Work orders, quality records, shipping history, and PDM workflow timestamps can often give you a starting point without a new tool. Where there is no history, run a manual time study before the change goes live, and run it across enough jobs and shifts to reflect your normal mix rather than a single week.

Step 3: Write Down One Definition for Each KPI

Does “run time” include warm-up cycles? Does “on time” mean the promise date or the original request date, and will you count on-time delivery by units, orders, or order lines? Agree on these definitions with operations, engineering, and finance before you collect a single number, and keep them in one shared document.

Step 4: Capture a Window Long Enough to Be Fair

A single good or bad week is not a baseline. Choose a period that reflects your normal mix of parts, customers, and shifts — often a full quarter or one complete order cycle — and note anything unusual that happened during it.

Step 5: Record the Context Behind the Numbers

Log part mix, order volume, staffing, and any equipment downtime alongside your KPIs. When results change after automation, this context helps you explain what the automation likely changed and what the business changed.

How to Track Automation KPIs After Go-Live

Use the same definitions, the same data sources, and the same reporting cadence you used for the baseline. Changing how you measure in the middle of a project is the fastest way to lose credibility with stakeholders.

Watch trends, not snapshots. Automation often improves over time as teams build templates, refine rules, and trust the new process, so an early reading rarely tells the full story. Review results on a regular rhythm — weekly for shop-floor metrics like setup time and utilization, monthly for cross-functional ones like quote-to-production lead time.

Read KPIs in pairs. Faster programming time per part is good news only if scrap and rework hold steady. Higher machine utilization means more if on-time delivery improves with it. Pairing KPIs keeps one gain from hiding a new problem somewhere else. It also keeps a real improvement from looking like a failure. Utilization can drop even when automation is working — better CAM programming or a more efficient post processor can cut cycle times and raise output while lowering utilization. Track utilization alongside parts produced per scheduled hour, so a drop in utilization is not mistaken for a failure.

Here is a simple worked example with illustrative numbers only. If a machine is scheduled for 40 hours in a week and actually cuts parts for 26 of them, its utilization rate is (26 ÷ 40) × 100 = 65% for that week. Track that same calculation week after week, before and after the change, and the trend becomes your evidence.

To turn KPI gains into ROI, translate them into dollars — for example, hours saved multiplied by your fully loaded labor rate, or avoided scrap valued at its material and labor cost. Then weigh those gains against the full investment, including software, implementation, training, and the internal hours your team spends on the project.

Common Tracking Mistakes That Distort ROI

• Measuring only after go-live — without a “before,” improvements cannot be quantified.
• Moving the goalposts — redefining a KPI mid-project makes old and new numbers incomparable.
• Chasing a single number — one KPI in isolation can look great while another quietly slips.
• Ignoring adoption — automation only pays off when people use it, so low usage often explains flat results.
• Keeping results in a spreadsheet nobody sees — share trends with the people doing the work, not just leadership.

Turning KPI Trends Into Your Next Automation Move

Your KPIs do more than prove ROI on past projects. They point to the next opportunity. Long programming times may signal a case for rules-based CAM such as SOLIDWORKS CAM or CAMWorks. Slow quote-to-production lead times on configured products may point toward design automation with DriveWorks. Long engineering change cycles often trace back to disconnected data, where SOLIDWORKS PDM or the 3DEXPERIENCE platform can help connect workflows. Hawk Ridge Systems sells, implements, and supports these solutions, and our team can help you match the KPI to the right tool.

Before automating anything new, make sure the underlying process is ready. Our guide, Optimize. Automate. Accelerate. Future-Proof Your Manufacturing Operations, covers how to optimize people, processes, and systems first. And for practical advice on getting teams to actually use new automation, read Maximize Adoption of Automation & AI in Daily Workflows: 5 Things Manufacturers Can Do NOW.

Try It With Your Own Data: An AI Prompt for Automation ROI

Want a head start on your own numbers? Copy the prompt below into your AI assistant of choice, fill in the brackets with your data, and leave blank anything you do not have yet. It uses the eight KPIs from this article, and it is built to flag missing data instead of guessing.

Before you paste, remove customer names, part numbers, and pricing, and use your company’s approved AI tool.

You are a manufacturing operations analyst. Help me baseline and track the ROI of an automation project using the 8 automation ROI KPIs below. Use only the data I provide. Do not invent numbers. Do not cite industry benchmarks, averages, or targets unless I provide them. If something is missing, tell me exactly what to collect and where it usually lives. Use a code or calculator tool if available and double-check all arithmetic.

ABOUT MY OPERATION
- Company type / what we make: [e.g., job shop, CNC machined aluminum parts]
- Process we automated (or plan to automate): [e.g., CNC programming, quoting, configured product design, engineering change management]
- Automation tool or approach: [e.g., rules-based CAM, design automation, PDM workflows]
- Tools we already own (optional): [e.g., SOLIDWORKS, SOLIDWORKS PDM]
- Go-live date (or planned date): [date]
- Baseline period: [start date to end date]
- Anything unusual during the baseline period: [e.g., new customer, staffing change, machine downtime, seasonal spike]

MY KPI DEFINITIONS (one agreed definition per KPI)
- What counts as "run time": [e.g., spindle cutting only, excludes warm-up]
- Utilization is measured against: [scheduled production time (OEE availability) / total calendar (available) time]
- What counts as "on time": [promise date or original request date]
- On-time delivery is counted by: [units / orders / order lines]
- Other definitions we agreed on: [list]

MY DATA (formula inputs BEFORE and AFTER go-live; same definitions, same sources)
- Before period: [start date to end date]  After period: [start date to end date]
1. Time Saved = Original Time - Time After Improvements
   Task or job measured: [ ]
   Original Time (hrs per [job / part / week]): [ ]
   Time After Improvements (hrs per [job / part / week]): [ ]
   Source: [time studies / job travelers / ERP labor]
2. Programming Time Per Part = Total Programming Time / Number of Parts Programmed
   Total programming time (hrs): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Number of parts programmed: Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Source: [CAM logs / job tickets]
3. Machine Utilization Rate = (Actual Run Time / Scheduled Production Time) x 100
   Actual run time (hrs): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Scheduled production time (hrs): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Parts produced in that time (optional, for parts per scheduled hour): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Source: [machine monitoring / MES / schedule]
4. Quote-to-Production Lead Time = Production Start Date - Quote Request Date
   Average and median (days) over [N] orders: Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Source: [CRM or quoting system / ERP]
5. Engineering Change Cycle = ECO Released or Implemented Date - Change Request Submitted Date
   Average and median (days) over [N] changes: Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Source: [PDM or PLM workflow]
6. Scrap & Rework Rate = (Scrapped or Reworked Units / Total Units Produced) x 100
   Scrapped or reworked units (count each unit once): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Total units produced: Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Source: [quality logs / NCRs]
7. Setup Time Per Job = Total Setup Time / Number of Jobs
   Total setup time, all setups for those jobs (hrs): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Number of jobs (count a multi-op job once, e.g., Op 10 + Op 20 = 1 job): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Source: [operator logs / machine monitoring (where setup start is captured)]
8. On-Time Delivery Rate = (On-Time Units Delivered / Total Units Delivered) x 100
   On-time deliveries ([units / orders / order lines]): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Total deliveries ([units / orders / order lines]): Before [ ]  After [ ]
   Source: [shipping records / ERP]

CONTEXT LOG (before and after)
- Part mix: [ ]
- Order volume: [ ]
- Staffing: [ ]
- Equipment downtime: [ ]
- Adoption (who is actually using the new process, and how often): [ ]

WHAT I NEED FROM YOU
1. Pick the 2-3 KPIs that matter most for the process I automated, and explain why.
2. Calculate those KPIs before and after (or all eight, if I provided data for them), showing the math.
3. Read the KPIs in pairs (e.g., programming time with scrap/rework, utilization with on-time delivery, utilization with parts produced per scheduled hour) and flag any gain that may be hiding a new problem. If utilization dropped, check whether shorter cycle times raised output before calling it a failure.
4. Use my context log to suggest what the automation may have changed versus what the business changed. Label these explanations as hypotheses, not findings.
5. Call out tracking mistakes in my data: no true baseline, definitions that changed mid-project, a baseline window that's too short, a single KPI in isolation, or low adoption.
6. Based on the weakest KPIs, suggest where to automate next, considering the tools we already own first.
7. Summarize the results in 5 bullets I can share with leadership, clearly labeling any estimates.

The prompt handles the math. For pro tips and what good looks like for each KPI, download The Automation KPIs that Make or Break Your ROI.

Get the Full Automation ROI KPI Guide

A baseline tells you where you started. The full guide tells you what to do with each number. The Automation KPIs that Make or Break Your ROI breaks down all eight KPIs with why each one matters, how automation helps, a practical pro tip, what good looks like, and how it connects to throughput, labor efficiency, and workflows.

Download the free guide and go from friction to flow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to measure automation ROI in manufacturing?

Set a baseline for the KPIs your automation project affects most, then track those same KPIs the same way after go-live. Time saved, programming time per part, machine utilization rate, and scrap and rework rate are common starting points.

How do you calculate automation ROI?

ROI = (financial gains − total costs) ÷ total costs × 100. In plain words, add up what the automation saved or earned in dollars, such as labor hours saved at your fully loaded labor rate and avoided scrap. Subtract everything you spent to get there, including software, implementation, training, and internal time. Then divide the result by those same total costs and multiply by 100 to express it as a percentage.

How long should a KPI baseline period be?

Often a full quarter or one complete order cycle, whichever better reflects your normal mix of parts, orders, and shifts. Avoid basing it on a single unusually busy or slow stretch, and note any unusual events that happened during the window.

How do you calculate machine utilization rate?

Machine Utilization Rate = (Actual Run Time ÷ Scheduled Production Time) × 100. Measured against scheduled production time, this is the availability calculation used in OEE. Many shops instead define utilization as run time ÷ total calendar (available) time, so pick one definition and keep it consistent. Track it by machine, work center, shift, or facility, and watch the trend over weeks rather than relying on a single reading.

How often should you review automation KPIs?

Use a regular rhythm and keep it consistent with your baseline. Weekly reviews work well for shop-floor metrics like setup time and machine utilization, while monthly reviews suit cross-functional metrics like quote-to-production lead time and engineering change cycle.

Which automation KPI matters most?

No single metric tells the whole story. The KPIs are strongest when tracked together, because pairing them shows where friction remains and keeps one improvement from masking a new problem.

What if our KPIs do not improve after we automate?

Check adoption first — automation only pays off when people use it. Then confirm you are measuring with the same definitions and data sources as the baseline, review the context you logged (part mix, order volume, staffing, downtime), and give the new process time, since automation often improves as teams build templates and refine rules.

What if we never measured anything before we automated?

Start now. Use whatever historical records you have — work orders, quality logs, shipping history — to reconstruct an approximate baseline, label it as an estimate, and measure consistently from here forward.

How can a manufacturer find its biggest automation opportunities?

Benchmark your current KPIs, then look for the processes with the longest programming times, lowest utilization, or highest scrap. The Manufacturer’s Workbook to Automation Opportunities is a practical place to start. For an outside perspective, a Hawk Ridge Systems Business Assessment reviews your product development processes, pinpoints inefficiencies, and delivers a plan to address them.

Contact Us

Not sure which KPIs to baseline first, or where automation will make the biggest difference in your operation? Contact Us to talk with a Hawk Ridge Systems expert about your workflows, your data, and a practical plan to measure the results — or ask about a Business Assessment to uncover inefficiencies and get a plan to close them.

The post 8 Automation ROI KPIs to Track, Plus a Prompt to Run on Your Own Data appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

Before you touch servers and installers, skim Dassault Systèmes’ official What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2027 — the authoritative list for SOLIDWORKS 2027 across Design, PDM, Simulation, Electrical, and 2D CAD. A short set of reasons the IT work is worth doing:

• Design and AI: Turn prompts, images, and legacy drawings into SOLIDWORKS geometry and production-ready documentation, with improved sheet metal and fillet modeling. FAQ highlights from Dassault also call out In Context Design and Performance Assistants, sheet metal bend editing and stamping, AI automated assembly instructions, AI natural-language macro generation, and AI BREP-to-parametric conversion.
• PDM: Single sign-on, distributed task processing for uninterrupted PDF and file generation, and smarter file replication that synchronizes only active project data.
• Simulation, Electrical, and 2D CAD: Portfolio cards on the same What’s New page cover greater control across Structural, Plastics, and Flow studies; native wire and harness management with bidirectional 2D–3D navigation; and faster documentation workflows in 2D CAD (including STEP export and PLM metadata access).

None of that pays off if licensing, backups, hardware, or PDM are out of order. Use the checklist below to keep the SOLIDWORKS 2027 cutover quiet.

Start with Your Licensing Model

How you upgrade depends on how you’re licensed. SOLIDWORKS has two major licensing methods, and they behave differently during a version change. For a deeper comparison, see our guide to SOLIDWORKS licensing options.

A quick scope note: this checklist covers classic standalone and SolidNetWork (SNL) upgrades, plus PDM and Electrical coordination. 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS Named User seats follow a different upgrade path and have their own cutover considerations — if that’s your licensing model, contact Hawk Ridge Systems and we’ll map out the right plan with you.

Standalone (machine) licensing ties an activated license to a particular workstation. You can install SOLIDWORKS on more than one PC with a single license, but it can only be activated on one machine at a time — switching computers means deactivating from the Help menu on the old PC and activating on the new one. There’s no limit on transfers. Only the initial activation typically requires internet access; air-gapped machines can activate through a multi-step offline process where the license request file travels by USB drive to an internet-connected PC and back.

Network licensing (SNL) uses the SolidNetWork License Manager on a server to hand out licenses from a pool. Clients check out a license when they launch SOLIDWORKS or load an add-in, and return it on close. Users heading off-network can borrow a license for up to 30 days. A quick identification tip: network serial numbers generally start with 9010, standalone with 9000.

One licensing rule dominates upgrade planning: the SNL is backwards compatible, but it cannot serve licenses to versions of SOLIDWORKS newer than itself. Documentation from Hawk Ridge Systems and other SOLIDWORKS resellers still describes a current license manager serving clients as far back as SOLIDWORKS 2004 — but the load-bearing rule for your upgrade is simpler: the SNL must be at least as new as every client it serves. It must be upgraded with every release, which means the license server is the first thing you upgrade for SOLIDWORKS 2027, every time. The good news: it’s normally about a 20-minute task, and once it’s done, users on the previous version keep working without interruption while you test SOLIDWORKS 2027 on a few client machines.

While you’re on the server, confirm the basics covered in our IT considerations for SOLIDWORKS network licensing: a small disk footprint (the SNL installation typically uses under 1 GB) and open firewall ports (defaults are 25734 inbound and 25735 outbound). Remote users connect over VPN, though high latency can slow file opens, saves, and add-in loads. For the server operating system, don’t rely on last year’s checklist — supported Windows versions change by release year, so check the current SOLIDWORKS system requirements under SOLIDWORKS Server Products before you upgrade.

