The Three Pillars of CAD Data – Converge

In engineering, your data is everything. From initial sketches to finalized shop drawings, how you create, manage, and share that data shapes your team's productivity, accuracy, and ability to scale. At Converge, we organize the digital engineering journey around three core pillars:

1. Data Creation  

This is the starting point—where designs come to life in SOLIDWORKS, AutoCAD, Inventor, and beyond. But creation isn’t just about CAD. It includes specs, BOMs, and supporting documentation. If your tools or processes are slowing you down, your foundation is shaky.

🔍 Ask yourself: Are we generating CAD and documentation efficiently and consistently?

2. Data Management  

Creating CAD files is just step one. Without proper management, even great designs turn into chaos. File versioning, access permissions, naming conventions—these aren’t luxuries, they’re necessities. A PDM system is often the best tool for the job, especially when engineering teams grow and design collaboration is necessary.

🔍 Ask yourself: Can anyone from our team always find the right version, fast?

3. Data Distribution  

Engineers don’t work in silos. Sharing CAD files with vendors, manufacturing, and remote teams needs to be controlled, secure, and easy. Whether through PDM Web Viewers or tools like Flatter Files, distribution can make or break downstream success.

🔍 Ask yourself: Are we sharing the right data with the right people, every time?

The Real-World Impact  

When one pillar is weak, problems cascade. Wrong file versions get sent. Suppliers build from outdated drawings. Time is lost, and costs climb. That’s why our approach is reverse-engineered: start with the symptom—fix the root.

• Inefficiencies at the source? Let’s revisit how data is created.

• Team struggles with file chaos? We'll investigate how data is managed.

• Issues downstream in MFG? It’s likely a distribution problem.

Why This Matters Now  

These three pillars guide everything we do at Converge—from solution design to blog content and customer success stories. Think of this post as your reference point—each upcoming article, email, or campaign will circle back to one of these pillars.

Want to dive deeper into any one of them? Stay tuned. We’ve got customer stories, expert tips, and real-world breakdowns headed your way.