I currently work for a company that uses Pro/E for modeling, but we have a horribly dated way of making official drawings. The release process consists of the following steps:
1. Printing out a copy of the drawing.
2. Having the senior engineer and engineering manager physically sign it.
3. Making 4 copies of the drawing.
4. Stamping each drawing with a delivery date
5. Distributing the 4 copies to different departments.
6. Filing the original copy.
My previous job also used Pro/E, but we did everything digitially/paperless. Their process worked more like this:
1. Run a script/mapkey to create images of the drawings and load them into the drawing management system.
2. Have the senior engineer and engineering manager approve the drawing in the drawing management system.
3. The drawing management system then forwards a copy to all departments.
The previous job also had Pro/E configured in such a way that a person trying to create a drawing outside of the drawing management system would get a big "UNCONTROLLED COPY" plastered across the side of the drawing.
Based on this information and my desire to improve our current process, I have two questions:
1. How do you configure Pro/E (WF4) to place watermarks or special stamps on the drawing when they are printed normally, but leave it off when it is printed "officially".
2. What is the drawing release process used at your company?
The .drw is saved as a .dwg for the rest of the plant to view using a viewer.
The .dwg is the official copy and no one has software loaded that they can change the .dwg.
We are a small company of less than 50 people total.
Thanks,
Dale