Back Up Before You Touch Anything

At minimum, back up anything stored in the default SOLIDWORKS install directories — templates, weldment profiles, material libraries. These can be lost when uninstalling the previous version. Back up your SOLIDWORKS settings with the SOLIDWORKS Settings Wizard (called Copy Settings Wizard in SOLIDWORKS 2022 and older), found in the SOLIDWORKS folder of the Windows Start Menu. Our support team’s guide to saving, restoring, or resetting SOLIDWORKS settings walks through it.

Backing up your CAD files themselves before opening them in SOLIDWORKS 2027 is also good practice. Upgrade-related file issues are very rare, but a backup copy of critical company IP is never a bad idea — and it matters because file compatibility primarily flows one way. Once a file is saved in the new version’s format, older versions can’t edit it in the usual way. (Since SOLIDWORKS 2024, you can save back to the last two releases, with a warning if a newer feature can’t be preserved.) Before anyone upgrades, talk to your design community — collaborators, suppliers, clients, and vendors — so a version mismatch doesn’t stall a project mid-stream. The same backup-and-coordinate mindset shows up in our earlier SOLIDWORKS upgrade planning guide.

Install Smart: Test Side-by-Side, Then Deploy with an Admin Image

Download SOLIDWORKS 2027 from the SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal — the high-speed download servers can get you the software in minutes. Skip beta and pre-release builds for production use; wait for the production SP0.

You don’t have to cut over in one leap. You can install SOLIDWORKS 2027 alongside the previous version on the same computer and test before removing anything. An expert tip from our team: rename the install folder and Toolbox folder with the version number (for example, “SOLIDWORKS Corp 2027” and “SOLIDWORKS Data 2027”) so cleanup later is painless.

For multi-seat deployments, an administrative image standardizes the rollout — and it’s also how you lock down settings. The admin image Option Editor can point clients to a settings file from the SOLIDWORKS Settings Administrator, where you choose which system options to apply and which to apply and lock. Locked settings prompt users with a contact-for-password message, you control whether settings apply on first launch or every launch, and the settings file should live on a shared server location referenced by UNC path. No more mystery template drift between workstations. Step-by-step detail lives in locking settings with an admin image in SOLIDWORKS — the Option Editor and Settings Administrator flow it describes still applies to current releases.

Check Your Hardware While You’re At It

A new release is the natural moment to retire marginal workstations. The current Hawk Ridge Systems SOLIDWORKS Recommended Hardware Guide sets the baseline for a solid CAD seat: Windows 11 Professional 64-bit, a professional-grade CAD-certified NVIDIA RTX graphics card (consumer gaming cards are not the path we recommend for certified SOLIDWORKS stability), an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 32 GB of RAM, and an SSD primary drive (512 GB or larger). For large assemblies, heavy multitasking, Visualize, or Simulation and Flow Simulation work, the guide steps up to 64–128 GB or more of RAM, an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, a 1 TB M.2 PCIe SSD — storage has a direct impact on open, save, and rebuild times — and higher-tier NVIDIA RTX Ada or Blackwell professional graphics. If performance is the complaint, run the Performance Benchmark Test inside SOLIDWORKS before spending money.

Don’t Forget PDM and the Rest of the Stack

If you run SOLIDWORKS PDM or SOLIDWORKS Electrical, the SOLIDWORKS 2027 upgrade is a coordinated event, not a workstation-by-workstation rollout: plan to upgrade the PDM server at the same time as the clients, and make sure vault content is adequately backed up before you start. The same coordination applies to companion products like Inspection and Composer.

That matters even more for the 2027 PDM gains on Dassault’s What’s New page — single sign-on, distributed task processing, and smarter active-project replication only land cleanly when the vault and clients move together. Treat the PDM upgrade as a project with planning, testing, and deployment phases. Hawk Ridge Systems publishes product-specific upgrade guides on our support site each upgrade season; review the guides for every product you own before you begin. For a refresher on keeping vaults healthy between upgrades, see techniques to refresh a SOLIDWORKS PDM system.

When to Call Hawk Ridge Systems

Call us early if any of these apply:

• You’re converting between standalone and network licensing (conversions involve a new serial number and fees, so they take lead time).
• You’re hosting the license server on a virtual machine or cloud provider.
• Your machines activate SOLIDWORKS offline (air-gapped).
• Your SOLIDWORKS 2027 upgrade spans PDM, Electrical, and multiple sites.
• You license through 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS Named User seats, which follow their own upgrade path.

Licensing and installation help is a core part of what our support engineers do — practicing mechanical, electrical, and computing engineers with 430+ combined certifications and a 98% customer satisfaction rate, covering the US and Canada. And if you’d rather hand off the whole thing, Hawk Ridge Systems offers turnkey SOLIDWORKS upgrade services: we’ll help build the project plan and execute it, coordinating Network License Manager upgrades, CAD installs, PDM upgrades, Electrical upgrades, and backups. Contact Hawk Ridge Systems to scope your SOLIDWORKS 2027 upgrade — and enjoy a release day where nothing breaks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I upgrade the SolidNetWork License Manager before or after client machines?

Before. The SNL must be at least as new as the SOLIDWORKS 2027 clients it serves. Upgrade the license server first, keep previous-version users productive, then roll out and test the new client installs. Our IT considerations for SOLIDWORKS network licensing article covers backwards compatibility and server prep in more detail.

Can I keep the previous version installed while I test SOLIDWORKS 2027?

Yes. Side-by-side installs are a standard way to validate workflows before you remove the older version. Rename install and Toolbox folders with the version year so cleanup is straightforward.

What should I back up before uninstalling the old version?

Templates, weldment profiles, material libraries, Design Library content, Toolbox customizations, and a SOLIDWORKS Settings Wizard export (Copy Settings Wizard in SOLIDWORKS 2022 and older) — plus vault backups if you run PDM or Electrical.

We use SOLIDWORKS PDM. Can clients upgrade on their own schedule?

No. PDM server and clients need a coordinated plan — especially if you want the SOLIDWORKS 2027 PDM improvements. Match major versions carefully, back up the vault first, and treat the PDM cutover as its own project phase.

When should we involve Hawk Ridge Systems support?

Anytime the SOLIDWORKS 2027 upgrade touches licensing conversions, virtualized or cloud license servers, air-gapped activation, multi-site PDM/Electrical, 3DEXPERIENCE Named User licensing, or you simply want a managed rollout. Start at Contact Us or through your account team.

Keep Learning

• What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2027 (Dassault Systèmes)
• Everything You Need to Know About SOLIDWORKS Licensing Options
• IT Considerations for SOLIDWORKS Network Licensing
• SOLIDWORKS System Requirements (Dassault Systèmes)
• Locking Settings with an Admin Image in SOLIDWORKS
• SOLIDWORKS Recommended Hardware Guide
• SOLIDWORKS Upgrade Services
• Prior year: What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2026 (Hawk Ridge Systems)

The post Upgrade Without Breaking Anything: Licensing, Install & IT Prep for SOLIDWORKS 2027 appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

That is where DraftSight fits. It provides a dedicated application for working with 2D drawings, with licensing options for people who use CAD every day and teams that only need it occasionally.

The starting point is understanding what your team needs to do. From there, you can choose the features and licensing that make sense for the work.

What Is DraftSight

DraftSight is Dassault Systèmes’ desktop CAD software for creating, editing and reviewing DWG and DXF drawings. If you have worked in AutoCAD or another 2D CAD application, many of the commands and drawing tools will feel familiar.

You can create geometry, organize layers, add dimensions and annotations, work with blocks and print your drawings. Tools such as Power Trim, automatic dimensioning, drawing comparison and batch printing help with common drafting tasks. Toolbox provides content such as hardware, holes and drawing symbols.

For teams with customized processes, DraftSight supports LISP routines and APIs to automate repetitive tasks and create custom tools. DraftSight Premium also includes macro recording for automating sequences of commands.

Some capabilities depend on the edition. Premium and Enterprise Plus include Custom Blocks, 2D geometric and dimensional constraints, 3D modeling, Sheet Set Manager and STEP import. These are worth considering even if most of your work stays in 2D.

PDF capabilities also deserve a closer look. Using a PDF as a drawing reference is different from converting its content into editable drawing entities. If that is part of your workflow, make sure the edition and operating system you choose support the tools you need.

Working With Your Existing DWG Files

For an established CAD team, the software is only part of the picture. Your drawing templates, block libraries, fonts and print settings are part of how you work.

DraftSight opens and saves DWG and DXF files, including older formats. It also supports drawing resources such as layers, blocks, external references, fonts and plot styles.

Before switching, we recommend working through a few of your own projects. Open a drawing, make the changes you would normally make and check the printed output. If you exchange files with customers or suppliers, include that in the test.

Pay particular attention to blocks with adjustable settings and any scripts or routines your team uses. Some custom command shortcuts may need to be set up again. Testing those items early gives you a clearer picture of what the transition will involve.

Which DraftSight Edition Do You Need

There are two decisions to make: which tools you need and how your team will access them.

Professional covers everyday 2D drafting. Premium adds advanced drafting tools and 3D modeling capabilities. Enterprise and Enterprise Plus offer network licensing, deployment tools and technical support for teams. Mechanical adds tools for managing part references, bills of materials, parts lists and balloon callouts in mechanical drawings.

DraftSight Standard is no longer available for new purchases. Standard and Professional were merged into DraftSight Professional.

DraftSight Professional and Premium are available for Windows and macOS, with some differences in features. Before choosing an edition, confirm that it supports your operating system and includes the tools you need. Linux is not listed as a supported operating system in the current system requirements.

How Many Licenses Do You Actually Need

The number of licenses you need depends on how they are assigned and how your team uses the software.

With Single User Licensing (SUL), each person who needs access requires an assigned license. This option is available for DraftSight Professional, Premium and Mechanical through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. DraftSight Creator also uses individual user licensing and provides access to the browser based xDraftSight app.

Network licensing works differently. DraftSight Enterprise, Enterprise Plus and Mechanical offer shared license pools. The number of licenses you need depends on how many people use the software at the same time.

For example, ten engineers may need to edit drawings, but only four may need access at once. A pool of four network licenses may cover that usage. If all ten need access simultaneously, you need ten available licenses. Consider overlapping projects and deadlines when determining the size of your pool.

Enterprise and Enterprise Plus are available through resellers as annual subscriptions or perpetual licenses. Network licensing requires a supported license server configuration. Review the maintenance, upgrade and support coverage included with your selected option.

What Does DraftSight Cost

As of October 1, 2026, the published U.S. annual prices below provide a starting point for planning. These are starting prices, are in USD and do not include promotional discounts.

Prices are subject to change.

Perpetual licenses are available through resellers. Hawk Ridge Systems can provide a quote for the edition, license count and support coverage your team needs.

When comparing costs, look at the full setup. Include the licenses you need, subscription or maintenance fees, and any deployment or migration work. For occasional users, a shared network pool may reduce the number of licenses required. Use your busiest periods to determine how many seats you need.

Where DraftSight Fits With SOLIDWORKS

Using SOLIDWORKS does not mean every existing drawing needs to become a 3D model. DraftSight gives your team a place to continue working with DWG files while using SOLIDWORKS for the designs that require 3D.

There are also ways to reuse information between the applications. SOLIDWORKS supports copying entities and blocks into a 2D editor such as DraftSight.

For teams using SOLIDWORKS PDM, DraftSight integration allows 2D drawings to become part of an established file management process. Plan upgrades carefully because DraftSight and PDM version compatibility needs to be considered together.

If your team uses the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, DraftSight can connect to cloud data management, revision management and collaboration capabilities through the appropriate roles. DraftSight remains installed on your computer, while the platform manages and shares the data.

The right approach depends on how your team already manages its drawings and what you want to improve.

When DraftSight Makes Sense

DraftSight is worth considering when you need to create and maintain 2D drawings, exchange DWG files or keep legacy designs accessible.

That could mean updating facility layouts, preparing manufacturing details or revising drawings received from a supplier. It could also mean giving occasional users access to drafting tools through a shared network license pool.

The question is whether DraftSight supports the work those users need to complete. A few representative projects can help answer that before you make a decision.

Choosing DraftSight for Your Team

Choosing the right DraftSight edition starts with your drawings, your processes and the people doing the work. Evaluating a few of your own projects will help you see how its tools support your daily tasks. Include any specialized workflows or custom automation so you can identify what transfers directly and where adjustments may be needed.

DraftSight supports everyday 2D drafting, with editions that add advanced drawing tools, 3D modeling and mechanical documentation capabilities. For teams that also need parametric part and assembly design, SOLIDWORKS can complement DraftSight while you continue maintaining your 2D drawings.

At Hawk Ridge Systems, we can help you evaluate your workflows, compare editions and choose the right licensing approach. Whether your team needs individual access or a shared network license pool, we can help you put DraftSight to work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is DraftSight a good AutoCAD alternative for DWG files?

Yes for many teams. DraftSight is built around DWG and DXF, so familiar drafting commands, layers, blocks and print workflows usually transfer well. The best check is to open a few of your own drawings, run your usual edits and confirm the printed output before you commit.

Which DraftSight edition should I buy?

Start with the work, not the label. Professional covers everyday 2D drafting. Premium adds advanced drafting tools and 3D modeling. Enterprise and Enterprise Plus add network licensing, deployment tools and support. Mechanical adds part references, balloons, bills of materials and related mechanical documentation tools.

Do I need a license for every person on the team?

Not always. Single User Licensing assigns a seat to each person. Network licensing shares a pool, so you size seats to concurrent use rather than headcount. If ten people edit drawings but only four work in DraftSight at once, a four-seat network pool may be enough.

Does DraftSight work with SOLIDWORKS?

Yes. Many teams keep SOLIDWORKS for 3D design and use DraftSight for plant layouts, supplier drawings and legacy DWG files. You can also manage DraftSight files in SOLIDWORKS PDM and connect DraftSight to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform with the right roles.

Can DraftSight turn a PDF into editable geometry?

That depends on the edition and operating system. Referencing a PDF under a drawing is different from converting PDF content into editable entities. If PDF import is part of your workflow, confirm the edition supports it — see DraftSight: Importing PDF to DWG/DXF.

Keep Learning

• DraftSight: Modern Use Cases for 2D CAD
• DraftSight vs AutoCAD: Which 2D CAD Tool Works for You (And Your Bottom Line)

The post Why Choose DraftSight: A Practical Guide to Your 2D CAD Options appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

I have spent more than 20 years working alongside engineering teams using a wide range of CAD tools, including SOLIDWORKS and Autodesk Fusion 360. More importantly, I have spent that time observing how teams actually work around these tools: design intent, revisions, collaboration, manufacturing handoff, and the many decisions that happen between first concept and production-ready design.

My intent with this article is simple. I am not trying to convince you that one solution is universally better than the other. I am laying out how each tool approaches the same engineering problems, where each tends to work well, where limitations show up, and how their underlying frameworks differ. I am doing my best to be accurate and fair, but I may not see things the same way you do. That is intentional. Engineers should make up their own minds.

Establishing Common Ground

Before getting into where SOLIDWORKS and Fusion 360 diverge, it is worth acknowledging how much they share at a fundamental level.

