I’ve gotten to the point in my career where it’s not “how will I meet these deadlines?” but “which deadlines will I miss altogether?”. There are many days that I need an easy button.
Do you sit at your desk some (or most) days asking yourself not “how will I meet these deadlines” but more than likely “which deadlines will I miss altogether”? If you find yourself grinding through recurring tasks like loading the same part numbers over and over again which delay the completion of more important project tasks, you are probably looking for an “easy button” to simplify that part of your job.
When I have a modeling standard in place that tells me simple and mundane stuff like: how to number a part, what coordinate system to begin modeling around, and what level of detail do I include in the model, then I have more time to do the good stuff, such as inventing a product.
Sometimes, a modeling standard can be as simple as a set of rules that a business adheres to in order to create and deliver their product documentation consistently.
If it’s time to take it to the next level, and implement some smarts (aka the “easy button”), then your organization can begin to automate those modeling standards.
What do I mean? Let’s take a simple example where we need: the part number, description, material, finish and mass meta-data to be exactly the same in the part model, next higher assembly Bill of Material (BOM) and drawing title block. Most CAD systems utilize file extensions to identify a file type (.prt, .asm, .dwg) and desire the filename be equivalent to the part number, leaving the extension to set the file type.
You wouldn’t want to pay your engineer to physically right click on every file, and then rename it with the part number. This is an automatable task that is facilitated by a modeling schema.
Model Schema (definition):
An organization, grouping, naming convention and direction for completeness of models, annotations, attributes and meta-data, included in the original model. These basic building blocks facilitate accurate archival and data exchange of TDP Type: 3D or ASME Y14.100 CLASS CODE 5.
By organizing your model (sticking all the relevant data in the right drawer in the kitchen), everyone will know where to grab the data and what to use it for.
Imagine a robot in your kitchen unloading your dishes from the dishwasher. The robot is programmed to move the forks from the dishwasher into a particular drawer and location in that drawer. If you decide one day that you no longer want the forks in the fork drawer and move them into an adjacent drawer, then the robot continues to stick the forks in the original drawer.
That robot has a map of the kitchen (kitchen schema) identifying where the plates go and that the glasses sit on a flat shelf and aren’t balanced on top of a pot lid. This is the same reason we need a modeling schema, which is a standard map to organize our product documentation data and allow others to consume it in a predictable manner.
Learn more about Modeling Schemas for 3D at Course 103: Model Schema and Organization where you will learn:
• Purpose of a Model Schema and 3D Model Organization Requirements
• Terms and Definitions
• Rules and Recommended Practice for all CAD files
• Part Modeling Rules and Recommended Practice
• Assembly Modeling Rules and Recommended Practice
• Drawing Rules and Recommended Practice
