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How Design Hub Solves The Oldest Engineering Headache

19% time lost

by engineers using legacy CAD-PLM integration

3-4 months

Propel's release cadence, versus a year or more for on-prem competitors like Windchill

$5 billion

in annual Salesforce R&D that Propel inherits for security, scale, and AI

Quick Overview

Get the inside story on Propel's Winter 2026 release in this Propel webinar featuring CMO Dario Ambrosini and VP of Product Marketing Tom Shoemaker. The session addresses a three-decade-long disconnect between engineering CAD systems and enterprise PLM, introducing Design Hub, a governed clearinghouse that connects any mix of mechanical CAD, electrical CAD, and PDM systems directly into Propel without forcing teams to change tools. Citing Tech-Clarity research, the speakers explain that engineers lose 19% of their time, nearly a full workday weekly, searching for files and resolving version confusion. The panelists detail how Design Hub meets manufacturers wherever they stand, whether running CAD alone, pairing CAD with an existing PDM, or managing multiple CAD and PDM environments after acquisitions or rapid growth.

Key Takeaways

Engineers lose nearly a full workday every week hunting for the right CAD file version.
Tech-Clarity research cited in the session shows engineers waste 19% of their time on non-value-added data tasks. That lost time compounds into scrap, rework, missed deadlines, and damaged customer commitments downstream.
Design Hub connects any combination of CAD and PDM systems directly into Propel PLM.
Whether a team runs CAD alone, pairs it with an existing PDM like SolidWorks PDM or Autodesk Vault, or wants to modernize to a cloud-based PDM, Design Hub meets manufacturers wherever they currently stand without disrupting existing workflows.
Vendor-owned PLM and PDM tools tend to favor their own CAD system over others.
Because Propel has never developed a CAD product, it has no "favorite child" to protect, making true multi-CAD support a natural fit rather than an afterthought for companies managing multiple design environments.
Multi-CAD complexity is often the result of acquisitions, rapid growth, or early missteps.
Companies frequently end up managing several CAD and PDM systems after M&A activity, outgrowing an early setup, or simply configuring things wrong the first time, and they need a path forward that doesn't sacrifice short-term productivity.
Design Hub gives teams a preview step before any design change reaches the product record.
Engineering changes can be previewed and routed through a draft change order before committing, reducing the risk of sending suppliers or production teams the wrong specification.
Three major releases a year give Propel customers continuous access to new capabilities.
Propel's cloud-native platform and inherited Salesforce development tools, including AI-assisted development, allow Propel to turn market needs into shipped features in three to four months, a pace traditional on-premise PLM vendors cannot match.
IT and finance leaders benefit from retiring brittle, costly point-to-point CAD integrations.
Consolidating multiple CAD-to-PLM connections into one standardized, productized solution reduces maintenance overhead for IT teams and lowers total cost of ownership for the business.
Learn More
See how Design Hub's governed clearinghouse model solves multi-CAD PLM integration in detail, including environment-specific workflows for teams with no PDM, on-prem PDM, or ECAD.
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