• Both follow the same core engineering workflow most mechanical engineers expect: sketch to part, part to assembly, and assembly to drawing.
• Both rely on feature-based modeling and maintain a structured feature and assembly tree to capture design intent.
• From a usability standpoint, both present a familiar Windows-style desktop experience with toolbars, panels, context menus, and a central graphics viewport.

On the surface, the two systems can look and feel very similar. For many engineers evaluating them side by side, it can be genuinely difficult to answer basic questions, such as which is easier to learn, which fits best long term, or which is more future-proof when considering areas like PLM and AI. Those answers typically do not reveal themselves in a short trial.

Saving Data by Default

Both tools can open and save CAD data locally and support cloud-based data workflows, but they default differently.

• SOLIDWORKS can work universally in either direction, meaning it can save locally as a traditional desktop workflow or save to the cloud when a team chooses to use cloud data management. In other words, cloud data management is optional in SOLIDWORKS, and many teams adopt it selectively.
• Fusion 360 defaults to cloud-based data management. Local data can be exported or archived, but Fusion is fundamentally designed to treat cloud storage and cloud data management as the standard workflow rather than an optional layer.

In both cases, CAD computation happens on the local machine, taking advantage of installed hardware such as CPUs, system memory, and graphics card drivers. Neither operates as a purely remote compute solution.

Working Offline

Offline work is supported by both, but the details matter.

• Fusion 360 can work offline for up to two weeks, then requires an online sign-in to refresh access.
• SOLIDWORKS offline capability depends on the license model. Traditional perpetual licenses can work offline indefinitely. Cloud licensing can also run offline, but only for up to 30 days before it requires an online check-in.

From a day-to-day perspective, engineers experienced with one system will recognize many familiar patterns in the other. The meaningful differences tend to appear not in these basics, but in how each system is architected and scaled across broader workflows.

So, let’s get into it.

Two Different Frameworks for Solving the Same Problems

At a high level, both tools aim to solve the same engineering challenges:

• Creating manufacturable designs
• Managing change
• Supporting collaboration

Where they differ is in how those challenges are structured and delivered.

Fusion 360’s Integrated Experience

Fusion 360 is built around a unified, cloud-first framework. Modeling, manufacturing, simulation, and data management are designed to live inside a single environment from the start. This creates a tightly integrated experience where workflows move fluidly between disciplines without switching tools or contexts.

SOLIDWORKS Modular Framework

SOLIDWORKS follows a more modular framework built around a familiar and deeply mature desktop CAD core. Cloud services are layered on top to support collaboration, data management, and extended workflows, rather than replacing the desktop experience outright. This reflects a belief that different engineering needs benefit from purpose-built tools rather than a universal interface.

Within the SOLIDWORKS ecosystem, Dassault Systèmes treats desktop and browser-based CAD as distinct use cases.

SOLIDWORKS Desktop remains the primary tool for traditional parametric modeling, large assemblies, and drawing-driven workflows, while cloud-native tools like xDesign are positioned for teams that want browser-based CAD without sacrificing connection to the broader SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE ecosystem.

For teams that prefer running traditional SOLIDWORKS through a browser, virtualized CAD and remote workstation solutions continue to be supported, as they have been for many years.

Neither framework is inherently right or wrong, but they lead to different day-to-day experiences, especially as designs grow in complexity, teams expand, and long-term workflow requirements become clearer.

Core Modeling & Design Workflow

Modeling is where the day-to-day differences between the two tools start to show. Both cover the fundamentals, but they take different approaches to combining parametric, direct, and freeform modeling.

Fusion 360’s Blended Environment

Fusion’s modeling environment blends parametric, direct, and surface modeling into a single workspace. This flexibility is particularly useful early in the design process, where concept exploration and rapid iteration are priorities.

Fusion’s Strengths & Limitations

Strengths	Limitations
Seamless switching between modeling approaches Strong continuity from concept through manufacturing Well suited for smaller teams that want everything in one place	Parametric rebuild behavior can become harder to manage as designs grow Large, highly detailed assemblies can feel constrained Less separation between conceptual exploration and production-ready workflows

SOLIDWORKS’s Parametric Modeling Engine

SOLIDWORKS is built around a deeply mature parametric modeling engine that emphasizes design intent, predictability, and long-term maintainability.

SOLIDWORKS’s Strengths & Limitations

Strengths	Limitations
Robust parametric control and feature history Strong performance with large, complex assemblies Clear separation between parts, assemblies, and drawings	Conceptual exploration can feel slower without supplemental tools Requires additional solutions to achieve an all-in-one workflow feel

Where xDesign and xShape Fit

Within the SOLIDWORKS ecosystem, conceptual exploration is addressed through xDesign and xShape.

xShape uses subdivision modeling to support organic and ergonomic design, complementing the more traditional parametric workflows in desktop SOLIDWORKS. For teams that want faster concept development without abandoning SOLIDWORKS entirely, this fills an important gap.

Assemblies & Performance at Scale

This section focuses on what most engineers would consider large assemblies: examples like ebikes, industrial machinery, or a two-person submersible.

Fusion 360’s Workflow

Fusion 360 can handle assemblies of this scale, but performance and workflow structure can feel limiting as part counts increase and configurations become more complex.

SOLIDWORKS’s Support for Longer Lifecycles

SOLIDWORKS has long been optimized for these scenarios, with tools and performance characteristics designed to support large, detailed assemblies over long product lifecycles.

Once you move into truly massive product definitions, such as full aircraft, EVs, or yachts, the conversation shifts toward tools like CATIA, which are purpose-built for super large assemblies. That is a different discussion for a future article.

Drawings, Documentation, & Model-Based Definition (MBD)

In many organizations, drawings are still contractual deliverables, so it is worth looking at how each tool approaches documentation. Fusion 360, SOLIDWORKS, and xDesign each handle it a little differently.

Fusion 360’s Drawing Environment

Fusion 360 provides traditional 2D drawings tightly integrated with its modeling environment. For many workflows, this is both sufficient and efficient.

SOLIDWORKS’s Drawings

SOLIDWORKS offers a mature 2D drawing environment that remains a key reason many organizations standardize it, especially when drawings are contractual deliverables.

xDesign’s MBD

xDesign approaches documentation differently through a stronger emphasis on model-based definition (MBD). This can be a benefit for keeping 3D and 2D perfectly aligned, but it can also limit the flexibility of what dimensions and annotations can be placed.

For better or worse, it removes the ability to “fake” dimensions, which some teams see as a safeguard and others see as a constraint.

APIs, Automation, & Custom Workflows

Automation and customization matter more than ever as teams look to reduce repetitive work, standardize internal processes, and connect CAD to downstream systems. Both SOLIDWORKS and Fusion 360 provide strong API capabilities, but they come from different starting points.

Fusion 360’s API

Fusion 360’s API leans into modern development practices and cloud-connected workflows.

It supports Python and C++ for desktop automation and TypeScript for cloud-based automation through Autodesk Platform Services. In practice, Fusion’s API is often used to build add-ins, create custom commands, extract geometry and metadata, and integrate CAD into broader cloud workflows.

Python also lowers the barrier for engineers who want to automate without becoming full-time developers.

SOLIDWORKS’s API

The SOLIDWORKS API is one of the most mature and comprehensive CAD automation interfaces available.

It supports VBA, VB.NET, C++, and C#, and it exposes an enormous amount of SOLIDWORKS functionality across modeling, assemblies, drawings, simulation, and PDM-related workflows.

VBA remains a practical advantage for many teams because it is also used across Microsoft Office, making it easier to connect spreadsheet-driven processes directly into CAD. The tradeoff is that the API reflects its long history, which can feel more macro-style and parameter-heavy compared to newer platforms.

How the Difference Shows Up in Practice

Fusion 360	SOLIDWORKS
Fusion tends to be a strong fit when teams prioritize: modern languages faster onboarding for automation cloud-centric integration	SOLIDWORKS tends to be a strong fit when teams need: deep, comprehensive control across specialized engineering workflows an established ecosystem of add-ins and developer resources

Choosing What Fits Your Team

Both SOLIDWORKS and Fusion 360 are capable, professional tools. On the surface, they share many similarities, which can make evaluation difficult.

The differences that matter tend to emerge over time: how designs scale, how teams collaborate, how change is managed, and how future capabilities like lifecycle management and AI are integrated. This article reflects how I see those tradeoffs today, based on real-world usage and observation. You may see them differently, based on your unique application.

If you have any questions about SOLIDWORKS or 3DEXPERIENCE, contact us at Hawk Ridge Systems.

The post SOLIDWORKS vs. Fusion 360: A Practical Look at Strengths & Limits appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

Hawk Ridge Systems is bringing Stratasys 3D printers into its hardware portfolio. This post captures what Fran and Fred shared about when production additive actually wins — and how to start without guessing at the wrong technology.

Watch the Full Session

On-demand landing: How Stratasys is Disrupting Additive Manufacturing

Session chapters (approx.)

• 0:00 — Welcome and Hawk Ridge Systems × Stratasys partnership
• 4:00 — Stratasys story: performance, confidence, production mission
• 7:30 — Market growth and everyday additive applications
• 10:00 — High-mix, low-volume work on the production floor
• 11:30 — Delkor: FDM to end-of-arm tools to SAF
• 14:00 — Roush Performance: supply-chain fix that became permanent
• 16:30 — PolyJet: PepsiCo packaging and aesthetic realism
• 20:00 — Medical models and surgical planning
• 22:30 — Defense, space, Orion, and investment casting
• 26:30 — Industrial FDM and production tooling growth
• 28:00 — Oreck lesson and fixture ROI (four seconds → 270+ hours)
• 30:30 — GM F900 fleet and hemming tools (as stated)
• 32:00 — ULA part consolidation; aerospace and MRO (B-52 horizon)
• 37:30 — Five Stratasys technologies portfolio
• 43:00 — Buyer’s guide, success stories, and how to engage
• 48:00 — SLS vs. stereolithography Q&A and close

Why Production Is the Additive Growth Story

Fred starts with scale. Additive manufacturing as an industry is described as roughly an $18 billion market. Manufacturing as a whole sits closer to $18 trillion. That thousand-to-one gap is why Stratasys keeps aiming past the prototype bench. Every time additive becomes relevant for real production work, the addressable opportunity jumps.

Where does that show up first on the floor? High-mix, low-volume components — the jigs, fixtures, and custom pieces people and robots actually touch. End-of-arm tooling. Guides. Brackets and ducting when conventional supply chains cannot keep up. Fran’s market view matches that shift: five or ten years ago many accounts had no printer at all; today something is usually already in the building. The open question is whether it is still stuck in prototyping mode.

The Oreck Lesson — Prototype Cool, Floor Tooling Critical

Fred tells a story that still shapes how he hears customers. About twenty years ago he visited Oreck to document a functional prototyping win on a vacuum. The engineer kept steering the conversation elsewhere: the prototype was interesting, but the tooling on the production floor was the real story.

That pattern has only grown. Fred calls production tooling the fastest-growing adoption space for Stratasys FDM — fixtures that help teams make products faster, with more consistency, less scrap, and higher confidence. Automotive OEMs and tier suppliers already run jigs and fixtures across lines. The value is not “we printed a cool part.” The value is a tool that arrives sooner, weighs less, and changes how an operator or a robot works.

What Four Seconds (and Lighter Fixtures) Buy You

Fred describes one fixture: a tool used to put a gasket on a door for the automotive industry. It saved four seconds per operation. Added up across the task, he says, that produced over 270 hours of time or productivity gained, driven by the tool’s better ergonomics and lower weight.

Scale that thinking to industrial FDM fleets and the conversation stops being about hobby printers. Fred points to GM as one of Stratasys’ largest automotive adopters across Americas-based production lines, saying it drives over a million dollars of savings per year, with less than a one-year ROI and an 85% utilization rate. A hemming tool for joining sheet metal shows the same pattern: big savings in weight, lead time, and the ergonomics of the operator moving the tool from one vehicle to the next.

United Launch Alliance offers the aerospace version of “complexity for free.” Conventional air-conditioning ducting for a satellite on the pad was a many-piece welded or brazed assembly. The FDM version consolidated the work to a handful of printed parts — sixteen rather than roughly one hundred forty in the example shown — which means fewer joints and fewer potential failure points. Boom Supersonic’s hybrid drill blocks push the same idea: print the complex body, heat-stake durable bushings where wear matters, keep the tool alive longer on the airframe.

Beyond FDM — Five Stratasys Technologies

Fran is deliberate about not selling industrial FDM short — and equally deliberate that Stratasys is more than FDM. Fred’s portfolio walkthrough covers five processes because no single additive method fits every job, just as injection molding does not replace CNC for everything.

PolyJet is the aesthetic shock. Fred says its output can be lifelike, with the aesthetics—and in some instances the mechanical properties—of the final product or object being emulated. PepsiCo uses it in fast-moving consumer goods packaging. A white FDM bottle gives rough form; a PolyJet print puts full-color realism in a buyer’s hands earlier, supports more iteration, and has even appeared in commercial creative because it looks that close. Medical teams use the same realism for surgical planning and training models when a surgeon needs to study anatomy before the patient is on the table.

Stereolithography (SLA) still earns its place for translucency, large functional parts, wind-tunnel models, and investment-casting patterns. Fred walks the classic path: print the pattern (sprue, runner, and part), coat with ceramic, burn out with low ash, pour metal. Surface finish out of the mold is close enough that shops avoid heavy manual cleanup on the pattern.

Industrial FDM is the workhorse when heat deflection, chemical resistance, accuracy, consistency, yield, and aesthetics matter beyond commodity ABS and ASA. That is the gap Fred draws between Stratasys FDM and lighter FFF alternatives — especially under-hood automotive and production-floor tooling.

P3 / DLP resin targets parts roughly fist-sized and under, with a wide materials library. Fred’s honest admission: Five years ago resin usually meant trading mechanical performance for detail. He says that trade-off is largely gone — some P3 resins rival or exceed thermoplastic behavior while looking nearly injection-molded.

SAF (selective absorption fusion) is the powder-bed play for thousands to tens of thousands of nylon or polypropylene parts. Delkor’s journey is the teaching example: start with FDM for prototypes and durable end-of-arm tools (integrated airways “for free”), then add SAF when volume and economics demand a different process. Fred says Roush Performance used SAF when a supplier could not deliver a component. The temporary solution became permanent; the company produced two thousand components—a small bracket that holds a camera in the front grille of the vehicle—because of savings in time, cost, and flexibility.

When Suppliers Disappear — MRO and Long-Life Fleets

Additive also shows up where conventional supply chains cannot. Fred cites the B-52’s intended service arc from 1952 toward 2052 — a century of airframe life — and the reality that many original component suppliers no longer exist. Maintenance, repair, and overhaul teams use additive to make parts on demand and keep assets flying. He says Delta Airlines and the commercial airline space are doing the same thing for the traveling public on the A320 that a traveler may have flown on their last flight. The workflow lesson is the same as tooling: print what you need when the drawing and the material system are qualified for the job, instead of waiting on a mold or a vanished vendor.

