SOLIDWORKS CAM is Coming: Become a BETA Tester

As I am sure you already know, SOLIDWORKS makes a lot of great announcements at SOLIDWORKS WORLD every year.  One of the big announcements this past February was the introduction of CAM into SOLIDWORKS next year.  SOLIDWORKS CAM will have new functionality that will integrate 2.5 axis milling and turning directly into the software.  Some other great features will include part and assembly machining, tolerance based machining, automatic feature recognition, and knowledge based machining strategies, to name a few.

This seems like the logical next step, after the introduction of tools such as SOLIDWORKS Inspection and MBD over the last few years, which allow you to more efficiently utilize your SOLIDWORKS files beyond just the design.  Being out in the field interacting with our customers, we hear more and more from them that a more seamless, efficient transition from design to manufacturing is crucial.  This tool should be a nice complement to help bridge that gap.

While full integration with CAM has been around in SOLIDWORKS for a long time, purchased as an add-in through Gold Partners, this new functionality will give everyone the ability to get an introduction into computer aided manufacturing and, at a limited level (2.5 axis), take advantage of the efficiencies this integration provides.  If you are wondering where this new functionality is coming from, it is being powered through a partnership with CAMWorks, which is a Gold Partner provider of a CAM Solution inside of SOLIDWORKS.

This is new functionality that I am excited to get my hands on and try out for myself, as I hope many of you are too!  For those of you who like to stay ahead of the curve and not wait for the full release of the product, BETA testing is available.  It will begin in April 2017.  To sign up, just go to this link and register.  If you do partake in this BETA, please let us know your thoughts!