The CAD Revolution...

... and What It Means for Product Engineers Published by:

The CAD Revolution… and What It Means for Product Engineers The Change in Modeling Technologies

Introduction

Before we dive into the implications of the CAD Revolution for Product Engineers, it makes sense to set a baseline about the modeling paradigms themselves.

Being an Product Engineer today isn’t easy. You run between your desk, the conference rooms and about a hundred other places. Every project is understaffed. And unfortunately, that probably won’t change anytime soon.

♦ Feature-History (Parametric) Paradigm: Model geometry is generated from parametric features placed in a sequential order. References between successive features result in network of interdependencies.

Years ago, CAD held some real promise for Product Engineers. The idea was that you could capture concepts and explore design iterations easily. But who really had time to learn the intricacies of traditional CAD? Now that talk is starting up again. The technology seems easier to use. But should you take the time to check it out?

♦ Explicit and Direct Paradigms: Model geometry is build with operations and directly preserved. Users select geometry and then use a push/pull/drag interaction to manipulate models.

Ultimately, that question is why I wrote this book. In it, you'll find some perspectives on the CAD revolution and what it means for you, the Product Engineer.

For more information on differences between these two paradigms, read the third and fourth pages in the eBook, the CAD Revolution and What It Means for You.

NOTE: The Product Engineer role as described here is responsible for design decisions, product ownership and is an infrequent CAD user. In some companies, this role includes the responsibilities of the CAD Specialist. For more information on what the CAD Revolution and that role, see the 3rd eBook in this series.

Feature-History Modeling

Chad Jackson is the Founder and President of Lifecycle Insights, a research and advisory firm that studies the issues that matter most to engineering. Results of studies are published on engineering-matters.com. Chad can be reached via email or (512) 284-8080.

Explicit Modeling Geometry Creation

Geometry Manipulation Parametric Feature-based Subscribe or Follow

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Push, Pull or Drag Selection / Inference Direct Manipulations

Underwritten in part by PTC, all concepts and ideas developed independently, © 2011 LC-Insights LLC

The CAD Revolution… and What It Means for Product Engineers Concept Design Without Compromise

Concept Design: Just Make It Work

This scenario changes in the CAD Revolution. The idea is for Product Engineers to have a variety of interoperable tools available to capture concepts and ideas. It might be 2D sketching tools, 2D layout tools or 3D direct modeling. The point is to enable Product Engineers to capture the concept quickly and easily without a lot of knowledge overhead. CAD Specialists leverage those deliverables to create a parametrically controlled model. And ultimately that means Product Engineers can use the right tools for them and CAD Specialists don’t have to build a model from scratch.

Every product starts out as an Product Engineer’s idea. But the tools that are used to capture that idea can vary widely.

The Dead End of Concept Design Deliverables What do Product Engineers use to capture design concepts? You name it and it’s probably been used: napkins, graph paper, whiteboards as well as schematics, diagrams and sketches. The problem? Unfortunately, these deliverables often aren’t in a format that can be used to create a detailed 3D model. As a result, that work often starts from scratch.

Final Thoughts on Concept Design

Developing a 3D model directly would certainly address the issues. However traditional CAD based on the feature-history paradigm is too complex. And it’s not that Product Engineer’s aren’t smart or capable enough. They just have too many other responsibilities to be an expert with any software. There’s only 24 hours in a day.

Sketches on napkins, graph paper or whiteboards

For Product Engineers, concept design with traditional CAD simply wasn’t feasible. In the CAD Revolution, Product Engineers can capture concepts in any one of a variety of tools and pass it forward to CAD Specialists.

2D drafting or diagramming software applications

1. Low fidelity representation in terms of scale and accuracy

1. Concepts exist in a variety of formats that are not compatible

2. Exists in hardcopy form, resulting in recreation of model

2. Concepts can not be reused, forces clean sheet creation of design model

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Underwritten in part by PTC, all concepts and ideas developed independently, © 2011 LC-Insights LLC

The CAD Revolution… and What It Means for Product Engineers The Right Tools for Engineering Exploration

More Iterations Equals Better Designs?

The good news is that the technology changes of the CAD Revolution changes this story. Product Engineers can use direct modeling to explore lots of design options without that high knowledge overhead. In fact, as designs mature and decisions are finalized, more and more of the design model can be locked down with parametric control. Furthermore, detailed models from suppliers in numerous CAD formats can be edited just as easily as native designs. And last but not least, the model can be passed back and forth between the Product Engineer and the CAD Specialist for collaboration.

No design is perfect from the start. It takes lots of exploration and analysis to find an acceptable design, much less a perfect one.