How to Choose — and How to Start

The portfolio slide is not a memorization test. It is a reminder that if additive failed you a few years ago, the materials and processes may have moved. Hawk Ridge Systems and Stratasys want the next conversation to start with the problem, not with an STL file.

Fran hears “can you print this part?” all the time. It is a fair question. The better question is what you are trying to fix — lead time, ergonomics, scrap, supplier risk, packaging iteration, surgical readiness, casting quality. Sometimes the answer is not Hawk Ridge Systems or Stratasys. Often it is. Walking the shop floor together is still one of the fastest ways to find fixtures and bottlenecks the team has stopped seeing as optional.

Next Steps with Hawk Ridge Systems and Stratasys

If you are ready to map where production additive fits — tooling, PolyJet design reviews, SAF volume parts, or industrial FDM — start with the Hawk Ridge Systems hardware team.

• Explore the portfolio: Stratasys 3D printers
• Rewatch on demand: How Stratasys is Disrupting Additive Manufacturing
• Talk to the team: Contact Us

FAQ

Is Stratasys only FDM?

No. The webinar covers five Stratasys technologies — PolyJet, stereolithography, industrial FDM, P3/DLP, and SAF — chosen by application, aesthetics, materials, and volume.

What is “not your grandfather’s FDM” referring to?

Fran uses the line to reset expectations: industrial Stratasys FDM now targets production tooling and demanding materials (heat, chemicals, accuracy, yield), not only basic ABS prototypes.

Why do manufacturers adopt Stratasys for production tooling?

Faster deploy than many conventional tools, lighter fixtures for people and robots, design freedom (“complexity for free”), and cycle-time or scrap improvements that compound — as in the four-seconds-to-270-hours fixture example.

What is PolyJet best for?

Aesthetic realism: consumer packaging (PepsiCo example), industrial design iteration, and lifelike medical models for planning and training.

How should we engage Hawk Ridge Systems?

Bring the problem you are solving. Then contact Hawk Ridge Systems for an application conversation or shop-floor walkthrough.

The post Not Your Grandfather’s FDM: Stratasys Production Tooling at Hawk Ridge Systems appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

This guide is for SOLIDWORKS-centric manufacturers who need a clear next step: what the EOL means, what to look for in a replacement, how CAMWorks and SOLIDWORKS CAM compare to HSMWorks (and to Autodesk’s Fusion transition path), and how Hawk Ridge Systems helps teams keep cutting parts while they switch.

Key Takeaways

• HSMWorks end of sale took effect March 25, 2025 — new commercial seats are no longer available.
• HSMWorks end of life is March 25, 2028. After that date, Autodesk states you can no longer download, access, or use the product.
• Autodesk’s recommended path is Autodesk Fusion. Shops that want to stay in SOLIDWORKS typically evaluate CAMWorks and SOLIDWORKS CAM.
• Plan on rebuilding toolpaths if you move to CAMWorks or SOLIDWORKS CAM — HSMWorks CAM data is not a drop-in import into those products. Autodesk’s Fusion path documents carry-over of setups, toolpaths, libraries, posts, and templates (with possible tweaks) — still budget prove-out time.
• Use the comparison table below to match milling, turning, associativity, and learning-curve needs before you pick a path.

What Does HSMWorks End of Life Mean?

Short answer: You can keep using HSMWorks only if you already have a valid entitlement — and only until March 25, 2028.

According to Autodesk’s HSMWorks product page:

• As of March 25, 2025, HSMWorks was removed as an entitlement from new commercial Autodesk Fusion subscriptions (and from offerings that included Fusion).
• Commercial subscribers who purchased before that date can continue to download and use HSMWorks until March 25, 2028.
• On that EOL date, the entitlement is removed from customer accounts. Afterward, customers can no longer download, access, or use HSMWorks.
• Flex access remains available until the same EOL date, then stops.

The practical takeaway matches Autodesk’s FAQ: HSMWorks is near end of life and can no longer be purchased as a new commercial seat. If you do not already have access, you cannot buy a fresh HSMWorks license — so there is no new-seat path to plan around 2028.

Practically, that means:

1. Inventory your seats and posts. Know who still opens HSMWorks daily, which machines those posts drive, and which libraries or templates you rely on.
2. Budget prove-out time. Tool libraries may export in formats Fusion understands (for example, .hsmlib). Autodesk documents toolpath carry-over into Fusion (with possible tweaks); moving to CAMWorks or SOLIDWORKS CAM usually means rebuilding toolpaths in the new system.
3. Choose the CAD home you want for the next decade. Autodesk’s path centers on Fusion. Hawk Ridge Systems’ path for SOLIDWORKS shops centers on CAMWorks and SOLIDWORKS CAM — both running natively inside SOLIDWORKS.

Autodesk’s published manufacturing path for HSMWorks customers is Fusion, and Autodesk is retiring HSMWorks on a fixed schedule. That is a legitimate option for some teams. Many SOLIDWORKS shops, though, want CAM that stays associative with the same SOLIDWORKS models, PDM vault, and drawing environment they already trust.

What Should You Look for in an HSMWorks Alternative?

Short answer: Match milling and turning depth, SOLIDWORKS associativity, knowledge capture, and how fast your programmers can become productive again.

HSMWorks earned its place as embedded CAM for SOLIDWORKS with 2.5- to 5-axis milling, turning, and mill-turn workflows. A credible alternative should cover the jobs you actually ship.

Evaluate these criteria:

Milling Parity

• 2.5-axis prismatic work (plates, pockets, holes)
• 3-axis surfacing and high-efficiency roughing
• 3+2 positioning and, where needed, simultaneous 5-axis
• Rest machining, holder checking, and collision awareness for the machines you own

Turning and Mill-Turn Parity

• OD/ID rough and finish, grooving, threading, cutoff
• Live tooling and C-/Y-axis work if your lathes need it
• Sub-spindle / multi-channel programming for production mill-turn cells

Associativity With SOLIDWORKS

When design changes (or an ECO lands mid-job), toolpaths should update with the model — not force a full rewrite from a disconnected CAM file. That design-to-manufacture loop is the core of Hawk Ridge Systems’ Design to Manufacturing approach.

Knowledge Capture and Learning Curve

Can your best practices — tools, feeds, strategies, feature rules — live in a shared database so new programmers inherit the shop’s standards? Coming from HSMWorks, look for a UI that still feels like “CAM inside SOLIDWORKS,” plus training that gets first good parts cut quickly.

Shop-Floor Continuity

Operators still need clear, current manufacturing data at the machine. Solutions that pair programming with shop-floor model access (and optional machine simulation) reduce paper-chasing and prove-out risk.

HSMWorks vs CAMWorks vs SOLIDWORKS CAM vs Fusion

Short answer: Stay in SOLIDWORKS with CAMWorks (full CNC depth) or SOLIDWORKS CAM (entry/mid); take Autodesk’s Fusion path if you want Autodesk’s cloud CAD/CAM platform.

Lean on this comparison when you brief leadership or programmers. Capabilities vary by package level — use it as a decision map, then confirm the exact license tier against your machine list.

For a deeper look at how the SOLIDWORKS-native options accelerate programming day to day, see 5 Ways CAMWorks and SOLIDWORKS CAM Accelerate CNC Machining and 3 Ways to Fight Rising Costs and Labor Challenges in Manufacturing.

Why CAMWorks Fits Many Ex-HSMWorks SOLIDWORKS Shops

Short answer: CAMWorks keeps CNC programming inside SOLIDWORKS, adds production-depth milling and turning, and captures shop standards in the TechDB.

CAMWorks is a full CNC programming platform for SOLIDWORKS that Hawk Ridge Systems sells and supports. It builds on the same technology family as SOLIDWORKS CAM, so you can start lighter and grow into advanced packages without throwing away data.

Design Associativity That Survives ECOs

CAMWorks stores manufacturing data with the SOLIDWORKS model. When geometry changes, toolpaths and operations update instead of becoming orphaned CAM files. Speedway Motors described that loop clearly while prototyping: model tweaks automatically updated CAMWorks toolpaths, which saved time across iterations.

TechDB — Your Shop’s Machining Memory

The Technology Database (TechDB) stores machines, tool cribs, feeds and speeds, and feature strategies so programmers reuse proven methods instead of reinventing every job. That is how shops pass standards to the next hire — a point Hawk Ridge Systems covers in how to set up your tool crib in SOLIDWORKS CAM and in broader CAD + CAM automation workflows.

Lucas Prucha, CNC Department Supervisor at Speedway Motors, put the productivity side this way:

“VoluMill high-speed machining drastically cuts down the length of cycle times, which enables us to mill more parts in less time. It also extends the life of a tool, whether a tool is made of aluminum or steel. In short, CAMWorks solutions are helping us to boost productivity and reduce costs in our manufacturing operations.”

Milling and Turning Depth

Depending on package level, CAMWorks extends from the 2.5-axis foundation into 3-axis surfacing, 4-/5-axis positioning and simultaneous milling, advanced turning, mill-turn, and sub-spindle programming — with options such as VoluMill / VoluTurn for high-efficiency toolpaths. That maps closely to the milling and turning breadth HSMWorks users expect, while staying in SOLIDWORKS.

ShopFloor and Machine Simulation

CAMWorks ShopFloor gives production personnel model and job access without calling engineering for every section view or detail. Jason St. Pierre, Machine Shop Supervisor at Decimal Engineering, Inc., described the shift:

“Everything related to a job is now accessible from the shop floor. This gives production personnel access to the information that they need — through CAMWorks ShopFloor — without having to call engineering… Ultimately, the move to CAMWorks has helped us to shorten lead times while improving quality and surface finishes at the same time.”

For prove-out before metal, Hawk Ridge Systems pairs CAMWorks with Eureka machine simulation — including G-code-level digital twins — so collisions get caught offline.

Real Shops, Real Pace

Teams that live in SOLIDWORKS often care as much about cycle time from idea to first article as they do about any single strategy. Corey Kausch, President of RPG Off-Road, summarized their integrated stack this way:

“We can simply go from design to manufacturing in an hour. That’s what we’ve gotten SOLIDWORKS and CAMWorks down to.”

When Is SOLIDWORKS CAM Enough?

Short answer: Use SOLIDWORKS CAM when you need capable 2.5-axis (and Professional turning / VoluMill) on every SOLIDWORKS seat — then step up to CAMWorks when multi-axis or advanced mill-turn demands it.

SOLIDWORKS CAM is powered by CAMWorks technology and runs natively in SOLIDWORKS. SOLIDWORKS CAM Standard is included when your SOLIDWORKS license is active on subscription. It focuses on rules-based machining, Automatic Feature Recognition, and associative 2.5-axis milling that covers a large share of prismatic CNC work.

SOLIDWORKS CAM Professional adds capabilities such as VoluMill high-efficiency roughing, turning, assembly machining, and 3+2 indexing — a practical middle tier for many job shops.

Choose SOLIDWORKS CAM when:

• Most work is 2.5-axis milling (and Professional-level turning if licensed)
• You want CAM available to design engineers for DFM feedback, not only to dedicated programmers
• You expect to grow into CAMWorks later without redoing the technology foundation — part data, TechDB content, and posts are designed to move up the same family

Step up to CAMWorks when you need deeper 3- to 5-axis milling, richer mill-turn / sub-spindle programming, Wire EDM, ShopFloor, or heavier automation around production cells.

For a fast orientation, watch Hawk Ridge Systems’ Introduction to SOLIDWORKS CAM.

How Hawk Ridge Systems Helps With the Transition

Short answer: Implementation, TechDB and post setup, CAM training, and ongoing support — so the learning curve does not stall the spindles.

Switching CAM is not a weekend license swap. Hawk Ridge Systems treats it as a manufacturing workflow project:

• CAMWorks implementation — TechDB capture, machine definitions, and environment setup so standards land in the database, not in one programmer’s head
• Post-processor strategy — free or customized posts for the machines you run, with ongoing support when Hawk Ridge Systems supplies the post
• CAMWorks training — instructor-led, self-paced, and private options built around how your shop actually cuts parts
• On-demand learning — SolidProfessor content through Hawk Ridge Systems training and CAMWorks subscription plans
• Machine simulation with Eureka — verify posted code before it reaches expensive spindles
• Broader services — from implementation services to CAM optimization and CNC support when you need extra hands

The goal is simple: shorten the gap between “HSMWorks is going away” and “we are shipping parts on the new stack.”

FAQ: HSMWorks Discontinued and What to Do Next

When is HSMWorks end of life?

March 25, 2028. Autodesk states that on that date HSMWorks is retired, entitlements are removed, and customers can no longer download, access, or use the product.

Can I still buy HSMWorks?

No — not as a new commercial purchase. As of March 25, 2025, HSMWorks was removed from new commercial Fusion (and related) subscriptions. Existing entitled users may continue until the 2028 EOL date; Flex access also ends on that date.

Do I have to switch to Autodesk Fusion when HSMWorks ends?

No. Autodesk’s published transition path is Fusion, and that is a legitimate option if your company is standardizing on Autodesk’s platform. SOLIDWORKS shops that want CAM to stay associative with their SOLIDWORKS models, PDM vault, and drawings typically evaluate CAMWorks or SOLIDWORKS CAM instead — both run natively inside SOLIDWORKS. Hawk Ridge Systems sells and supports those SOLIDWORKS-native options and can help you map packages, posts, and training before the 2028 cutoff.

Will my HSMWorks toolpaths transfer to CAMWorks or SOLIDWORKS CAM?

No — plan on rebuilding toolpaths in CAMWorks or SOLIDWORKS CAM. HSMWorks CAM data is not a drop-in import into those products. If you follow Autodesk’s Fusion path, Autodesk documents carry-over of setups, toolpaths, libraries (for example .hsmlib), posts, and templates, with possible tweaks — still budget prove-out time. Hawk Ridge Systems can help with TechDB setup, posts, and training so the rebuild lands on shop standards instead of one-off habits.

What is the best HSMWorks alternative for SOLIDWORKS users?

If you want to stay inside SOLIDWORKS, evaluate CAMWorks for production-depth milling and turning, or SOLIDWORKS CAM for entry-to-mid needs that share the same technology foundation. Autodesk’s published transition path is Fusion, which is the right conversation when your company is standardizing on Autodesk’s platform rather than SOLIDWORKS-native CAM.

What is the difference between CAMWorks and SOLIDWORKS CAM?

SOLIDWORKS CAM provides essential associative CAM — Standard focuses on 2.5-axis milling; Professional adds options such as VoluMill, turning, and assembly machining. CAMWorks builds on that foundation with advanced milling (up to simultaneous 5-axis, depending on package), deeper turning / mill-turn / sub-spindle tools, and production add-ons. Data and TechDB content are designed to be compatible as you move up.

How hard is the learning curve from HSMWorks to CAMWorks or SOLIDWORKS CAM?

Expect a moderate learning curve, not a clean-sheet CAM education. You remain in the SOLIDWORKS interface, but feature recognition, TechDB rules, and operation trees differ from HSMWorks habits. Most teams ramp fastest with structured CAMWorks training plus a guided TechDB / post implementation rather than unsupervised trial-and-error on customer jobs.

