Purdue University and CADENAS partner to enhance student learning of parts management technology with CAD and PLM systems

PARTsolutions is a parts management system that promotes part reuse and design efficiency. It enables students to search for parts data and CAD models for internal standard parts, industry standard parts and commercial parts from over 800 manufacturer catalogs. With this technology in the classroom, students can easily find and reuse the components they need for their designs and take a hands-on approach to learning how to maximize product lifecycle management (PLM) systems.

“The goal of the partnership is fairly simple – expose students to the concept of CAD model libraries by providing them exposure to a best-in-class solution,” said Nathan Hartman, Professor and Department Head of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. The partnership began ten years ago when Hartman met Tim Thomas, CEO at CADENAS PARTsolutions LLC, at a conference at Michigan Technological University. After several like-minded discussions, they were able to put CADENAS’ Strategic Parts Management in place at Purdue.

CADENAS supports future generation of engineers by giving them knowledge about new technologies

“We’re trying to make students aware of new technologies that will help them advance their careers when they enter the workforce,” said Tim Thomas, CEO at CADENAS PARTsolutions LLC. “Companies are looking to the future generation of engineers to bring knowledge and experience with new and innovative tools and systems. By equipping them with these skills, they will be able have a positive impact on engineering efficiency and design processes across the enterprise.”

In the classroom, students use PLM integrations to CAD tools to leverage PARTsolutions to quickly find parts based on geometry or part number, then instantly spec and insert parts into their native CAD designs. “Practicing with this application gives students real-world experience and makes classes more engaging,” according to Amy Mueller, Assistant Professor at Purdue University who uses PARTsolutions in her classes and has included Thomas as a guest speaker.

“Tim makes students aware of the concept of our parts, their parts and standard parts, and PARTsolutions gets them to think about the kind of data products need to be useful in PLM,” said Mueller. With access to tools industries will someday adopt, students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Virtual Product Integration or PLM certification are more prepared for future careers.

“What I see with this partnership is that we are aligning industry, CAD/PLM suppliers and universities. In doing so, we’re training young engineers to join the industry with more knowledge and tools to propel the industry forward,” said Thomas.