Migrating from an old 2D CAD system to a more advanced and intelligent 3D CAD modeling system is a common phenomenon for most of the manufacturers and engineering firms as technologies continue to evolve rapidly. It is always good to migrate to new systems as earlier CAD programs were simply meant to solve the purpose of draftsmen.

It never had anything to with bringing productivity in the manufacturing process. Today’s CAD systems are far more improved and perform several other tasks such as realistic renderings, FEA, 3D printing integration and much more apart from 3D modeling. For companies however, deciding on moving to a new system is always challenging as there’s a major chunk of legacy data that would require conversion, so that it can be utilized efficiently with the new workflows.

Legacy CAD Data Migration Challenges

The conversion process isn’t easy as software vendors often promise. There are massive complexities that one has to overcome for any migration process to remain successful. As a matter of fact, when one of the automotive giant Daimler AG – Mercedes chose to make the dramatic move from Dassault Systemes to Siemens PLM and NX, the migration time was estimated to be more than 5 years.

Let’s look at the three prominent legacy CAD data migration challenges and solutions in detail-

Quality and Quantity of the Legacy CAD Data

Most often in companies, the legacy data always have quality issues. Converting such voluminous data is time consuming and affects the production, especially during the transition period. While some files may consist of hand drawn sketches or PDFs that would have undergone multiple revisions, there are other quality files as well that people within the organization always refer to. These files however would often have inconsistencies in the design practice as different engineering groups within the organization itself design differently as per their requirements.

A conservative study shows that in most of the organizations, there is only a small amount of useful CAD data that people utilize and is critical. There is also a slightly more chunk of data that is used but rarely, while rest of the data is never referred to. The solution is then to filter out the critical data first and work on its conversion process following a standard design process rather than converting each and every legacy file.

Data Compatibility in Target Systems

Legacy data migration is not always smooth as it seems. CAD systems today have altogether different purpose and are much more than modeling tools. It is then important to realize the compatibility or usage scenario in the new target system. Migration requires understanding on the types of data such as shape data, non-shape data, design data and manufacturing data the legacy system has and how that data can be made compatible for use in the receiving system.

The solution to this problem is to first perform an analysis on legacy database to better understand the content, structure, accuracy and revisions of the legacy drawings/models. Following the analysis, an interoperability test between the legacy and new CAD system can be performed. The testing will help in identifying, analyzing and exploring methods to solve the problems associated with the migrating the data using multiple conversion options such as neutral file, native B-Rep, feature translation or manual mastering.

Maintaining Legacy Files

Getting rid of an old obsolete data is never possible in reality. Organizations often have to support obsolete design and manufacturing systems with legacy data while working simultaneously on new CAD systems. A file might be needed quickly at times of compliance requirements or a 2D drawing maybe required to make slight changes and use it for updated product line.

This means that manufacturers often need to keep a vault of legacy data even when they have completely moved to new systems. The solution to this is to automate the process of conversion through standard translators or outsource the chunk to engineering services providing companies at low cost.

Migration is indeed a critical process and can often fail if planned poorly. It is important to realize that regardless of the strategies utilized for migrating, storing and maintaining the CAD data, the point is that legacy data is going to stay as CAD tools continue to evolve. The conversion process then largely depends on how well the information is handled between the legacy and the new systems.