The Unfulfilled Promises of Traditional CAD If there were one place where feature-history modeling would shine, it would seem to be in exploring design iterations. By changing parameters, you could explore big changes, small tweaks and any combination of the two. The problem of course is the high knowledge overhead required to fix feature failures that inevitably crop up. Today’s Product Engineers, running from fire drill to fire drill, simply don’t have that time to gain and retain that knowledge. Instead, they explore design iterations using brute force methods like graph paper. And by the time a detailed model is being built, all of the design decisions have already been made.

Final Thoughts on Design Iterations CAD has always held great potential for Product Engineers to explore design alternatives, but the barriers of feature-history modeling has always been a little too high. In the CAD Revolution, Product Engineers can use direct modeling to realize the ‘more iterations equals better design’ promise.

Progression of Design Iterations v1.1 Torque Arm Variant v1 Initial Concept v1.3 Motor Iteration

v1.1.1 Torque Arm Breakout v1.1.2 Torque Arm Replacement v1.2 Linkage Experiment

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Underwritten in part by PTC, all concepts and ideas developed independently, © 2011 LC-Insights LLC

The CAD Revolution… and What It Means for Product Engineers Live Design Sessions with Customers

The Customer Validation Minefield

The vision behind the CAD Revolution, however, promises to make things much more clear. The concept is for Product Engineers to use 2D and direct modeling tools for live design sessions right in front of customers. Direct modeling changes aren't constrained to feature definitions, allowing Product Engineers to make sweeping changes without fear of feature failures. And a 3D solid model is far less ambiguous than anything sketched on paper or a whiteboard. For the company, it means fewer late stage changes and unhappy customers. For Product Engineers, it translates to fewer fire drills.

How many times has it happened to you? You thought you were on the same page as your customer. But in the end, you weren't. And it turns into just another fire drill.

Customer Design Interpretation Whether it’s a concept, a change or a final check before release, there are many advantages to validating designs with customers. But that’s not to say there aren’t problems. Product Engineers often use sketches, whiteboards and drawings to discuss design options and alternatives with customers throughout development. Unfortunately, these representations can be ambiguous, meaning one design detail could be interpreted in two very different ways. The result? Catching it much later in development is costly to fix. But, even worse, catching it after it has been shipped results in a dissatisfied customer. Either way, for the Product Engineer, it’s another fire drill.

Causes of Design Validation Ambiguity 1. Design representations lack accuracy or scale 2. 2D views can be misinterpreted

3. Changes to multiple ‘views’ must be made manually

Final Thoughts on Customer Design Validation Product Engineers have often scrambled with late stage changes or unhappy customers due to the ambiguous design representations used for customer validations. Instead, the CAD Revolution puts easy to use direct modeling tools to create unambiguous 3D models in the hands of Product Engineers.

Outcomes of Customer Validation Issues 1. Issues caught downstream where they incur costs and cause delays

2. Issues caught at customer, causing dissatisfaction

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Underwritten in part by PTC, all concepts and ideas developed independently, © 2011 LC-Insights LLC

The CAD Revolution… and What It Means for Product Engineers Personal Implications for the Product Engineer

Conclusion: What does it all mean?

Product Engineers certainly care about the team, but there are some personal implications for them too. All those fire drills aren’t just inconvenient; they translate into working late nights and weekends. Traditional CAD has offered promise in terms of helping Product Engineers with this problem but the knowledge barriers have been too high.

Being an Product Engineer today isn’t easy. And, by and large, CAD tools haven’t been that helpful for Product Engineers. But in the CAD Revolution, that story seems to be changing.

Organizational Implications for the Team Product Engineers get pulled in every direction for fire drills throughout the development cycle. That means they can’t realistically be users of any complex software, including traditional CAD. As a result, Product Engineers have had to turn to scribbled notes, graph paper, whiteboards and 2D drafting tools. Unfortunately, these representations can’t be readily used by much of anyone else in the organization.

In the vision of the CAD Revolution, Product Engineers can use the right tools for the right job. Direct modeling technologies help capture concepts, explore options and validate designs with customers. And most critically it’s technology that’s truly accessible to Product Engineers.

Final Thoughts The changes of the CAD Revolution certainly won’t make being an Product Engineer a breeze. But with the potential to fulfill the original promise of CAD, it may make being and an Product Engineer just a touch less painful.

The CAD Revolution changes the story though. By using numerous tools as part of an interoperable suite alongside parametric feature-history CAD, Product Engineers are conceptualizing, iterating and validating designs in forms compatible with the rest of the organization. And that means no one else needs to recreate those deliverables from scratch. But it also translates into flexibility, speed and more iteration that result in better designs.

To follow the rest of the CAD Revolution eBook series, visit www.ptc.com or follow to Lifecycle Insights.

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Underwritten in part by PTC, all concepts and ideas developed independently, © 2011 LC-Insights LLC