Hi Joe...
You're facing a daunting task to be sure. However, taking the long view, the work you're doing will be worth it in the end. Imagine a library of physical books... a very large one that contains books available nowhere else. Now imagine you've been given the task to SCAN each one into a computer database by hand. The purpose is that eventually you'll be able to search through the texts of those books using a computer (something not possible with a physical book). At the beginning, it seems like the process is more trouble than it's worth. But by the end, you'd look back and wonder how you ever got along without your database. You'd never be able to go back to using the library the old way. That's what you're facing with this transition to Creo Schematics.
Look at it this way... your 30,000-40,000 AutoCAD objects are never going to be any more intelligent than they are right now. They're essentially physical books in the library. By converting these to Creo Schematics, you're adding intelligence... you're adding capability... and you're building the "library of the future". You may not even be able to see the complete picture right now. You may not fully know how this intelligent library will eventually benefit your company. Creo Schematics is only gaining in power. Tools that can simulate circuits were just concepts only a few years back. Now those tools are becoming more mainstream. By developing your new library now, you're getting ahead of the game. Although it's a struggle, you'll be ahead of other companies which did not have the foresight to modernize their libraries. Your old library isn't going to be doing any fancy tricks for you... it'll just sit there for the next 20 years.
So how do you tackle such a huge job? I'd steal most of the geometry from your AutoCAD symbols to use as Creo Schematics artifacts. Start with the most common symbols first. Add in the intelligent features required by Creo Schematics. Build your datasets as you need them. But perhaps most important... train all of your people to create artifacts as they need them. If you have a team of 10 designers, that's 10 people making the artifacts they need. Have them check their work into common repository with a librarian (or "gatekeeper", data manager, etc) who verifies the new catalog submissions for completeness before uploading them to the master catalog. Many times you only need a simple artifact to create dozens of items. Datasets do much of the work of creating 'families' of components.
No doubt this is going to be a chore. But what I'm talking about is developing a workflow that includes making the necessary catalog components. For instance, what is your workflow now? Maybe you receive a sketch or markup from your Electrical Engineers, place symbols for rough space claim, route wires, fire off a check print, and await redlines from the EE's. In your new workflow, you'd receive the sketch/markup, place whatever symbols you have for space claim while identifying any missing symbols, create new artifacts for the missing symbols, route wires, fire off check print, etc.
If you make the act of creating new artifacts part of the design process, you'll quickly build up a library of the most often used items. At first, it'll be slow going... so maybe you (personally) want to build the first couple hundred or so components before you start using Creo Schematics in earnest. But then, once you make the switch, your team will rapidly begin to populate your new library. Within a few weeks, the common components will be created leaving only the rarer items to be dealt with during your normal workflow. The time you save using Creo Schematics will initially be lost as you work to populate your library. But within a few months at most you should begin to see positive gains. Your designers will be able to work more efficiently. Modifications to designs will come about more easily. And ultimately even if you don't see any productivity gains initially, your wiring diagrams now have an intelligence that they did not possess before. As I said, you may not even know the dividends this intelligence will pay in the future.
When I was about 10 years old, I watched a guy eat a full-sized bicycle on a TV show called That's Incredible. Ever since then, old jokes like "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!" seem less funny and more like wise business advice. While recreating a large library seems impossible at the outset, if you hit the high points first, leverage your team, and methodically continue making progress, you'll see it's actually not so bad.
As for the 3D routing stuff... that aspect is seriously overblown. This is one of my biggest issues with PTC's routed systems products. You're led to believe the 3D routing becomes so much simpler with Creo Schematics... and conversely that you need Creo Schematics if you expect the 3D routing to be anything less than a huge mess. The fact is you can route easily in 3D without Schematics... and you can gain great benefits from Schematics without ever bothering to route cables in 3D. Both tools are great on their own. We don't need to hype the interaction as the main selling point. That's actually a disservice to both pieces and it makes some companies fearful of adopting cabling thinking they have to go 'all or nothing' (Schematics & Cabling or nothing at all).
Next Wednesday at 10am in Anaheim, I'm presenting Ninja Cabling 2: Learn Cabling in 30 Minutes at the PTC Live Global conference. The whole point of my presentation is to demonstrate the power of cabling without Creo Schematics. That's not to knock Schematics (which I love) but to kock down some of that hype and show how cabling can stand on its own.
Thanks and best regards,
-Brian
