Run design reviews that give you confidence in your toughest decisions
Design reviews are where your most important product decisions get made. With CoLab, engineering and cross-functional teams can consider tough trade-offs early in the design process to lock in the best decision possible.
GET A DEMO- $3Msavings in one VA event
- 8 figuresannual cost savings
- 4Xfaster supplier reviews
- 15%COPQ improvement
- 30%shorter lead times
- 2Xfaster design cycles
So what is CoLab? Is it a collaboration platform?
Yes, but collaboration is a broad term that means different things to different people. Your engineering team probably uses a bunch of tools for collaboration already—things like PDM, PLM, Jira, Confluence, and Microsoft Teams.
So where does CoLab fit in? CoLab is a cloud based platform purpose built for fast, effective design review. Using CoLab, multiple engineers, designers, and other stakeholders can review designs together and build off one another's feedback.
CoLab makes it easy to review the right data (including CAD) with all the right people, capture useful feedback, and track issues through to action. CoLab pulls together design discussions previously lost in emails, spreadsheets, and notebooks into a single platform that integrates back into PLM. We call it a Design Engagement System.
How does it work?
Assemble design files and start reviewing faster
Create a CoLab workspace and share 30+ file types from your desktop or PLM. CoLab automatically converts native or neutral CAD into a web viewable format. When you request a review, your reviewers can click a link to open the CAD right in their web browser, without downloading any software.
Manipulate models for maximum clarity
Use an array of sectioning, measurement, exploding, and viewer modes to fully understand the geometry of a model, and add to the clarity of your comments.
Discuss issues and ideas on the CAD itself
CoLab lets you pin issues and comments directly on any 2D or 3D file. All design comments have their own view state, so you won’t be left wondering what a comment was referring to.
Reply to design feedback and make decisions together
All design feedback can be replied to directly. Reviewers can @mention one another to call attention to specific pieces of feedback, and turn design comments into design discussions.
Quickly retrace your steps
Feedback from all of your reviews is automatically recorded and organized for you. Sort and filter design feedback to understand why decisions were made, who made them, and what needs to be done next.
Make your review data work for you
CoLab will tell you the average time it takes to complete reviews, address feedback, and show you the types of issues that are coming up more often than others
What you can do with CoLab
Share design files with anyone
It should be easy to share design files with the people you need feedback from—without compromising your IP security or downloading half a dozen CAD viewers. And with CoLab, it is easy. Securely push drawings or models to CoLab and set the appropriate permissions. Then use a simple link that lets anyone open and view files, right in their web browser.
Explore Secure Sharing
Reference the right files, feedback, and design history every time you make a decision
Assembling engineering files for a design review can take hours. Sometimes, key files are left out of a package. Not to mention design history, which may be buried in old emails, slide decks, or spreadsheets. By doing your work in CoLab, you’ll automatically create a centralized database of reviews and feedback across every revision of every file. Need to bring a new SME up to speed? Reviewers can quickly toggle between files and see all relevant feedback in the context of the model.
Explore Contextualized feedback
Replace sequential workflows with engaging reviews
Reviews are often sequential, with one person creating markups, then sending them to the next person. This can lead to duplicate feedback, comments that contradict one another, and even late stage errors. With CoLab, you can review files together and see other people’s feedback populate in real-time. Instead of sending static markups back and forth, reviewers can interact with each other via discussion threads. If you need someone’s help to resolve an issue, bring them into the discussion with an @ mention (just like you would on social media).
Automate design review admin
Documenting feedback during a design review is manual and time consuming. And the more context you capture, the more admin work it takes. It’s no wonder that 43% of all feedback from design reviews is never documented at all. That’s why CoLab automatically tracks and organizes design feedback, as you do the work. Leaving feedback during a review creates a unique object that is automatically organized into a database and assigned its own URL.
Explore automatic trackingHow engineering teams use CoLab
Whether you’re discussing a prototype or a production drawing, CoLab makes sure everyone is on the same page. Review designs together, in 3D, and pin feedback directly to a model or drawing.
It shouldn’t be hard to tap into your supplier’s expertise. Whether you need DFM feedback or you’re running a multi-supplier RFQ, CoLab makes it easy to share CAD and drawings, exchange design feedback, and approve revisions.
With CoLab, you can make design expertise your competitive advantage. Run interactive technical evaluations with prospective customers to stand out in RFQs and grow your business.
CoLab helps engineering teams achieve 6, 7, and 8-figure cost reduction targets by giving you a repeatable way to run highly engaging value analysis events with groups of any size.
Connecting CoLab with PLM and CAD is fast, easy, and secure.
CoLab integrates with major PLM systems, including Windchill, Teamcenter, and 3DXperience. You can share CAD directly to CoLab from your PLM, maintaining critical data associations. Because CoLab accepts 30+ file types, it’s easy to review native CAD, even if you’re working with a supplier or customer that uses a different CAD tool.
learn more about integrationsBetter products start with better design conversations.
CoLab works hand-in-hand with your existing tools. With native file support for 70+ file formats and out-of-the-box integrations for major CAD/PLM systems, CoLab fits perfectly into your engineering tech stack.