Benefits of Using Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software

Benefits of Using Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software

Benefits of Computer Aided Design

There are number of benefits of using computer aided design or CAD software. Some of the benefits are tangible for they are visible in the design and production process, while the other benefits are intangible which may not be visible directly but result in improvement in the quality of product, better control over designing and production process, reduction of stress on the designers etc. Let us see some of the advantages of using CAD software.

Increase in Productivity of the Designer

By using CAD the professional designers can do the designing work faster thus the firm’s overall requirement of the number of designers reduces. This helps the company to maintain competitive edge in the market where the trend is towards low cost and high quality products. Since the productivity of the designer is increased the company can carry out the changes in the products faster and bring them into the market faster before the competition.

As per the various studies carried out on increase in productivity due to computer aided design, it has been found that at lower ends the increase in productivity is in the ratio 3:1 and in many cases it is 10:1. This increase in productivity is measured against the traditional designing process in which most of the calculations are done manually and drafting is done by using the drawing board. There have been some cases where the increase in productivity has be by the factor of 100, but this is not the general figure.

There are number of factors that decide the increase in productivity by using CAD compared to using traditional designing process. These factors are:

  1. How complex the engineering drawing is: For highly complex drawings the traditional drawing process consumes lots of time.

  2. The details required in the drawing: If more details are required, it can be done much faster with CAD.

  1. The number of repeated parts in the drawings: There is a feature of saving the repeated drawings in CAD software and they can be used in any other drawing without having to draw them again. There is also library feature in CAD software, where a number of readymade drawings of most frequently used components is available readily.

  2. Symmetry required in the drawing: The symmetry feature in the CAD software helps drawing symmetrical parts faster.

On the whole, all these factors lead to increase in productivity of the designer. Due to lesser time required in drawing the designer feels lesser stress, which indirectly leads to further increase in the productivity of the designer.

Reference

CAD/CAM: Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing by Mikell P. Groover and Emory W. Zimmers

This post is part of the series: Benefits of Computer Aided Design. Benefits of CAD Software.

This is the series of articles that describes the benefits of computer aided design or CAD software, like improvement in productivity, shorter lead times, better quality of drawing, reduced errors, etc.

  1. Benefits of Using Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software - Increase in Productivity
  2. Benefits of Computer Aided Designing or CAD Software – Short lead times
  3. Benefits of Computer Aided Design – Improvement in Design
  4. Benefits of Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD): Fewer Errors in Design and Drafting
  5. Benefits of Computer Aided Design Sofware: Ease of Manufacturing
  6. Benefits of Computer Aided Design Software