Think like a pro.

A heart to heart talk with our users from your support staff to elevate the CAD/CAM user and Swoosh Technologies customer to new heights of productivity and confidence in their abilities, tools and partners.

What makes you stand out?

Name your favorite NFL football player and then think of the other 1693 players that are on the NFL roster. What makes these people stand out, may help us ‘up our game’ as well. Here’s how to become a pro.

Trust your software:

We all like to compare cars, cell phones and laptops, but there comes a time when the comparison stops and the usage begins. I always say I don’t care who made the fire truck that comes to my house. The function is more important than the brand and the benefit is more important than the function.

Siemens PLM and Swoosh Technologies delivers the benefit. Trust the tools you have. Sooner or later, if you drive a car, you will have to trust the brakes and the bridge builder. Siemens tools and Swoosh Technologies’ training and support has your back.

Your tools are more than the functions.

When I first started as an Application Engineer I focused on Feature / Functions. You know, “…could I make a better tapped hole?” Of course I could, but I continued to focus on the feature/functions for the next 10 or 13 years. It wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I saw my CAD activity as part of broader picture. CAD is only a part of what a company does to make money and only one step in the manufacturing process. I still hear users, after seeing cool functions, say, ‘Oh! OK, that’s just like … (brand x). This is not the answer we live for, and sometimes, we don’t even a thank you for showing them the function.

The point is, not to compare a function to another brand, but what does this feature allow you to do? How does this help you, your company or your paycheck?

Think Cost vs Benefit

It’s amazing how lower level users will grill us over the cost as if they are paying for the program themselves.  It seems to be a rule of thumb that the farther away from the purchase decisions, the more the focus on cost.  Instead, please think of the benefit you will receive from that program or training.

Here are some true stories. I have had students that learned a one-click function that replaced 8 hours a week for the last ten years of using the software. Think of the user getting a $1700 app that helped him design a $1.5 million job, or the company that thought PLM was too expensive for them but had $250,000 of unusable and out of date parts in the warehouse due to out of date drawings.

To the designer or programmer, you don’t make the money, you make the parts, ask for the best tools and advice you can to make your job easier.

Grow from here.

Siemens PLM, Product Lifecycle Management, is a software portfolio that helps companies manage everything from napkin sketches to scheduled maintenance once the product leaves the building. You may use Solid Edge or NX for CAD or CAM, but your choices are not limited to that. You can design assembly lines, test welds and temperature conditions, show how liquid acts when filling bottles, layout the leather of a car seat, and even make decisions about how to dispose of products that cannot go into landfills.  All of this can be wrapped up in a Teamcenter environment that can even track the meeting notes and the emails of the project.

If you are a Siemens and Swoosh customer, you are in good company and there is a path forward.

Pick good friends.

Few people if any succeed without the help of someone. Your success as a designer or programmer may rest in the team you use. Just at a quick count, our technical team has close to 200 years of combined experience both in real–world applications and supporting thousands of user at every skill level. We’ve helped companies that make everything from gym lockers to hip replacements.  I won’t bore you with the details but “factory trained and certified” takes on a whole new meaning with our staff. All of our staff have been users of the same software you use, have presented at national conventions, and have even written books and course work for major corporations.

Please remember, Swoosh is as close as your phone or email. We’ll supply the best support, training or mentoring that will help in every future design.

Ask, “Is there a better way?”

Getting better sometimes means doing things different. It’s OK to save a file and then try it again. I have a scrap book of old projects, proof of concepts, and “what ifs” that have been my references over the years.

Ask Swoosh Technologies if there is a better way to fix a part, speed a project of use the software to its fullest. The answer my lay in training, mentoring or just a bit of quick insight over the phone. We’re here for you and our job is to make your job easier.

Let’s “Think like a pro” together! – Dale