Does CAMWorks cover the milling and turning work HSMWorks handled?

For typical HSMWorks milling and turning scopes — 2.5- through multi-axis milling, turning, and mill-turn — CAMWorks packages are built to cover and extend that ground inside SOLIDWORKS. Confirm the exact package against your axis counts, sub-spindle needs, and posts. SOLIDWORKS CAM covers a large share of 2.5-axis (and Professional turning) work; escalate when you need the deeper CAMWorks tiers.

How does Hawk Ridge Systems help during an HSMWorks transition?

Hawk Ridge Systems helps with CAM selection, CAMWorks / SOLIDWORKS CAM licensing, TechDB and post-processor implementation, training, Eureka simulation, and ongoing technical support so programmers stay productive while the shop retires HSMWorks on a controlled timeline.

Plan the Move Before 2028 — Not During a Hot Job

HSMWorks got many SOLIDWORKS shops from model to G-code without leaving their CAD home. That chapter is closing on a published Autodesk schedule: no new purchases today, and no access after March 25, 2028.

You still have time to choose deliberately — Fusion if you are committing to Autodesk’s platform, or CAMWorks / SOLIDWORKS CAM if SOLIDWORKS remains the system of record for design and manufacturing data.

When you are ready to map machines, packages, training, and a cutover plan, talk to the Hawk Ridge Systems team.

The post HSMWorks Discontinued: Best Alternatives for SOLIDWORKS Users appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

If one small design change causes downstream chaos — wrong-revision builds, mismatched BOMs, late shipments — your systems aren’t truly connected. Connected manufacturing means everything flows, so a change updates everywhere automatically. Below are the five signs we see in the field that give away disconnected manufacturing workflows, what each costs, and the first move to fix it. The common thread: your data breaks at the hand-offs between design, engineering, and the floor.

Run through the five. If two or more sound familiar, you have more manufacturing data silos than you think — and they’re costing you more than you think.

Sign 1: Engineering Changes Don’t Flow Downstream Automatically

You approve a change. Days later, someone machines parts against the old revision because the update lived in an email or another computer. In manufacturing, that’s not a nuisance — it’s scrap, nonconforming parts, and a digital trail no one can reconstruct without a lot of manual work.

How to Fix: Connect design to manufacturing so the shop runs from the current model, not a stale file that lived in someone’s inbox.

When CAM is tied to the CAD definition — with a tool like CAMWorks — toolpaths and setups follow the live design. A change upstream updates what gets cut downstream, instead of someone machining last week’s revision.

Sign 2: You’re Still Emailing Spreadsheets Between Teams

If BOMs, work instructions, or status updates travel as attachments, you don’t have a single source of truth. You have as many versions as there are inboxes. This is the most common form manufacturing data silos take, because nobody ever decided to build a silo — it just accumulates.

How to Fix: Move recurring documents out of email and into the system that owns the data. That system is PDM: one vault, controlled revisions, one current version.

Knapheide did exactly this. SOLIDWORKS PDM gave them a structured workflow with multiple transitions, and the team can go back to previous versions when a customer changes direction. CAD Administrator Marty Ohnemus: “We’re a fast-moving environment and a lot of the business is both custom and standard. We can make changes for the customer and go back to previous versions. It all speeds up the process.”

Sign 3: You Don’t Have Real-Time Production Visibility

If the floor reacts to problems only after they happen — a missing part, a stalled line — you’re running on yesterday’s information. That forces “just in case” inventory and firefighting.

How to Fix: Make one high-pain metric real-time before fixing everything. A manufacturing execution system like DELMIAWorks (ERP/MES) or the broader DELMIA portfolio is built for exactly this.

Dassault Systèmes markets a 15% throughput improvement from real-time synchronization with production and MES data, plus an 80% reduction in inventory variances and a 30% increase in inventory turns. Those are vendor-reported figures — set your own baseline first so you can show the ROI.

Sign 4: Every Department Has Its Own Single Source of Truth

Engineering keeps its BOM, purchasing keeps a different one, operations keeps a third. When the same part number means three things, someone is always wrong — and finding out costs a meeting. This is what siloed systems look like from the inside: everyone is right, locally.

How to Fix: Consolidate onto a record-based system that unifies BOMs, items, and processes above the file level.

A PLM layer like SOLIDWORKS Manage on Desktop or the Cloud PLM offering on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform generates a flat purchasing BOM with a click and ties one change to every affected item.

Free download — The Data Management Solutions Workbook: Which One Is Right for You?, a practical self-assessment for teams deciding whether it’s time to move beyond file management.

Sign 5: Your KPIs Lag Reality by Days or Weeks

If you learn about a bottleneck when the monthly report lands, you’re steering by the rear-view mirror. Late KPIs let problems compound before anyone can act.

How to Fix: Build dashboards off the systems where the work happens (PDM/PLM, CAM, MES), not off hand-assembled spreadsheets.

Start with the one report your team rebuilds by hand every week. That single report is usually where real-time production visibility pays for itself first.

What Connected Manufacturing Actually Looks Like

One property: information is captured once and stays true everywhere. A change propagates to the BOM, the floor, and the dashboard without a human relaying it. Nobody hunts for the current revision, because there’s only one.

The through-line: connected data creates connected workflows, and connected workflows create manufacturing agility. That’s the whole point.

When data flows and tools like AURA — the AI virtual companion in SOLIDWORKS — help engineers find answers instead of digging, they spend less time searching and more time designing. Less friction. More throughput.

Run This 15-Minute Self-Check

• Trace your last released change from approval to the floor. How many manual steps and re-keyings did it take?
• Ask three departments for the BOM on one active product. Do they match exactly?
• Name the one report your team rebuilds by hand most often. That’s your first automation target.
• Count how many places someone checks to answer “What’s the status of this order?” More than one is a silo.

See Where Your Workflow Breaks

If two or more signs landed, the disconnect is already costing you. Talk to our team for a Business Assessment, or explore data management and connected manufacturing solutions. Contact Us to learn more about Business Assessments.

Quick Answers

What Is Connected Manufacturing?

A manufacturing operation where product and production data is captured once and flows automatically between design, engineering, purchasing, and the floor — so a change updates everywhere without anyone re-entering it.

Is a PDM System Enough to Be Connected?

PDM is the foundation — it controls CAD files and revisions. But connecting purchasing, project tasks, and non-engineering stakeholders usually needs a PLM layer on top so everyone works from one record, not just one file vault.

How Do I Know if My Data Is Connected or Just Digitized?

Digitized means the data exists in a digital system. Connected means a change in one place updates everywhere without manual re-entry. If you email files or re-key between systems, you’re digitized but not connected.

What Are Manufacturing Data Silos?

Systems or departments that hold their own copy of the same information with no automatic link between them — engineering’s BOM, purchasing’s BOM, operations’ spreadsheet. Siloed systems aren’t usually built on purpose; they accumulate.

What Does Poor Version Control Actually Cost?

The visible cost is scrap and rework from building the wrong revision. The hidden costs are quality-review time, delayed shipments, and lost customer trust — which is why controlled revision management usually pays for itself fast.

Is This Only a Big-Manufacturer Problem?

No — smaller shops feel it faster, because one wrong-revision build is a bigger share of capacity. The fixes scale down too.

Where Do Most Disconnects Happen?

At the hand-offs: design to engineering, engineering to the floor, engineering to purchasing. Those seams are where data has to be copied or re-explained to move forward.

The post 5 Signs Your Manufacturing Process Isn’t as Connected as You Think appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

The digital thread is the single, continuous flow of a product's data — its designs, revisions, BOMs, simulations, toolpaths, and production records — connected across every stage of its life, from the first sketch to the parts going out the door.

It is not a product you can buy.

It's a capability you build over time with high-quality, connected data, enterprise-grade digital ecosystems, finely tuned workflows, and a lot of grind.

The promise: Enter information once and it stays true everywhere, so a change made in design updates automatically downstream instead of being re-keyed, re-drawn, corrupted, lost, misplaced, or, worse, straight-up DELETED.

Trustworthy data in combination with optimized and connected workflows are mission-critical for every manufacturer who truly values agility.

Faster to respond. Better at collaboration. Confident under change.

This type of continuity is earned, built, and consistently maintained.

It is a job that never ends (at least until the Star Trek era anyway.)

In the meantime, we’ve put together a short article covering the product lifecycle — design, data, simulation, manufacturing, production, and the people and services that keep it working smoothly. This guide includes best practices from customers building their own digital threads – how they did it, what tools they used, and advice or tips that you can take with you.

What the Digital Thread Actually Is — And What It Isn't

The digital thread is a strategy, not a single piece of software. It's the idea that one authoritative version of your product data should follow the product through its entire life, so every team — and every system — reads and writes to the same source of record.

For companies with legacy systems, this is not a one-off project: it is a program.

Lockheed Martin, for example, in their 1LMX digital transformation program, put the idea of the “integrated digital thread” front and center as a guiding principle for updating and refining business processes end-to-end. They use lots of fancy words to describe it, but the point is straight-forward: A well-built and optimized digital thread pays you back over time.

What It Costs You When the Thread Is Cut

A digital thread snaps at hand-offs — the seams between disciplines and systems where data has to be copied, re-entered, or re-explained to move forward. The symptoms are familiar to anyone on a shop floor:

• Version confusion and wrong-revision builds

• BOMs that don't match between engineering, purchasing, and operations

• Production decisions made on yesterday's data

• KPIs that lag reality by days or weeks

• Time lost due to negligent data handling

Each is a different face of the same root cause: Not enough trustworthy and useful data to complete the operation or next step – breaking the thread, frustrating your team, and setting money on fire.

The rest of this post is about the fix: weaving the thread back together, one stage at a time.

Following the Thread, Stage by Stage

Here's what the digital thread encompasses at each stage in the product lifecycle, and the solutions and best practices that keep it intact.

1. Design & Ideation — Where the Thread Begins

The thread starts the moment an engineer defines the product. In a connected shop, the 3D model is the single authoritative definition of the part — not a drawing that gets reinterpreted downstream. Capture design intent once, and everything after can inherit it instead of rebuilding it.

This is also where automation pays off first.

At Brandner Design, time per project dropped by 40%. How?

Brandner’s Best Practices/Key Takeaways:

• They enter data once and use it for the life of the project. Part, assembly, and project info entered at design kickoff flows into drawings, cut lists, and client deliverables without re-keying.

• Parametric configurations keep custom work from fragmenting. A parametric setup lets them generate "something unique for every customer" from the same model, so one-off projects stay variations on connected data instead of forking into disconnected files.

• One model serves the client AND the shop. "Everything we share with the client is what we use to manufacture." There are no parallel versions to drift apart between what's approved and what gets built.

• 3D PDFs eliminate the conversion break in the thread. Clients and installers review the actual model with no file conversion — "it's apples to apples" — so feedback lands against live design data, not stale exports.

• They use multibody parts and weldments to shrink the file count. Fewer files per project means less to keep in sync across many active jobs — part of how projects that took 20–30 hours now finish in as little as 12.

2. Data and Change Management — The Backbone That Keeps the Thread Unbroken

If design starts the thread, good data management is what stops it from fraying. This is the layer that guarantees one current version, controls how changes move, and lets teams beyond engineering pull from the same source.

Even custom one-off customer requests/changes across a whopping 9 million parts library doesn’t break Knapheide’s digital thread. How?

Knapheide’s Best Practices/Key Takeaways:

• They use a structured PDM workflow. Every job moves through the same controlled path from design to release — "SOLIDWORKS PDM helps by providing a structured workflow, and multiple transitions within workflows." — Marty Ohnemus, CAD Administrator

• Version history is non-negotiable. Custom and standard product live side by side, and changes never sever the link to earlier iterations: "We can make changes for the customer and go back to previous versions… It all speeds up the process." — Marty Ohnemus, CAD Administrator

• They automate the boring stuff. DriveWorks generates the drawings, BOMs, notes, and dimensions from design data instead of by hand.

• They recognize the scale simply REQUIRES automation. Without high-quality, connected data, the scale would be unmanageable. Hundreds of product models, thousands of customizable options, and about nine million parts to keep track of — a volume where anything not linked back to the model would immediately drift out of date.

3. Simulation — Testing the Thread Before You Commit

The cheapest change is the one you make on a computer instead of on the floor.

For some workflow changes, simulation is mandatory, not just a time and money saver.

At Park Industries, the first cut is the only cut. How?

They machine parts on multimillion-dollar portal milling systems that span as much as 70 feet of travel, cutting parts up to 22 feet long.

Running Eureka digital twins to prove out entire G-code programs offline eliminated one to two days of physical machine validation per complex job, and the shop now sees zero approach or collision surprises when running new programs.

"When you are dealing with machines of this scale, an oops is not a bad day, it is a bad quarter." — Doug Voight, Senior CNC Programmer

Simulation is also where you catch bottlenecks before they're built into the line.

Park Industries’ Best Practices/Key Takeaways:

• Validate against a digital twin before the machine ever moves. Eureka simulates the true machine path offline, so the program that runs is the program that was proven in simulation.

• One unbroken chain from model to machine. SOLIDWORKS and CAMWorks handle design and CAM programming that "integrates seamlessly with their custom automation architecture" — the same design data drives programming, simulation, and the portal mill.

• A standard data language across the whole fleet. Voight's A.C.E. (Adaptive Cutting Environment) system puts "unified probing language across all Fanuc-controlled portal mills" plus automated restart logic and tool life monitoring — every machine speaks the same language, so programs and knowledge stay portable across jobs.

• Iterate virtually, not on a multimillion-dollar machine. "The iteration time in the physical world would have tied the machine up for one to two days just to build the offsetting logic." — Doug Voight, Senior CNC Programmer. Net result: one to two days of physical validation eliminated per complex job.

• Connected data buys the confidence to attempt harder work. "I would not have dared attempt some of this logic without Eureka."

4. Manufacturing — Carrying Design Intent to the Machine

This is where a broken thread bites hardest: if design intent has to be re-drawn or reprogrammed before the floor can act, every change moves at the speed of the slowest manual step. Tight CAD-to-CAM integration lets a design change flow to a toolpath without starting over — the model updates, the program follows.

"We can simply go from design to manufacturing in an hour. That's what we've gotten SOLIDWORKS and CAMWorks down to." — Corey Kausch, President at RPG Offroad

RPG Offroad brought machining in-house the same way and cut its machining cycle from a month to four days, a reduction of more than 80%. That's the thread doing its job: fewer re-programs, more consistency, faster hand-offs. How?

RPG Offroad’s Best Practices/Key Takeaways:

• Unify CAD and CAM in one environment. When design and machining share a single model, an engineering change becomes an updated toolpath instead of a re-quote and an email chain. Done well, the gap between "designed" and "cutting chips" shrinks to almost nothing — RPG got it down to an hour.

• Bring critical processes in-house when outsourcing breaks the thread. Every handoff to an outside shop severs your data from your schedule. Owning the step that gates everything else is how RPG went from a month of lead time to four days — and reclaimed roughly $40K a month in outside labor while they were at it.

