SolidWorks 2009 Breakout Sessions (A General Review)
I wanted to walk through the breakout sessions that I attended and give a brief summary of each and my impressions. All of the sessions were informative and had relevant content based on what I needed during my attendance. Since my company is contemplating moving to a new PDM system, my concentration was on anything PDM related. I enjoyed all the sessions although 2 were “death by powerpoint” and almost put me in a coma. To everyone’s sessions I mention here, keep up the good work and for the death by powerpoint guys, try and have some varied content next year.
Monday: Sheet Metal – Why do I do it like this or that? by Wayne Tiffany
Boy I like the energy Wayne always has during his sessions! As always he brought more of the thinking aspect and problem solving for the parts along with using the software. The challenge in manufacturing is not necessarily building the part in SolidWorks but building the part for manufacturability in the real world while keeping an eye on cost. Thanks for bringing this point to your presentation Wayne.
Monday: Experience SolidWorks Enterprise PDM by Kurt Lundstedt PDM Technical Sales Mgr. DS SolidWorks Corp. (Hands On)
Getting my feet wet for the first time in EPDM was a hoot. After using another PDM system currently that seems to have more than its share of problems, it was nice to sit down and just work through a set of proceedures for check-in/check-out that just worked. I know, I know, you say but it was a canned demo. I played around in it a little more than I should and didn’t quite follow the instructions. What was I supposed to do? You give a guy a computer and access to a new program and expect them to follow instructions! I really like the interface and was able to ask some tough questions that were answered immediately and thoroughly. I was also able to see some custom uses in the BOM tables that were very useful. This was a great session that helped get me acclimated to the real uses of PDM.
Monday: Experience SolidWorks Workgroup PDM by William Briggs, Senior Techinal Support Engineer DS SolidWorks Corp. (Hands On)
Another hands on PDM. This time it was Workgroup. After having the EPDM earlier in the day, I wasn’t sure what I would get out of this session. I have been using Workgroup on my local for about 2 months. To my suprise, I was challenged by what was shown in the session. I also got to meet Joy Garon (PDM Geek by her own admission) from SolidWorks. Joy was nice enough to walk me through a couple of scenarios for why one PDM wouldn’t work in our company structure. I appreciate it immensely Joy Thanks!
Tuesday: Bending and Shaping – Using SolidWorks Sheetmetal Tools by Casey Gorman (Hands On)
Since my company has not moved to SW 2009 yet, I decided to take a few of the sheet metal sessions offered this year. Casey’s session, although labeled beginner, was probably intermediate in content due to some of the features he covered and modifications to features that were talked about. I appreciated that he showed full use of various aspects of the sheet metal tools in SW. The other thing that Casey drove home was the use of SYMMETRY in the model. This is one thing that can’t be spoken about enough when designing/building a part in 3D. Great job Casey and I hope to see you presenting again next year.
Tuesday: How Students Tap Creative Powers – Learning SolidWorks by Bill Casnovsky
I attended this session to try and get an idea of how educators were working with students to teach CAD using SolidWorks and how I might relate the experience to my companies in-house training. Bill had a vast age range he teaches and varying degrees of experience in his students. I thought the incorporation of Rapid Prototyping in the class structure was excellent as this give the students a physical goal to attain.
Tuesday: Data Migration Strategies for SolidWorks Enterprise PDM by Marc Young
This session like so many of my other choices was work related. I wanted to see what was recommended by others when doing migration. Although incredibly informative with a bounty of good content for what I attended for, this was not a session for the beginner or the too much lunch crowd. Marc covered some difficult topics encountered during migration and gave good examples of what to expect and pitfalls to avoid. But alas this presentation was “death by Powerpoint” and not for the faint of heart. I was only able to concentrate and stay awake by shear will. Some others in the back were not so lucky as I heard snoring from both directions over my shoulders. I actually got to meet Marc Wednesday during a roundtable discussion and found him to be a nice guy.
Tuesday: Working with SolidWorks Templates, Formats, and Options by Tom Cote (Hands On)
This was a good beginner session. I have been using the principles outlined in this session for several years. It was suprising to me to see how many users did not know how to use the details outlined in this session. I hope they understood and are able to implement these strategies in their companies. Thanks for a very thourough walkthrough session Tom. This is one that I would recommend to any beginner attending SWW for the first time.
Wednesday: SolidWorks Network Implementation – Where do I put this and why? by Nicholas Benner
I attended this same session at SWW2007 in New Orleans and wanted to see what had been or could be updated as this topic is something that I have personally been trying to do within my company for the engineers. What I found out was that Nicholals has updated the presentation and information to be relevant to SW 2009 and even included 64 bit OS tips. Cudos for this update and staying current. I enjoyed the session and hope to implement more of the details that were shared. Nicholas, I’m still trying to get that library you promised. 
Maybe next time.
Wednesday: Migrating Successfully to SolidWorks Enterprise PDM by Jason Lattimer
Another work driven session to try and get a handle on what would be involved in a migration for my company. Good topic a content with lots of good suggestions, time lines and input from the VAR that supported their implementation. Since I was interrested this was a good session but be ware this session was “death by powerpoint”. At least Jason made it interresting and changed the subject often without skipping around. Good session for advanced users/cad admins looking to migrate.
Well, this does it for the break out sessions I attended. Overall I had a very interresting and company productive SolidWorks World 2009. Depending on what you want to see, I would recommend any fo the sessions I attended. I hope to see you all at SWW2010!
