Is CAD still relevant in the manufacturing industry?

 Is CAD still relevant in the manufacturing industry?

When computer-aided design (CAD) software first came onto the market, it revolutionised the way manufacturers designed their products. Indeed, for many, these tools continue to be a key part of the product development process.To get more news about CAD software, you can visit shine news official website.

However, the advanced capabilities of Industry 4.0 technologies have led some experts to speculate that product designers may replace CAD software. This article will consider if this is the case or not and look at the benefits of CAD libraries.
What is the history of CAD?
The first type of CAD technology was used by researcher Douglas T. Ross at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the early 1950s as part of his investigations into military radar and computer display technology. However, it wasn’t until Dr Patrick Hanratty started to develop these interactive graphics systems in the General Motors Research Laboratories that ‘Designs Automated by Computer’ started to be used in industry.

After launching ICS in 1970, Hanratty developed his tool further to create Automated Drafting and Machinery (ADAM), a product which is at the base of most modern design drafting. The introduction of affordable desktop computers in the 1980s and the launch of Autodesk software saw CAD technologies enter the mainstream, as did the move towards PCs in the 1990s.

Since this time, a huge range of CAD software has been developed and made available to the mass market, enabling a range of industries and manufacturers to take advantage of its capabilities.

How is CAD used in product development?
CAD is used by engineers and designers in manufacturing businesses to develop 2D and 3D product designs for the purposes of visualisation and digital testing. Compared to manual technical drawing, CAD enables these designers to create, iterate and optimise their designs more quickly and easily.

This is particularly the case thanks to the introduction of CAD libraries, which are free or paid-for 2D or 3D designs of specific components or elements that can then be imported by engineers into their design. The software then matches the measurements, scale and details of these parts to the rest of the design, meaning all engineers need to do is make sure it looks good and functions correctly in the right part of the design.

Plus, with the introduction of cloud storage into CAD software tools, designers are able to access and work on their product designs anywhere, making collaboration and decision making easier, even if the team is working in different areas of the world. In short, CAD is used to create, iterate and develop product designs in 2D or 3D so they can be as accurate and optimised as possible before heading into the prototyping or production stages.