• Let the model do the programming. Automated feature recognition reads machining features straight off the design, so custom work starts from live data instead of a blank CAM setup. The takeaway: if your programmers rebuild what the model already knows, that's re-entry — automate it away.

• Use smarter toolpaths to protect your tooling budget. High-speed roughing strategies like VoluMill aren't just faster — RPG ran hundreds of parts on one end mill for a week and a half. Connected CAM data pays off in consumables, not just cycle time.

• Treat connected manufacturing as a moat, not a cost center. The endgame isn't efficiency for its own sake — it's making parts at a speed and scale that makes your competitors look at it and say "there's no way." A connected design-to-machine workflow is what lets a small team out-manufacture bigger shops.

5. Production — The Thread on the Floor, in Real Time

Everything upstream of this point is preparation. Production is where the thread either pays you back or not-so-quietly breaks — because the floor moves faster than any spreadsheet tracking it. When programs, models, and schedules live disconnected from the machines running them, every scale-up means trying to hire your way out of a data problem.

The payoff of a connected floor is simple: more parts through the same machines and fewer inventory surprises.

Speedway Motors grew its machine shop from 2 CNC machines to 19 and increased production by 300% — without the thread snapping. How?

In 2009 they integrated CAMWorks with SOLIDWORKS, replacing manual G-code writing with programming that flows straight from the model. That backbone carried the shop through 5-axis mills, Swiss lathes, a second shift, and a workforce that grew from 2 to 30.

“VoluMill high-speed machining drastically cuts down the length of cycle times, which enables us to mill more parts in less time. It also extends the life of a tool… CAMWorks solutions are helping us to boost productivity and reduce costs in our manufacturing operations.” — Lucas Prucha, CNC Department Supervisor, Speedway Motors

Speedway Motors’ Best Practices/Key Takeaways:

• Scale programming before you scale machines. Two machines on manual G-code was the ceiling. Programming generated from the model is what let 19 machines run without 19 programmers — if your floor can’t grow without a hiring spree, the constraint is your data flow, not your headcount.

• Keep model and program bi-directional. Speedway’s CAMWorks–SOLIDWORKS integration works in both directions, so prototype iterations update the program instead of restarting it — tight-tolerance parts stop being a re-programming tax.

• Attack cycle time and tool wear with smarter toolpaths. VoluMill high-speed machining cut cycle times and extended tool life across aluminum and steel — connected CAM data shows up in the consumables budget, not just the schedule.

• Growth is a bundle, not a button. The 300% didn’t come from software alone: it was connected programming plus new machines, a second shift, and 2→30 people. The thread doesn’t replace the floor — it’s what lets every addition actually multiply.

6. Make and Scale — Extending the Thread Beyond Your Walls

The thread doesn't stop at your existing machines. When you need a tool, a fixture, a prototype, or a replacement part fast, additive manufacturing turns a model straight into a physical part.

When demand spikes past your capacity, manufacturing as a service lets you upload a CAD file and get parts printed fast — paying for parts when you need them instead of buying machines that sit idle when demand cools. And 3D scanning runs the thread in reverse — bringing a physical part back into digital form for inspection or reverse engineering, so even legacy hardware can join the thread.

None of it works, though, unless the model carries everything an outside shop needs to build the part right the first time.

That’s exactly how one SOLIDWORKS-powered startup builds hardware.

Green Grid’s AI inspectors watch utility lines 24/7, flag fire risks in under 30 seconds, and tell crews what to bring before they roll. How?

Their iSIU® units are complete assemblies — cameras that can see half a mile, thermal sensors, cellular or satellite connectivity, batteries, and weatherproof enclosures — all modeled in SOLIDWORKS, which lets the team run rapid what-if scenarios for part placement and generate precise, manufacturing-ready drawings for on-demand partners. One utility went from a two-sensor trial to deploying a full high-risk circuit after seeing the results.

“I can design a sheet-metal bracket, send the flat pattern to a partner, and receive a perfectly welded, powder-coated part days later. It’s still the fastest, most intuitive way to turn ideas into reliable hardware.” — Jeff Pickles, Co-Founder, Green Grid Inc.

Green Grid’s Best Practices/Key Takeaways:

• Make the model the contract with outside partners. A flat pattern sent from SOLIDWORKS comes back as a finished, powder-coated part in days — no drawings reinterpreted, no spec lost in translation. That’s the thread extending to shops you don’t own.

• Simulate hardest where field failures cost most. Their devices live on remote poles in harsh weather, so thermal and airflow analysis happens early and often — which, in Pickles’ words, “dramatically improves prototype maturity and reduces costly revisions.”

• Scale capacity. On-demand manufacturing let a small startup iterate like a big one — buy parts when demand spikes instead of machines that idle when it cools.

• One environment from napkin sketch to production. SOLIDWORKS has been their bridge “from napkin sketch to functional prototype” since 1998 — component selection, packaging, simulation, and manufacturing-ready drawings from a single model, so a small team never loses time to handoffs between tools.

The Digital Thread: Less Friction, Happier Humans

The entire point of the digital thread is reducing friction and getting out of your own way.

Manufacturers can then spend less time searching for information and more time making and building.

AI is the clearest example of that principle in action, and it's why connected data matters so much. Dassault Systèmes now ships AI virtual companions for SOLIDWORKS. AURA is the connector and explorer, surfacing knowledge from your platform data and from enterprise and web sources so engineers stop digging, and it can walk them through managing revisions and change.

SOLIDWORKS LEO is the engineering companion, focused on validation, manufacturing, and system integrity; LEO-powered drawing creation is available in beta with Cloud Services, and a prompt-driven PLM change action in 3DEXPERIENCE is on the roadmap. A third companion, MARIE, brings deep scientific and materials expertise, though it isn't included with standard SOLIDWORKS seats.

But there's a catch — garbage in, garbage out. AI running on disconnected data just automates the confusion faster. Connect the thread first, then let AI accelerate it.

As Manish Kumar, CEO of SOLIDWORKS at Dassault Systèmes, put it at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026: "AI is just the multiplier, you are the value."

You Don't Weave the Whole Thread at Once

The most important thing to know about a digital thread is that it isn't all-or-nothing. Nobody connects their entire product lifecycle in a single project. You start where the pain is highest and let each win fund the next.

Actionable Insights:

• Build your data lake. Source, ingest, and validate your company data as a primary source for all company activities.

• Anchor the data. Get revision control right with PDM — one enforced current version. It's the biggest, fastest win and the foundation everything else hangs on.

• Connect the teams. Add a PLM layer when BOMs, changes, and non-engineering stakeholders need in — so the thread reaches beyond engineering.

• Extend to the floor. Push live models to production and add real-time visibility, then layer in simulation, CAD-to-CAM automation, and on-demand capacity where they pay off.

These strategies create momentum. A Business Assessment is the fastest way to find which stage is costing you most and sequence the rest around it.

Where Hawk Ridge Systems Fits

A digital thread is a capability you build, and the software is only part of it.

Hawk Ridge Systems has been doing design-to-manufacturing work since 1996, with 140+ engineers and 430+ combined certifications on staff, and has helped thousands of companies build stronger, more connected systems and workflows for manufacturing.

We don't just sell the platforms that help connect the thread — SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, DELMIA, CAMWorks, and manufacturing as a service — we run the Business Assessments that find where your thread is cut, then back the fix with implementation, integration, data migration, and training so it actually sticks.

And if the bottleneck is people rather than tools — a PDM environment nobody has time to administer, or senior engineers stuck on setup and admin instead of product work — you don't have to hire for it. Our outsourced engineering services put specialists alongside your team on an ongoing basis: SOLIDWORKS CAD Admin and Data Management Admin Specialists, Process Improvement, Simulation Analyst, Visual Rendering, Technical Documentation, Electro-Mechanical Design, and Additive Manufacturing Specialists — filling resource gaps and mentoring your staff, so the thread stays maintained and your best people stay on the work that moves the business.

Start Weaving Your Thread

Wherever your data stops flowing today, that's your highest-leverage place to start — and you don't have to find it alone. Contact Us for a Business Assessment, or explore the data management and connected manufacturing solutions that carry the thread — or, if you're short on hands to run it, our outsourced engineering services.

Quick Answers/FAQ

What Is a Digital Thread in Manufacturing?

It's the continuous, connected flow of a product's data — designs, revisions, BOMs, simulations, toolpaths, and production records — across its entire product lifecycle, so every team and system works from one current source instead of scattered copies. It's a capability built on connected data, not a single product.

Is a Digital Thread the Same as a Digital Twin?

No. On the digital thread vs digital twin question: a digital twin is a virtual model of a specific thing (a part, machine, or factory line) kept in sync with the real one. The digital thread is the data flow that connects every stage of the lifecycle. Twins are the nodes; the thread is what runs between them — and it's what feeds each twin good data.

Do I Need the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform to Have a Digital Thread?

Not necessarily. You can start a thread with SOLIDWORKS PDM for CAD data and revision control, then extend it with PLM (including cloud options on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform) as more teams and processes need to connect. The platform makes a broad thread easier; it isn't a prerequisite to begin.

How Is a Digital Thread Different From Just Having PDM?

PDM is the anchor point — it controls files and revisions. A digital thread is the whole connected system: PDM plus PLM, CAM, simulation, and production data all sharing one source of truth across the lifecycle. PDM is where most manufacturers start building the thread.

Where Does the Digital Thread Start?

At design. The 3D model becomes the authoritative definition of the product, and every downstream stage inherits from it rather than reinterpreting it. That's why connected data management is the foundational step.

Is This Only for Big Manufacturers?

No — smaller shops often feel a broken thread faster, because one wrong-revision build or one stalled line is a bigger share of their capacity. The approach scales down: start with revision control and one real-time metric, and grow from there.

How Do We Start Building One?

Find your most expensive disconnect — usually revision control — and fix that first with PDM. Add PLM, real-time visibility, simulation, and CAD-to-CAM automation in the order your pain dictates. A Business Assessment helps you sequence it.

15 Best Practices From Engineers and Manufacturers

Every practice from the six customer stories above, in the order you'd build the thread — from first sketch to beyond your walls.

1. Enter data once and use it for the life of the project.
2. Use parametric configurations so custom work stays variations on connected data, not forked files.
3. Serve the client and the shop from one model.
4. Run every job through a structured PDM workflow.
5. Treat version history as non-negotiable — changes should never sever the link to earlier iterations.
6. Automate drawings, BOMs, notes, and dimensions from design data.
7. Validate against a digital twin before the machine ever moves.
8. Keep one unbroken chain from model to machine.
9. Unify CAD and CAM in one environment.
10. Bring critical processes in-house when outsourcing breaks the thread.
11. Use smarter toolpaths to protect cycle time and tooling.
12. Scale programming before you scale machines.
13. Keep model and program bi-directional.
14. Make the model the contract with outside partners.
15. Keep one environment from napkin sketch to production.

The post The Digital Thread: Why Connected Data Is Mission Critical for Good, Fast, Cheap Manufacturing appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

Every manufacturer says agility matters. Most still fund it like a machine problem or a three-year roadmap problem. It is neither.

Agility is what happens when the answers your people already have — the released model, the current revision, the BOM purchasing will order, the process plan the cell should run — live in a validated, connected stack every team can reach in real time.

Formats, folders, and systems that cannot send and receive that information at the speed of the workflow leave engineers and operators searching, chasing, recreating, and reconciling. They know the data exists. They cannot get it when the floor needs it. You already paid for the information. The workflow still treats it as unreachable at the worst moment.

That lag is not a character flaw in the workforce. It is a systems problem that burns the people you hired to build things.

Good-quality, current data underpins almost every outcome leaders say they want: Fewer scrap events, faster change, cleaner handoffs, better calls under pressure. Without it, every tool in the wave — simulation, additive, capacity partners, even AI — is only as useful as the broken feed you give it.

So the conviction has to come first. Simulate instead of guessing. Keep one source of truth instead of six versions. Use the right path for the job. Protect the curated product record as an asset. Companies that stand behind that get to spend the next stretch of change building, not catching up. Practical test, same as it ever was: Pick one real part, one real pressure, and ask what you can get done today once the data is connected.

On the manufacturing floor, that conviction shows up as outcomes you can point at. Shared CAD and PDM so the cell cannot quietly cut yesterday’s revision. Factory simulation so CapEx follows a proven plan. Additive fixtures so tooling keeps pace with the digital change. A standing capacity path so a surge does not become panic spending. CAD and CAM that share a model so a revision does not restart programming from a cold export.

Connectivity is how agility becomes a word that earns its keep.

Key takeaways

• Agility is validated, connected information available when people need it — not faster hardware and not a transformation deck.
• Own one reachable source of truth.
• Prove risky process changes before you move steel.
• Keep physical aids and capacity options on the same clock as the digital change.
• Start with one real job where handoffs already hurt.

How Connected Systems Stop Wrong Revisions on the Shop Floor

Engineering released a revision, but the cell is still cutting from a print or inbox copy. You owned the answer. The floor could not reach it in time. Agility here is one buildable record every shift can query — not a meeting that re-negotiates the current BOM.

Knapheide runs hundreds of work-truck configurations across three shifts. With DriveWorks on SOLIDWORKS, Engineering Manager Justin Steele’s team turned configured bodies into models that go directly to the shop floor, “increasing our overall design efficiency and manufacturing.” Their customer story also ties SOLIDWORKS PDM and eDrawings into real-time 3D access across shifts.

Decimal Engineering’s Jason St. Pierre put the same idea in CAM language: once CAMWorks ShopFloor was live, “everything related to a job is now accessible from the shop floor… without having to call engineering.” Shop-floor revision control is a shared vault or viewer tied to the same model, not paper travelers rebuilding truth later.

How DELMIA Factory Simulation Validates Production Changes Before CapEx

Sometimes the problem is not the revision; it is the plan. Guessing at a cell layout in a conference room is the opposite of agility. Rearranging steel to discover the bottleneck later is how CapEx teaches the hard lesson.

DELMIA factory simulation on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is built for that proof step: plant layout, process flow, and virtual robot programming validated before steel moves on the floor. Simulate the change on something real, then commit.

Connectivity here means the process plan is tested against a digital twin of the cell, not against hope in a meeting.

How Additive Fixtures Cut Shop-Floor Tooling Lead Time

Even with clean data and a validated plan, agility dies when the floor waits a week for soft jaws, EOAT, or a bridge fixture. The digital change was ready; the physical aid was not. Connectivity includes the path from intent to something the cell can hold.

Farason Corporation builds CPG automation on Markforged (X7 / Onyx). Christian Weder’s team stopped pausing projects for a week-plus wait on machined parts and deployed 80+ printed small-package containers after prototyping won the bid. When fixture lead time gates every ECO, additive on the shop schedule is how the physical side keeps pace with the digital one.

How Manufacturing Capacity on Demand Absorbs Volume Spikes Without CapEx Panic

Well-run floors still hit walls: a surge order, a launch volume that does not justify capital, or a process they do not run in-house. Buying a machine for a three-month spike is how CapEx becomes idle metal. Agility here is a standing path for capacity, decided before the order book jumps.

