If you’re managing product design workflows without a formal system for storing and controlling your CAD data, chances are you’re either already in pain—or heading for it. For engineering teams using SOLIDWORKS, Product Data Management (PDM) isn’t just a “nice to have.” It’s a core operational need.
At Converge, we’ve implemented SOLIDWORKS PDM solutions for companies of all sizes and industries. Whether your team is in one office or spread across the globe, the need for structured data management becomes mission-critical as soon as collaboration, revision control, or security come into play.
Here are the top three reasons your organization might need SOLIDWORKS PDM—sooner than you think.
1. You’re Losing Time—and Trust—in File Management
One of the biggest pain points in CAD-heavy environments is not knowing if you're working on the right file. We've seen teams overwrite each other’s work, lose days chasing down missing revisions, or even send the wrong drawings to manufacturing. Without a PDM system, your engineering files are likely scattered across local machines, shared drives, or random cloud folders—none of which are built to handle complex part and assembly relationships.
SOLIDWORKS PDM centralizes your files in a secure vault, giving your team a single source of truth. Built-in version control means every change is tracked, and rollback is always an option. This eliminates the fear of overwriting someone else’s design and ensures everyone—designers, project managers, and even vendors—can confidently access the latest version of the file they need.
In one of our case studies, a client reduced large assembly load times from 30 minutes to 45 seconds simply by implementing PDM properly.
2. Your Workflows Are Manual and Error-Prone
Manual file naming conventions, email approvals, and tribal knowledge might work for a while—but they break down fast as teams scale. Without a formal workflow, you’re relying on people to follow undocumented processes, which can lead to costly mistakes and delays.
SOLIDWORKS PDM lets you automate and enforce custom workflows that match your organization’s approval processes. Need engineering manager signoff before a drawing goes to production? Want to lock files after release? PDM handles all of it automatically, with full audit trails and notifications along the way.
At Converge, we configure these workflows during your implementation, based on how your team actually works. No guesswork. No fluff.
Clear Automation, one of our clients, had no revision control or documented workflows before Converge implemented PDM. Post-deployment, they saw immediate improvements in collaboration and output consistency.
3. You’re Struggling with Remote Collaboration or IT Burden
Today’s engineering teams are more distributed than ever. But SOLIDWORKS files aren’t light, and without PDM, sharing data across locations is clunky and slow. Meanwhile, in-house IT teams often struggle to support CAD-specific infrastructure—leading to downtime, security risks, and frustrated users.
That’s where Cloud-Hosted SOLIDWORKS PDM comes in. Converge is the only cloud-centric SOLIDWORKS reseller, and we specialize in taking the PDM burden off your IT team. Our Hosted PDM services give your team secure, global access to CAD files, with zero server maintenance and full support included.
Fossil Group unlocked global collaboration between teams in the U.S., Switzerland, and Hong Kong by moving to a cloud-hosted PDM solution from Converge. Their IT team no longer has to touch PDM at all.
Final Thoughts
If your team is growing, your projects are getting more complex, or your engineers are spending more time looking for files than designing products—it’s time to implement SOLIDWORKS PDM. From secure storage and version control to automated workflows and cloud accessibility, PDM is the backbone of any high-performing engineering operation.
And at Converge, we don’t just install software—we solve the problems the software creates. Whether you need on-premise performance, cloud-hosted flexibility, or help bridging the gap between your engineering and IT teams, our team is here to help.
Ready to explore what PDM could do for your team?
Let’s chat. We’ll show you how we’ve helped companies like yours streamline their workflows, reduce IT headaches, and give engineers more time to do what they do best—design.
