Learning and Improving Together with Melissa Schultz at Realize LIVE

Realize LIVE in Detroit is fast approaching, and with it comes the opportunity to experience four days of Solid Edge through learning and developing new skills, not to mention networking and connecting with other experts. You’ll be among the first to see Solid Edge 2020 and hear about the groundbreaking new technology directly from Dan Staples during his presentation that kicks things off on day one. There are plenty of great sessions from the developers, product managers, and expert users alike, all designed with the intent to help you reach the next level in your engineering know-how.

One such presentation will be from Melissa Schultz @Melissa–PEC, owner of Polished Edge Consulting. As a CAD admin, she led her team of more than 70 engineers through a transition to synchronous technology. Before that, Melissa had ten years of experience as a designer, so she understands the challenges and frustrations engineers face when using CAD software. Now as the owner of Polished Edge Consulting, her goal is to reach out to all Solid Edge users anywhere to help them further their skills.

“Just because a company has a need or maybe resources are lacking to have a full time CAD admin doesn’t mean that they don’t need help or don’t need guidance on using the software. Large companies with many users who do have a full-time admin… when you’re providing-day-to-day support for a team that large, it’s difficult to dedicate time just to writing training materials,” Melissa explains. “My goal is to help people to use Solid Edge in the best way possible, so they can spend their time producing their product which is what they’re good at versus spending time on the CAD software itself.”

Melissa Schultz has 20 years of experience with Solid Edge and has been presenting at Solid Edge University since 2014.Her presentation at Realize LIVE 2019 perfectly captures that spirit of helping people to make the most of their experience using Solid Edge. During the event, she will present the topic “Learn Synchronous and Optimize the Use of Existing Features.” Her demonstration will focus on “boosting confidence in synchronous technology so people walk away knowing how to use it.” Through a mix of videos and live demonstrations, she plans to help attendees learn tangible skills that include:

• How to use the flexibility of synchronous with existing designs that are likely in ordered


• How to edit designs quickly using synchronous technology


• Input capabilities for non-native software

A large part of the learning process of course is understanding how what you are learning applies to you. This why, as a presenter and trainer, Melissa strives to use relatable designs for both product and machine design applications. “Synchronous is really practical for both product and machine design, and once people see it being used on their type of design product, they can see how to take it back to the office and see an immediate return on their investment,” she says.

“What people need to realize is that the return on synchronous can be immediate. With synchronous technology, we talk about it like it’s history free, but that doesn’t mean it’s dimension free. That is one myth I’d like to debunk,” Melissa adds. The combined use of dimensions with push pull drag technology is “really where synchronous technology stands out,” she says. “File sizes are smaller so anyone working on a large assembly is going to benefit twofold, not only from having faster edits in changing designs as they go, but they will also realize a file size improvement because file sizes are about 30% smaller than in an identical ordered part.”

Ultimately Melissa would like to see more companies willing to take on synchronous and be confident that they will realize the benefit. It’s important to remember that “while it’s a very intuitive design paradigm, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn it. You can have all these benefits, but you do have to learn how to use synchronous technology and know how to use it effectively for your design,” she says. That’s where her initiatives as a consultant and her presentation at Realize LIVE come in.

You can learn more about how to take advantage of the benefits of synchronous technology when you attend Melissa’s presentation at Realize LIVE on June 10-13 at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. Register for the event before March 31^st to get early-bird pricing, and Solid Edge customers can score extra savings when you use the promo codes:

• EDGE342 – 3 admission tickets for the price of 2


• EDGE300 – a single registration discount of $300

We hope to see you there!

About the presenter:

Melissa Schultz is a Solid Edge Administrator and the owner of Polished Edge Consulting.  She has almost 20 years of experience with Solid Edge: first a mechanical designer and now a SE Admin.  Melissa offers her customers tailored training, custom problem resolution, proven best practices, and Synchronous Technology introduction.  Melissa has been presenting at Solid Edge University since 2014.  She has a background in large group daily support, new version implementation, and Teamcenter managed departments.