Ten Strategies for Becoming an Effective CAD Leader - Part 1

Successful engineering organizations have two important things in common: they know how to utilize computer-aided design (CAD) technology in ways that consistently advance productivity and instill innovation in product development, and they are led by capable managers who know how to best leverage available CAD tools.  You too, can become an effective CAD leader by taking a strategic approach to implementation and use of CAD software and related applications.  Over the next few weeks we will go over 10 strategies that can show you how.

Strategy 1: Embrace best
practices and new technologies

Getting the most out of your
CAD system requires keeping abreast of emerging developments and determining how new technologies will impact your engineering processes.
The term “best practices” is a moving, shifting target, because what was
considered a “best practice” 10 years ago has most likely become obsolete today—just
as how you currently do things will in all likelihood undergo a dramatic transformation
10 years from now.



It’s important to remain open to new approaches, rather than sticking with old,
comfortable ways of doing things. Back in the infancy of CAD, there undoubtedly
were managers who resisted the move to CAD tools and wanted to hold on to their
drafting tables to the bitter end. more recently, something similar has taken
place with the migration from 2D to 3D CAD systems.



To keep pace with the evolution of “best practices” in product development,
effective CAD leaders must not only remain vigilant in evaluating new tools and
emerging technologies, but also in continually assessing how they go about
designing and engineering products.

By formalizing your design
workflows, you will be in a better position to identify areas where you can make improvements as well as determine the likely impact of new applications.



You can stay current regarding the state of the art in CAD software, as well as
advances in hardware and infrastructure, by attending CAD conferences and
industry events. Many of these events are now virtual, enabling you to obtain
the information that you need online. Whether you are investigating a new breed
of design software or evaluating the timing for upgrading computer hardware,
prototyping machines, or other infrastructure equipment, it’s prudent to make
your assessments in terms of return on investment (ROI). Estimating how long it
will take for a tool to pay dividends is the ultimate determination of what
constitutes a “best practice.”

Read past articles:

Strategy 1: Embrace best practices and new technologies

Strategy 2: Develop skills and retain talents

Strategy 3: Maximize integration and automation

Strategy 4: Foster collaboration and innovation

Strategy 5: Focus on continuous quality improvement

Strategy 6: Leverage design data throughout the enterprise

Strategy 7: Document and analyze productivity

Strategy 8: Manage product design data efficiently

Strategy 9: Communicate effectively with business personnel

Strategy 10: Demonstrate product development contributions

Download the Whitepaper - Ten Strategies for Becoming an Effective CAD Leader

 

*This article is an excerpt from the "Ten Strategies for Becoming an Effective CAD Leader White Paper", published by  DS SolidWorks Corp.

Streamline Product Documentation With 3DVIA Composer - Part 2

Part 2. Automating manufacturing and assembly instructions

By implementing an integrated documentation solution, you also can enhance an important internal function—the efficient creation of more effective 3D manufacturing and assembly work instructions. Traditionally, manufacturers have relied on the use of 2D engineering drawings—with exploded views, annotations, callouts, and balloons—to instruct manufacturing personnel and assemblers in producing components, subassemblies, and assemblies.

In a global economy, unanticipated language and literacy barriers between design and manufacturing personnel can get in the way of achieving right-first-time production. Often, time is wasted in finding and verifying components, or in trying to understand manufacturing and assembly work instructions. Manufacturing personnel on the shop floor—who may speak another language or reside in another country—cannot simply place a call to engineers to clarify a design.That’s why nontextual, visual 3D content is becoming increasingly important for communicating vital manufacturing information.

 
By Providing universally understood 3D manufacturing and assembly work instructions, your company can minimize iterative cycles and disagreements between engineering and production.

A simple animated 3D work instruction can convey manufacturing and assembly instructions more clearly, effectively, and universally than text-based 2D drawings, helping reduce production errors and lower manufacturing costs.

Check back tomorrow for Part 3 of 7 covering "Creating better user manuals and product documentation."

To learn more about 3DVIA Composer, visit cati.com or email us  at cati@cati.com.

 

*This article provides excerpts from the "Streamlining Product Documentation across the Manufacturing Enterprise with 3DVIA Composer White paper, published by  DS SolidWorks Corp.

DraftSight General Manager Aaron Kelly Presenting at the Design Innovation Summit

We are honored to have Aaron Kelly from DS SolidWorks Corp presenting at the Design Innovation Summit.  Aaron's presentation is designed to get you familiar with the 2D CAD solution from DS SolidWorks Corp. 

For those of you that don't know:

Aaron is responsible for managing the business and setting the strategy for the DraftSight business unit.  Aaron joined the company in 1996 as a technical support engineer for Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. and then held several positions within the marketing department including Director of Product Management, where he lead the messaging, marketing, and future direction of the entire SolidWorks product lines.  Prior to Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., Aaron was a designer with United Plastic Fabricating, Inc. in Andover, Mass.  Aaron holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

>>Click here to learn more about the CATI Design Innovation Summit

 

Jim TeDesco

CATI Marketing

Happy New Year From CATI !

To start the New Year, we asked you to submit topics or SolidWorks related questions to be featured in our "Questions From The Field" CATIpult Webcast.  The response has been great.  There is still time to register and ask us your question.  Please ask your question using the comments field of the registration form or feel free to comment on the question samples listed below.

Webcast Information:
Date - January 13, 2011
Time - 12:00pm-1:30pm Central Time

Registration Link - http://www.cati.com/catiphp/events/event-register.php?CourseID=13030

Samples of topics and questions we received:

•     Best Practices for Converting 2D CAD to 3D SolidWorks Models


•     Working With Imported Models


•     Does licensing allow the user to work from a remote work station?


•     Is there a way to copy a single sheet from a drawing file into another drawing file?

Follow the registration link above or visit www.cati.com for more information.

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.