Interlink Engineering treated Manufacturing-as-a-Service as a standing staircase, not a panic quote. Dylan Pratt: “There are stair steps along the way to production. A3D Manufacturing has options all along that staircase… Even without a huge budget, you’ll be able to get to the point of releasing your product.” Sebastian Arevalo’s team made that path ordinary practice — thousands of parts through A3D, rapid turnaround when internal capacity was the wrong tool for the job. Hawk Ridge Systems routes the same option through Manufacturing as a Service. Capacity agility is a pre-wired partner path, not an emergency spending conversation when the order book jumps.

How Connected CAD/CAM Makes Design-to-Cut Changes Cheaper

When CAD and CAM share the same model, a revision does not restart programming from a cold export. That is connectivity at the spindle: fewer handoffs, less re-entry, less waiting on a system that cannot keep up with the change.

RPG Off-Road brought machining in-house on SOLIDWORKS and CAMWorks, moving design to manufacturing in under an hour and eliminating about $40,000/month in outsourced machinist labor. Speedway Motors attributed a 300% increase in production volume since 2016 in large part to CAMWorks TechDB reuse and CAD-linked toolpaths.

How to Sequence Shop-Floor Agility from Customer Evidence

Conviction matters as much as tools. Treat the current, validated product record as something worth protecting, then modernize in the order that pays off first. Shared product context comes first, because if the floor can still build the wrong revision, nothing else sticks. High-risk process bets belong offline when a twin exists — that is the job DELMIA is built for. Kill tooling lag next, as Farason did. Pre-wire overflow capacity, as Interlink did with A3D, so CapEx is not the only valve. Where programming lag recreates the fire drill, keep CAD and CAM continuous.

Start where friction already costs scrap, overtime, or idle cells. Ask what answers people only get by chasing someone else, and count the handoffs on one part from design change to finished piece. That first project usually names itself.

How Hawk Ridge Systems Connects Design Tools to Manufacturing Workflows

Hawk Ridge Systems assesses, implements, integrates, trains, and supports connected workflows so tools become habits on the floor, including manufacturing services through A3D. The proof is what customers did when validated data and the right path for the job replaced hunting and guessing. For an outside read on your handoffs — released design to traveler, cell twin, fixture lag, or surge path — a Business Assessment delivers a prioritized plan so you modernize in the order that pays off fastest.

Ready to talk it through? Contact Us or book a Business Assessment with Hawk Ridge Systems.

FAQ

What Makes a Manufacturing Floor Agile?

An agile floor absorbs design changes, demand swings, and process experiments quickly because validated data, tooling options, and capacity paths stay connected and reachable when people need them — not because every machine is new.

Do We Need Every Tool Before We Start?

No. The densest proofs cluster around one pressure at a time: shared released data, offline validation of a risky cell, additive fixtures where lead time gates ECOs, or a standing overflow path. Pick what you can get done on a real job first.

How Is MaaS Different from Hiring a Job Shop Once?

MaaS is a standing capacity relationship under a known partner path, so surge work is not a scramble for quotes every time. Interlink’s A3D staircase language is the clearest customer framing here.

The post Get the Manufacturing Floor Operating as Fast as Your Best Engineer Thinks appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

When a Hawk Ridge Systems customer brings A3D that first good-looking part, Dymond does not treat it as proof. He treats it as a snapshot.

“A prototype in and of itself is a snapshot of what that technology was doing that day under its set of circumstances.”

— Michael Dymond

Humidity, temperature, who post-processed it, toolpathing — all of that is in the part. Teams usually open the calipers when something fails. He wants the opposite habit.

Prove the Process, Not Just the Part

The unintuitive case is the one that burns schedules, and it is Dymond’s. The printer had a “minus day,” so the part slides together. The following week you make 25 on a “plus day,” and nothing fits the way it should. You did not validate a production method. You validated one good day.

“Break out the calipers when something does fit.”

— Michael Dymond

Whitten’s rule of thumb for the episode lands right after that point: prove the process, not just the part. Later, Dymond puts the same idea another way — figure out the bell curve under the process, not only the one hero sample on the table.

Cosmetic Quantity One Does Not Scale

You can get a quantity-one part to look, behave, and serve like a production unit — cosmetic models with days of finishing, final color, weights in the right places, even minimum viable function. You cannot keep the same finishing tech sanding and painting forever once throughput rises. Blood, sweat, and sanding into quantity one does not survive dozens, hundreds, or thousands.

The intent of the prototype should teach you what you need and set you up as quantity climbs. Between quantity one and injection-mold tooling for tens of thousands, there is runway. Bridge that gap with additive, urethane casting, or compression molding — and expect variability. Validate the process so you can accommodate or tweak for it, instead of assuming the hero sample will repeat.

Sneak Up on Form, Fit, and Function

A part may carry a dozen or two requirements. Trying to check every box on the first revision is expensive — and rev 2 is just as expensive. Progressive validation is the right-size hammer: quick-and-dirty FDM for an in-hand size check, higher-fidelity prints or CNC when tolerances matter, a cosmetic model for decision-maker approval versus a ruggedized model for users who will beat it up in the field.

Track-day plastic trim is the example Dymond likes. You are testing aero or debris durability for one week. You do not need perfect gunmetal gray or multi-year UV. You need correct form and mechanical properties so the pieces assemble and survive the test.

Form is less CAD accuracy and more UX in the hand — bulky, transportable, ergonomic. Fit is what CAD assemblies hide until parts go together: square-into-round-hole problems, interferences, assembly surprises. Function needs more than best-case user testing. If you want quantity one, make quantity two and break one. Make a third for aging — sun, humidity, seawater — so you get longevity data, not only day-one performance.

Datasheets Are a Guiding Light

Materials have characteristics independent of form factor. Nylon properties change with moisture. Additive can be about 40% stronger in X/Y than in Z. Two materials can look similar on paper and behave very differently once they sit in your geometry. The same ultimate tensile strength can mean a catastrophic non-plastic failure in one case and a slow, boring plastic failure in another.

You find that out by making the part and testing it — not by comparing datasheets alone.

Bridge Production Is Where Scale Gets Real

Bridge production is the interim between onesie prototypes and tooling for tens of thousands — urethane casting, compression molding, or scalable additive. You may compromise on the full ideal requirements list, but you get a good interim product and high sample size.

At tens, hundreds, and thousands, you surface inefficiencies you can fix with manufacturing aids, jigs, fixtures, or light design tweaks. Dymond’s example: hundreds per print and thousands per week on paper, blocked by tiny channels that needed a human with a pipe cleaner all day. Adding a through-hole on the other side of the channel let debris blow out and unblocked the bottleneck.

Whitten frames the lower-volume window as roughly 30 to a few dozen before committing to a tool for something like 10,000. Dymond adds that those quantities are a last chance for light DFM — walk-in fit or a real design change — before tooling locks cost in.

And early physical validation is often cheaper than staying in CAD. Whitten’s example is spending roughly $150 on quick prints to get out of the CAD loop. Dymond’s follow-on is the trade: that can beat paying an expert for hours of research, FEA, and simulation when a couple of printed parts will tell you how they actually perform.

Watch Episode 3

Chapters

• 0:00 – Welcome & shop update
• 1:30 – Intros
• 3:00 – Episode 3: prototyping
• 4:14 – A prototype is a snapshot of the process
• 5:40 – Prove the process, not just the part
• 6:22 – Cosmetic quantity-one vs. production intent
• 9:18 – Form, fit, function: sneak up on requirements
• 11:07 – Track-day trim: right-size the hammer
• 12:21 – Form = UX in the hand
• 13:49 – Fit: assembly surprises CAD misses
• 14:46 – Function: break one, age one
• 15:43 – Material datasheets as a guiding light
• 17:48 – What bridge production is for
• 21:19 – Key takeaways
• 22:44 – Cost of early physical validation
• 23:31 – Wrap-up & Episode 4

Sign up for the full series to get every episode as it drops.

Keep Learning

• Episode 1: The First DFM Question Isn’t How Tight. It’s How Many.
• Episode 2: Print It or Mold It? Ask Per Part, Not Per Product
• Design. Validate. Scale. fireside chat series

Contact Us

Talk with one of our engineering experts. Contact Us

The post A Good First Print Isn’t Proof You’re Ready to Scale appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

Carson says governance and the digital thread sit under every stage of AI adoption. Felbinger then demos StartProto extending that connected picture into day-to-day manufacturing work.

Key Takeaways

• Treat AI adoption as levels, not a single leap – from fundamentals and built-in tools to deployed systems and, later, agentic workflows across the business.
• Governance and the digital thread sit under every level. Fix broken processes before you scale them, and give AI connected, trustworthy data with real context.
• A digital thread is a capability you build, not a product you buy. Product lifecycle tools each own a slice – CAD, CAM, PDM, ERP, MES, and more – so gaps between systems turn into rework.
• StartProto is an AI manufacturing OS for day-to-day manufacturing work across OEMs, contract manufacturers, machining, and aerospace and defense – a way to extend connected data into operations.
• Useful shop-floor AI needs unified context. StartProto stores manufacturing relationships so agents can work from engineering through quoting, purchasing, and production.
• You do not have to rip out CAD or PDM to get started. StartProto is built to work with the design systems you already use, and it may replace or sit alongside ERP depending on where you are today.

Watch the Full Webinar

Webinar chapters

• 0:00 – Welcome and agenda
• 1:26 – Hawk Ridge Systems AI adoption model
• 3:05 – Level 0: AI fundamentals
• 3:33 – Level 1: Built-in AI (AURA and LEO)
• 4:41 – Level 2: Deployed AI
• 5:46 – Level 3: Transformation
• 6:21 – Foundation: governance and the digital thread
• 10:05 – Three things worth doing at every stage
• 11:01 – Why StartProto fits the model
• 12:03 – Tim Felbinger introduces StartProto
• 12:33 – StartProto as an AI manufacturing OS
• 22:13 – Demo: purchase order and drawing prompt
• 22:33 – Demo: jobs staged ready for release
• 26:48 – Q&A: Are we ready for AI?
• 29:53 – Q&A: Connecting tools like Claude
• 32:33 – Q&A: Guardrails and plan mode
• 38:30 – Q&A: Does StartProto replace CAD or PDM?
• 41:30 – IMTS and close

Why Manufacturers Feel Stuck on AI

Carson hears the same sentiment across design and manufacturing teams. Everything feels labeled AI. Leadership wants action. Budgets appear. So does FOMO. What customers ask Hawk Ridge Systems is more practical: how do we do this safely, how do we get ROI, and where do we start?

Hawk Ridge Systems answers that through the lens of the work its customers already do – design and manufacturing – and through a simple adoption model that keeps the conversation grounded.

The Hawk Ridge Systems AI Adoption Model

Adoption is not always a straight line. You might use advanced tools in one area while still building basic AI habits in another. Carson still finds it useful to name four levels.

AI fundamentals. Most teams are here or recently were. People learn to write better prompts, put guardrails on chat sessions, and figure out which tools IT will allow on sensitive data. It is the literacy step everything else builds on.

Built-in AI. Assistance shows up inside the products you already run. In SOLIDWORKS, companions such as AURA and SOLIDWORKS LEO are part of that shift – AURA for cited guidance inside the CAD stack, LEO for agentic Labs tasks such as drawings and macros. Dassault Systèmes has been adding machine learning and AI capabilities over time – often quietly – with more agentic design help still coming. Hawk Ridge Systems already acts as a subject-matter partner here; start with the AI for engineers and manufacturers hub for what is available today versus Labs early access.

Deployed AI. Systems sit on top of daily work and pull signal from ERP, SharePoint, PDM vaults, and other stores you already own. The promise is connections and analysis across large, messy data sets full of duplicate files, design-change context, requirements traceability, and metadata locked in old drawings.

Transformation. Agentic workflows span multiple systems with real orchestration. Carson is frank: very few businesses are seeing ROI here yet. Hawk Ridge Systems still sees it as a horizon worth preparing for, not a mandate to jump overnight.

What Every Level Rests On

Two foundations show up under every level.

First, governance. The people who run a process should own it, and the process should work before you automate it. Scale a broken process and you only get bigger problems.

Second, connected product data that stays true as it moves from one function to the next – with a clear source of record. That is the digital thread: the continuous flow of designs, revisions, BOMs, simulations, toolpaths, and production records across the lifecycle. It is not a single piece of software. It is a capability you build over time.

Carson’s point is the same one Hawk Ridge Systems makes across its SOLIDWORKS AI guidance: AI is a multiplier, not a shortcut around bad data. Connect trustworthy product data first, then let AI accelerate it. Garbage in still means garbage out – only faster.

From Fragmented Tools to a Connected Lifecycle

Most teams experience PLM as a software category. Carson reframes it as how a product moves through the business – concepts and requirements through design, engineering, manufacturing, quality, service, and retirement.

Along the way sit CAD, CAM, PDM, ERP, MES, MRP, QMS, and more. Each tool is strong in its lane. None of them owns the whole story alone. Data grows. Systems fragment. Gaps become mismatched processes and rework – the same handoff breaks that snap a digital thread.

For thirty years Hawk Ridge Systems has been the CAD, CAM, and PDM partner many manufacturers already trust. What “most capable” means now includes helping customers build the thread stage by stage – whether that starts with SOLIDWORKS PDM for revision control, extends with PLM (including options on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform), or reaches further into manufacturing and production. The advisory role stays the same: meet customers where they are, and be honest about what is ready for production.

Carson names three moves that pay off at every stage of the lifecycle.

• Connect siloed teams – engineering, the shop floor, quality, and the back office.
• Surface insight from data you already own – design decisions, quote history, scrap reasons, cycle times.
• Apply your context and stay in control – models grounded in your parts, processes, and history.

StartProto as an AI Manufacturing OS

That is the bridge into StartProto. Carson describes it as accessible, ready for regulated environments where ITAR matters, and built with AI and agentic workflows from the start – so an AI agent can work against connected manufacturing data instead of a pile of spreadsheets.

Felbinger calls StartProto an AI manufacturing OS: one operating system for running the manufacturing business. The focus is OEMs, contract manufacturers, machining shops, and aerospace and defense work, with coverage across ERP, MRP, MES, and quality – and warehouse management for some larger customers.

Important distinction: StartProto is not “the digital thread.” The thread is the broader capability of keeping product data continuous and trustworthy across the lifecycle. StartProto is a system that can extend that connected picture into day-to-day operations – quoting, orders, purchasing, and the shop floor – when manufacturing context is unified enough for AI to use.

The reality check is familiar. Headlines jump straight to lights-out robotics. On the shop floor, context is scattered across spreadsheets, personal drives, and “ask Jim.” That environment is hard for AI to use well. StartProto’s bet is to unify that operational picture – what Felbinger describes as a digital twin of manufacturing – so agents have something accurate to act on. In Hawk Ridge Systems terms, twins are the living models; the digital thread is what feeds them good data and keeps stages connected.

