Sharing design info with suppliers

CAD3D_design

I am looking for guidance on the best way to share 2D an 3D data with suppliers in a revision controlled matter.

Pre-onshape, I would export out 3D data and 2D drawings and then put then in a corresponding folder named with a part/assembly name. In the root was a BOM with the usual, part numbers, qty, revision, etc.

Now I'm using Onshape, I feel like there must be a better way but I am struggling to find it.

I want the suppliers to be able to download 2D and 3D data for the parts they manufacture.

How are people organising their data for suppliers? Are you using publications?

OpenBOM seems like an option but I would prefer to keep it in onshape if possible.

S1mon

Publications are a pretty nice way to collect relevant parts/assemblies/drawings in one place without the confusion/baggage of part studios and documents.

For a larger more complex situation where you have Enterprise, you might want to consider Arena, or OpenBOM or some of the other PLM integrations, but if your projects are primarily mechanical and created in Onshape, publications could be enough.

CAD3D_design

I've been playing with publications today and I think they will do what I need for the time being. My products contain a mixture of mechanical and electrical. My plan is to:

• have a publication per part number / assembly. This will contain 3D data, datasheets, etc.
• Provide access to the suppliers that own or manage the part numbers.
• Create an offline BOM with clickable links to the onshape data. This BOM will contain additional info (like costs, lead times, tool life, etc) that i think will be easier to store outside of onshape.

I'll see how it goes!