Cadam Drafting V5/Catia V5

Edwards Finance > General Engineering

Q. I am looking for any comments or observations good and/or bad on Cadam Drafting (V4 or V5) and Catia software. Our company is currently using Microcadam Helix (they have discontinued support in U.S.) Microcadam is recommending migration to Catia and/or Cadam drafting. I am currently evaluating these programs for integration into our department's CAD group. We are a large manufacturing company, and the department is Facilities/Plant engineering. Most of the project work is 2D, from architectural/construction/facility and equipment layouts to mechanical and machine design/large process systems, plant utilities, etc. We currently have stations of AutoCAD Rel. 14 and AutoCAD LT 2000 and find both programs archaic and cumbersome. Also would like any comments/recommendations on other CAD programs available that may be applicable.

A. As a former employee of the largest Italian Microcadam distributor, and now a freelance consultant, I had to deal with my customers' problems when Microcadam, Inc. announced it would no longer support Helix. IBM proposed migrating to CCD V4, but when we took a look at it, we thought of it as a regression to Microcadam R14. Very few large companies are considering this migration. I have never seen V5. UGS proposed migrating to Solidedge. Some Helix users who had taken a look at the Modeling, were already considering migrating to a 3D package, and chose this direction. For the most part, however, started to jump around screaming and swearing at the software companies reliability loosing their rationale. To these, I said: 1. Wait. 2. You do not have a problem NOW; software does not break. You don't need spare parts. 3. If you need more seats, you can buy them from those who are turning Helix off in favor of another package. 4. You don't HAVE TO change CAD system NOW. 5. If you want to change, you could (should, IMHO) consider moving on to 3D; training your people on another 2D package is a waste of time; within a few years you will move on to a 3D anyway. Those who have moved to another 2D package have chosed Autocad due to its ease of data exchange. And they are not happy with it at all, as they find it uselessy cumbersome and slow. Most users are evaluating moving onto 3D. Think3's Thinkdesign and UGS Solidedge are the most popular, the first for its pricing policy, ease of use, 2D drafting efficiency and complex surface capabilities, the second for sheet metal and large assemblies.

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