AI is still a statistical engine. Scheduling, work planning, and tight system links still need a platform that keeps the deterministic pieces honest. Agents then take on the work humans already do in the system: turning drawings or SOLIDWORKS files into routings and cost breakdowns, driving quotes from the same data, supporting purchasing decisions, and keeping the shop floor in the loop so plans match reality.

From a Purchase Order to Jobs Ready for Release

One example lands the idea. A customer forwarded a purchase order and drawing with a short prompt – review the PO, prepare the order, set up jobs with the right ship dates and process steps.

StartProto’s AI created the make items, built the routing, opened the sales order, and staged multiple jobs ready for release. The production team’s next step was approval, not retyping.

That pattern is why manufacturers bring a system like this in when skilled people are stuck in paperwork instead of making decisions. Felbinger notes customers who have grown top line significantly without greatly changing team size after migrating with StartProto and Hawk Ridge Systems support – especially when the starting point was spreadsheets and QuickBooks, or a legacy on-prem ERP that AI could not reach.

Questions Manufacturers Ask First

Do we need perfect data before we start?

Not perfection first – and not an all-or-nothing thread overnight. Carson and Felbinger both push discovery over delay: look at processes and data as they are, find where value is real, and build a path that does not scale chaos. Some AI use is available quickly in everyday tools. Deeper manufacturing value usually means connecting or modernizing the system of record, starting where the pain is highest.

What keeps AI from changing the wrong things?

Prompt quality, permissions, and review. StartProto’s plan mode has the agent research and present a plan for approval before it executes, often from a read-only default. Full audit history shows what changed, who (or which agent) changed it, and what it looked like before.

Does adopting StartProto mean ripping out CAD or PDM?

No. StartProto is CAD and PDM agnostic, so design tools stay in place. That matches how Hawk Ridge Systems talks about building a digital thread: PDM remains the usual anchor for files and revisions, while AI already shipping in SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE keeps accelerating work inside CAD, including drawing automation and LEO where Labs access allows.

For ERP, the answer depends. Sometimes StartProto replaces an end-of-life system that cannot support AI connections. Sometimes it runs operations and sends what accounting or a parent company still needs back into a modern system such as NetSuite.

Keep Learning: AI in CAD

For the SOLIDWORKS side of the stack – companions, Labs, tokens, and what you can turn on today – start at Hawk Ridge Systems’ AI for engineers and manufacturers hub, then go deeper:

• AURA AI in SOLIDWORKS, according to engineers — practical AURA workflows and when to pair it with a general LLM
• Beyond the hype: what's new with AI in design — what is useful now versus promotional noise
• What is here today in CAD and 3DEXPERIENCE — built-in AI and platform capabilities you can enable without waiting on Labs
• How to start automating CAD with SOLIDWORKS AI Labs — step-by-step AURA and LEO in Labs
• Engineer's guide to SOLIDWORKS AI Blue Tokens — what prompts cost and how to route work across companions
• Automate drawing creation in SOLIDWORKS — templates, Auto-Generate Drawing, and LEO-assisted drawings
• How engineers are actually using AI in 2026 — documentation, troubleshooting, code, validation, and training patterns
• SOLIDWORKS goes all-in on AI — what 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026 signaled for LEO and Labs
• 7 best ways to automate SOLIDWORKS designs — assistants plus the broader automation toolkit
• 5 things manufacturers can do now — adoption moves that do not boil the ocean

If you want help assessing AI readiness, connecting the tools you already use, or exploring StartProto with Hawk Ridge Systems, reach out to the Hawk Ridge Systems team.

FAQ

What is StartProto?

StartProto is an AI manufacturing operating system for running day-to-day manufacturing work – including quoting, orders, purchasing, production, and quality – on a unified data model so AI agents can act with real shop context.

What is the digital thread in manufacturing?

It is the continuous, connected flow of a product’s data – designs, revisions, BOMs, simulations, toolpaths, and production records – across the lifecycle, so every team and system works from one current source instead of scattered copies. It is a capability built on connected data, not a single product.

Is StartProto the same thing as a digital thread?

No. The digital thread is the broader capability of keeping product data connected and trustworthy across stages. StartProto is software that can extend that connected picture into manufacturing operations when the data and workflows are ready for AI.

Is a digital twin the same as a digital thread?

No. A digital twin is a virtual model of a specific thing – a part, machine, or factory line – kept in sync with the real one. The digital thread is the data flow that connects lifecycle stages and feeds those twins good data. In the webinar, StartProto’s manufacturing graph is described as a digital twin of manufacturing; it still depends on connected, trustwor dat.

What are the Hawk Ridge Systems AI adoption levels?

Four levels: AI fundamentals (prompts, guardrails, approved tools), built-in AI inside products you already use (including AURA and LEO in SOLIDWORKS), deployed AI across business systems and data stores, and transformational agentic workflows across multiple systems. Few manufacturers are realizing ROI at the highest level today.

Can StartProto work with SOLIDWORKS and existing PDM?

Yes. In the webinar, StartProto is described as CAD and PDM agnostic. Add-ins can pull a bill of materials from common CAD platforms and send that data into StartProto without replacing the design vault.

Is StartProto only for replacing ERP?

No. It may replace legacy ERP that cannot support modern AI connections, or it may augment a modern ERP by running operational flows while finance systems stay in place.

How do Hawk Ridge Systems and StartProto help teams start safely?

Through readiness conversations, honest guidance on what is production-ready, implementation support for mapping real shop data, and product controls such as plan mode and audit logs so people stay in the loop.

The post Extending the Digital Thread: An Introduction to StartProto appeared first on Hawk Ridge Systems.

In this on-demand webinar, Brandon Atkins, Product Technical Manager for the Data Solutions portfolio at Hawk Ridge Systems, takes the three requirements he hears most from SOLIDWORKS customers moving to PLM — connected change management, a full product BOM, and supplier collaboration — and runs each through both tools so you can see where they overlap and where they diverge. (If you need the PDM vs. PLM basics first, start with What Is PDM.)

How Do You Tell Which PLM Path Fits: SOLIDWORKS Manage or 3DEXPERIENCE?

Choose SOLIDWORKS Manage if you already run SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional on-premises and want to keep working in Windows Explorer while adding change processes, a full product BOM, and a scoped supplier web portal. Choose the 3DEXPERIENCE platform if you want cloud deployment with no servers to manage, are starting with little or no PDM or PLM in place, or want PLM plus broader capabilities such as cloud simulation and supply chain apps on one Dassault Systèmes platform. Both address the same three PLM requirements — connected change management, a controlled 100% product BOM for ERP, and supplier collaboration inside the system — so the decision is primarily deployment model and how much of the business you want on one platform.

Key Takeaways

• SOLIDWORKS Manage and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform address the same three PLM requirements: change management connected to CAD, a controlled 100% product BOM that hands off to ERP, and supplier collaboration inside the system.
• SOLIDWORKS Manage is the logical step if you already run SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional on-premises and want to keep working in Windows Explorer. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is the path if you want cloud, no servers to manage, or are starting with no PDM or PLM in place.
• Both let suppliers work inside your PLM without copying data out. SOLIDWORKS Manage exposes a scoped web portal; 3DEXPERIENCE sends license-free external tasks with automatic reminders.
• The 3DEXPERIENCE platform reaches further than PLM, into cloud simulation and purpose-built supply chain apps, if you want more of the business on one platform.
• Neither requires full automation on day one. BOM-to-ERP exports and downstream triggers are steps you add as the system comes online.

Why Do SOLIDWORKS Teams Move From PDM to PLM?

Because change records, the full BOM, and supplier communication end up in systems SOLIDWORKS PDM cannot see.

PDM is very good at managing files, and Atkins is clear that it stays part of every PLM strategy. What it does not hold is the change request from the shop floor, the packaging and instructions that ship with the product, or the drawing revision a supplier is machining to. When those live in a separate change database, a spreadsheet, and an email thread, the connections depend on people, and that is where parts get scrapped. “I don’t want to have to scrap parts because a change order was not recognized properly because it didn’t get transferred from the right database to the right people to see it,” Atkins says.

Integrating disconnected systems is possible, but it is often complicated or out of budget. Unifying under one PLM umbrella lets more people participate in a standardized, controlled process. Both SOLIDWORKS Manage and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform do that; the rest of this article is how.

How Does Each Tool Handle Change Management?

Both connect an ECR/ECO workflow directly to the affected CAD data. SOLIDWORKS Manage starts it from a SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional state change; the 3DEXPERIENCE platform builds it in a business process management (BPM) engine.

SOLIDWORKS Manage. Atkins demonstrates with a miter saw. A manufacturing user spots an assembly problem with the base, searches the part in PDM, grabs a measurement and screenshot, and requests a change by moving the files to a new state. That state change creates an ECR record in Manage’s item-centric database and automatically links the affected CAD deliverables. The workflow stamps the reporter’s name, collects cost analysis and other required deliverables, tracks approver tasks, and emails the next person in line. Approval initiates the ECO, assigns an engineer, and carries the affected items forward with full history and traceability back to the ECR. A customer complaint can start the same process directly from an email, with the message body and attached photos parsed into the record.

3DEXPERIENCE. The BPM engine builds the same kind of workflow against the CAD data you store on the platform, with branching logic: a quality issue follows the quality path, and a change above a threshold loops in the CEO for special approval. Atkins likes BPM because it is flexible enough to drive almost any process, and it also handles downstream handoffs to systems like ERP. He notes the same control exists in Manage: “Anytime you’re building these workflows with whatever tool of ours you’re going to use, we have full control over how these workflows operate.” For a deeper look at the 3DEXPERIENCE side, see Change Management: Using 3DEXPERIENCE to Manage Your Design Changes.

How Does Each Tool Build the Full Product BOM?

Both add the non-CAD items to the CAD-derived BOM, control them by revision, and export to ERP on release.

“Maybe the CAD environment is going to give us 80% of the bill of materials,” Atkins says. The other 20% is everything you would never model: packaging, consumables like Loctite, printed instructions, spare-parts kits.

SOLIDWORKS Manage turns those into revision-managed items on the product BOM and pulls customer or product data from CRM and ERP so nothing is duplicated. It reports quantities and cost, supports variants (localized instructions and different electrical components for the US, Canada, and Europe), and compares variants side by side. On approval it can email a PDF report or stage a CSV for ERP to read on a schedule or trigger. The BOM-variant capability is covered in more depth in Solving the Top 4 Challenges in PDM with SOLIDWORKS Manage.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform does the same from its web interface. The BOM owner adds documents and non-CAD items, releases the BOM, and either kicks out a CSV or lets scripted automation deliver it to ERP when the release fires. Atkins stresses this is a step you add as the system comes online, not a day-one requirement.

How Can Suppliers Work Inside Your PLM Without Copying Data Out?

Give them a scoped view of only what they need. SOLIDWORKS Manage does it with a web portal; the 3DEXPERIENCE platform does it with license-free external tasks.

SOLIDWORKS Manage web client. Atkins logs in as David Martin, a machinist at a supplier called Fab Guys. David sees only the change requests he has been added to. When a design he is machining moves to revision C, he previews the new drawing and part, and records how he will correct it, all inside the record. He can also log requests of his own, such as a material change on a part he machined last year, which routes to engineering for a decision based on real data instead of an email thread. If your supplier contract requires notice of material changes, this is where it gets logged.

3DEXPERIENCE BPM and supplier apps. Atkins runs a request-for-quote workflow. An internal user picks an approved supplier from a form (supplier qualification can be its own workflow), attaches the drawing, and sends. The supplier gets an email linking to an external task where they download the drawing and attach a quote. No license is needed; the platform uses a token system for external tasks. A timer in the workflow re-sends reminders automatically if the supplier stalls, notification templates are customizable HTML, and the requester watches the process pass each gate in real time. For tighter control, 3DEXPERIENCE also offers purpose-built supplier collaboration apps where a supply chain manager qualifies vendors and suppliers review engineering data, exchange messages, and submit revised proposals through multiple rounds, all on the same platform.

SOLIDWORKS Manage or 3DEXPERIENCE: How Do You Choose?

Start with infrastructure preference, then decide how much of the business you want on one platform.

Choose SOLIDWORKS Manage if you already run SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional on-premises. Manage is built on a native Windows architecture, includes PDM functionality, and is tightly integrated with SOLIDWORKS CAD and SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional. Atkins calls it “a logical step forward”: you keep browsing files in Windows Explorer and add processes, BOMs, and a web client for external users on top.

Choose the 3DEXPERIENCE platform if you want cloud, do not want to manage servers, or have no PDM or PLM in place today. You invite users by email and they work from a browser. Atkins describes it as “almost infinitely scalable.” It is a PLM system at its core, but it also covers disciplines like cloud-computed advanced simulation and supply chain management, so it fits teams that want more than PLM on one platform.

Both handle the three challenges above. The decision is deployment and reach.

SOLIDWORKS Manage vs. 3DEXPERIENCE at a Glance

Use this quick comparison when you need a citable readout of how each path handles deployment, change, BOM, suppliers, and fit.

Deployment — Manage: On-premises; builds on SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional; native Windows / Explorer workflow / 3DEXPERIENCE: Cloud (Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform); browser-based; no servers to manage

Change management — Manage: ECR/ECO from a PDM state change; item-centric records linked to CAD; email-driven approvals / 3DEXPERIENCE: BPM engine with branching logic; workflows against platform CAD data; ERP handoffs

BOM — Manage: CAD BOM plus revision-managed non-CAD items; variants; PDF/CSV or scheduled ERP export / 3DEXPERIENCE: Web BOM with documents and non-CAD items; CSV or scripted release-triggered ERP delivery

Suppliers — Manage: Scoped web portal; suppliers see only assigned records; can log their own requests / 3DEXPERIENCE: License-free external tasks (token system) with auto-reminders; optional supplier apps

Best if… — Manage: You already run SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional on-prem and want a logical step forward / 3DEXPERIENCE: You want cloud, no PDM/PLM today, or PLM plus simulation and supply chain on one platform

Frequently Asked Questions

Does SOLIDWORKS Manage Replace SOLIDWORKS PDM?

No. SOLIDWORKS Manage includes and builds on SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional. Your files stay in PDM; Manage adds processes, the full BOM, and external collaboration.

Do Suppliers Need a License to Use Either Tool?

In SOLIDWORKS Manage, suppliers use a scoped web client showing only their assigned records. In the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, external tasks use a token system, so the supplier needs no license to review files or submit a quote.

Can Either Tool Send the BOM to ERP Automatically?

Yes. Both can export a CSV or trigger a scripted handoff when the BOM is released. Atkins recommends adding this automation as the system matures rather than on day one.

Can We Move from SOLIDWORKS Manage to 3DEXPERIENCE Later?

Migration is possible with planning, but this webinar does not cover the path. Talk to your Hawk Ridge Systems account manager about your roadmap before choosing.

Next Steps

If you are deciding between these two paths, talk to our data management team or your Hawk Ridge Systems account manager. We help you choose, then configure, test, and go live, which we have been doing for 30 years. For the full comparison of every PDM and PLM tool we offer, download the Data Solutions Buyer’s Guide or explore our data management solutions.

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