CAD, CAM, and Increased Design to Manufacturing Integration

In many of the blogs I post here we discuss the need for improved speed to solution and project completion that is at the center of many trends in CAD. However, it doesn’t just stop at CAD, there is increasing levels of integration beyond CAD to CAM and even the actual manufacturing process. The news is not that this is happening, but the amazing level of integration that is actually being driven by the various software and machine suppliers.

From a tactical perspective for the CAD professional, this makes the ability of the workstation to run the latest version of CAD software ever more important, as new versions with increased integration are coming more frequently. This is driven by the key factors contributing to greater integration. Read full article »

New Deadlines, Old Workstations – A Bad Combination

The productivity of CAD professionals is tied closely to the capability of their tools, particularly their workstation. In fact, there are few professions that have such high correlation between the tools and the output. This puts a needed focus on just what tools CAD pros are using.

In addition to the regular demands of the design work, organizations today are finding that they are moving ever faster, with quicker product development schedules and shortened time frames for completing key tasks. Simply put, everything needs to happen faster and more efficiently. This is why I believe that maximizing the productivity of the workstation is essential to meeting these challenges. Read full article »

CAD in the Cloud – What’s New Now

The Cloud, and discussion about it, permeates the technology space. As organizations move to their first real, production level use, of Cloud solutions and understand all the ramifications of moving we are starting to get a sense of what the future may hold. This blog will look at some of the latest news around CAD in the Cloud and what hints that might give us about the future.

Going to School on Office 365

One of the trends that are mostly likely to continue and impact how we use CAD solutions is the delivery of Cloud based versions of common applications. When Microsoft launched their cloud version of Office last year, it served as an excellent model for how to move on-premise software to cloud subscriptions, and we are seeing the same in CAD. One of the most notable offerings is the Autodesk 360 offering. While not a complete solution for on-premise software, this offering starts to point the way on pricing, functionality, and the ability to interact with CAD files on multiple devices. It’s pretty clear that pricing is going to have be in the $25-$35 per month per application range to start, but I’d expect that some suppliers will use predatory pricing in the cloud to try and build market share. More importantly, the Cloud solutions will put some real utility on “viewers” or tools that allow for some interaction with CAD files on smaller tablets and smart phones. Read full article »

Mobile Workstations Are Now an Essential Tool

It has always been a bit surprising to me that the same productivity and need arguments that have driven the movement away from desktop PCs to mobile PCs has not impacted the workstation market in nearly the same way. As I posted a few weeks ago, the cost justification side is quite compelling. The “need” and the cost justification are not the inhibitors to the growth of mobile workstations.

One of the reasons that I believe has caused this delay in the take off for mobile workstations is the concern that the laptop form factor just doesn’t have enough performance to meet the demands of CAD professionals. This is an urban myth. Looking at the new generation of mobile workstations, the performance levels are clearly at a point where most work can be done on them, and they also have the flexibility to meet the unique demands of individual users. Read full article »

A Sneak Peek at AutoCAD 2014

AutoCAD is arguably one of the most important software products that are commonly used by CAD Professionals. It’s got a huge customer base and many pundits claim it is the leading product of its kind. Given the importance of this product, the future directions and capabilities of this product will impact CAD in a substantial manner.

This blog post will examine some of the key features of AutoCAD 2014 and what these features bring to the CAD Professional. Given that there are a number of new features and capabilities, I’ve chosen some of the new functionality that I believe has the most impact. Other new features can be viewed in this preview guide from Autodesk. Read full article »