PDM SOLIDWORKS User Group

Welcome and Introductions: Share Your PDM Journey

Summary: Martin Ohnemus, as co-leader of the PDM SOLIDWORKS User Group, extends a warm welcome to the community, encouraging members to share their personal journeys and experiences as PDM Administrators. Bradley Hakeman shares his background in SOLIDWORKS and PDM from his time at GoEngineer and current pursuits to enhance workflow with PDM API. Todd Halstead recounts his long history with SOLIDWORKS and PDM, highlighting a career shift in 2022 to focus solely on CAD/PDM administration. Adam Ek shares a diverse background with different platforms but emphasizes his current role as a SolidWorks PDM Admin. Mike DeKoning details his transition from mechanical design to PDM expert roles, emphasizing his responsibilities in PDM projects at TPM. David Mandl outlines a comprehensive career path, offering key lessons about user skills, simplicity, and design within PDM implementation.

AI Summary

Welcome to the PDM SOLIDWORKS User Group! As co-leaders, we are thrilled to have you join our community of passionate PDM Administrators. Whether you're just starting out or have years of experience, every member brings unique insights and knowledge to our group.

We would love to get to know each other better and hear about your personal journey with PDM. What inspired you to become a PDM Admin? What have been some of the most rewarding or challenging experiences you've encountered in your role? Feel free to share any strategies, tools, or anecdotes that others might find valuable.

Let's embrace the opportunity to learn from one another and build a supportive and collaborative environment for all SOLIDWORKS PDM enthusiasts. We look forward to your contributions and to growing together as a community!

5 comments

Bradley Hakeman

1 year, 2 months ago

I've been a SOLIDWORKS user since about 2008. I picked up PDM when I was an AE at GoEngineer as part of their PDM Jumpstart team. We would configure and launch PDM Standard vaults and train their users on their new vault. I had attained my PDM Administrator certification and after my time at GoEngineer, I wanted to use my skills in PDM and SOLIDWORKS problem solving which led to my current role at Aerostar. I inherited my vault and have been looking for ways to streamline the workflow. After attending PDM sessions at World in Houston, I'd like to add things like the PDM API to my toolkit.

Todd Halstead

1 year, 2 months ago

I started using SOLIDWORKS in 2002. Not long after that we had some production errors that forced our hand into the PDM world. After a long arduous search we purchased Conisio Enterprise PDM in 2004. At that time, I went through the PDM Administration course they offered. Over the years I have held different positions where I work, but the one that was always the same was PDM Admin. I didn't feel like I could give 100% to any of these jobs with the way things were going, so when the opportunity came up that I could go full time as the CAD/PDM Admin I jumped on it. That was in 2022, and I haven't looked back.

Adam Ek

1 year, 1 month ago

Intergraph EMS 1990-1998

Pro/E & Intralink: 1998-2002

SolidWorks & SmarTeam 2002-2016. "Only SmarTeam could make Intralink look good." I was never the SmarTeam admin but I was the local super-user; helping other engineers with workarounds or recovery procedures. "It crashed during check-in! Again?" After I left Teradyne, I swore that I would never work at another place that used SmarTeam for PDM.

I've been a SolidWorks PDM Admin since 2023.

Mike DeKoning

1 year, 1 month ago

I joined my former company's team to implement PDMWorks Enterprise 2007 many after years as a mechanical designer, After 12 years as PDM/CAD admin, I joined the reseller channel as a PDM expert. I am responsible for installation, configuration, upgrades, programming, and training for SOLIDWORKS PDM at TPM.

David Mandl

6 months, 3 weeks ago

2004: First exposure to 3D CAD (college)
2005: First exposure to SOLIDWORKS (ASME student design competitions)
2008: Use Enterprise PDM for the first time (briefly... the recession was a bad time to be a rookie)
2008-2011: Still very young, but I'm one of two engineers with SOLIDWORKS experience at a company making a switch from AutoCAD. In 2010, we make investments into Enterprise PDM and DriveWorks.
2011-2015: Worked in the reseller channel, specializing in DriveWorks and PDM.
Delivered "Integrating DriveWorks with PDM" presentations at DriveWorks World 2015 and SWW 2016.
2024-today: Lead PDM Architect for a new PDM implementation. Designing my own workflows, custom modifying export tasks, introducing Dispatch actions.

The biggest lessons I've always been taught have been (a) trust in the skills of your users, but be prepared to restrict and simplify things when required, (b) when in doubt, keep it simple where you can and grow into the complexity only when you need it, and (c) don't be influenced by form design in DriveWorks... your data cards will NEVER be that pretty.