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.

1. 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.

3) 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.

4) 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.
 2. Short Lead Times
By using CAD systems many processes becomes faster thus reducing the lead times. The
computer aided design and drafting process is inherently faster than the traditional process.
Making the drawings, preparing reports of assembly and part drawings, making
specifications, preparing bill of materials etc are all much easier and faster by using the CAD
systems. Here are the processes in which lead time is reduced compared to traditional
designing and drafting processes:

1) Launching new product: If the company has to launch new product the designing and
drafting process can be completed faster, which also translates in to faster manufacturing of
the product. Thus the company can launch the new product faster than the competition and
gain competitive edge in the market. In fact it is due to fast designing by using CAD that the
companies are now launching the new products at the speed much faster than ever before.

2) Faster completion of orders: Some companies receive orders for designing the
components and then manufacturing them. Fast designing by using the CAD software helps
the designer to send the product drawings and specifications at much faster speed to the
production engineer at the shop floor who can start manufacturing the product in shorter
times. Thus by using the computer aided systems completion of orders becomes faster.

3) Reduction in overall time of manufacturing: The total time required for manufacturing
the product includes the time required for designing, engineering analysis, drafting and actual
manufacturing of the product. In the traditional designing process the designing, engineering
analysis and drafting time are major time consuming processes and thus very critical. Due to
CAD systems these processes require much lesser time, hence they become far less critical in
overall product manufacturing lead time.

These days even the manufacturing processes have been almost completely computerized and
they are called computer aided manufacturing (CAM) processes. The integration of CAD and
CAM has further greatly reduced the product manufacturing lead time since the
manufacturing time has also reduced and it has become less critical.

3. Improvement in Design
In the traditional designing process the designing and analysis are two different groups.
But with computer aided design the design and analysis can be carried out by a single
person or single group of people. The use of computer aided design systems helps in
betterment of the designing because it improves the design analysis process. Design
analysis with CAD systems helps in achieving optimum design and reducing overall time
for designing the product. Let us see these benefits in details:

In the traditional designing process the designing and analysis are two different
groups. Design group designs the object while the second group carries out its analysis. This
creates time lag between designing and analysis and also back and forth exchange between
the groups. There are also chances that the analysis group may be busy with analysis of the
other designs so the designers will have to keep their job in queue. If the feedback of the
analysis group is not communicated properly, there are chances that the design group may not
be able to carry out required changes. Thus there is lots of waste of time and the optimum
design may not be obtained eventually.With the computer aided design and drafting systems
the working system change completely. The CAD systems are equipped with not only the
designing tools but also the analysis tools. Thus the designer or the group of designers that
carries out the designing process of the object also carries out the analysis of the object. The
designer does not have to depend on the other people for analysis so there is no wastage of
time in starting the analysis process. The designer won’t have to keep the design in queue for
analysis, thus savings lots of precious time.

Since the designing person carries out the analysis on its own they will know in better way
what changes in the design of the product are needed to get the optimum design and there
won’t be any communication problem. With the computer aided design system the designer
works in a real time manner simultaneously on designing and analysis process of the
object.Thus the design and analysis carried out by using CAD software by a single person
helps in reducing the overall time of designing and improving the design. Faster designing
reduces the overall time of the manufacture of the product and better design helps
manufacturing highly reliable and functional product of high quality at low cost.

4. Fewer Errors in Design and Drafting

In the traditional design and drafting process there are some errors on number of occasions in
design and drafting which get ampified by the time design reaches production shop floor.
These errors are minimized with CAD systems.

In the traditional design and drafting process there are some errors on number of occasions. It
is a common scene that the production engineer complains that the product that has been
designed and drafted just cannot be manufactured because the dimensions, material
specifications and fits are absurd. In such cases the drawings are sent back to the draftsman or
the designer who point out the mistakes made in the design or drawing and make necessary
corrections so that the manufacturing of object is feasible. While all these changes are being
carried out lots of time is wasted. Though the object was designed properly, the specifications
and dimensions were not passed on correctly down the line due to human errors of designer
or draftsman.

How Computer Aided Design and Drawing (CADD) System Helps Reduce Errors

This is no more the case with companies using computer aided design and drafting. There are
intrinsic features in CADD software that help avoid design, drafting and documentation
errors. One of the most common errors with the manual process is related to compilation of
the bills of materials, since this is lengthy and time consuming process. CAD systems
virtually eliminate these errors simply because no manual handling is required once the initial
drawing has been made.

The CAD systems can automatically carry out a number of repetitive tasks like placing
multiple symbols, use drawings from the library and stored drawings, etc. This not only
increases speed of the work but also reduce stress caused on the designer due to repetitive
tasks. This combined with the fact that the standard parts are free from errors, help in overall
reduction in errors in design and drawings. Further, the CADD systems are highly interactive
systems hence they can be programmed to ask the questions wherever there are chances of
making errors thus further reducing the errors.

The reduction in errors helps reduce the precious time that would have gone into finding the
errors and nullifying them. It increases the overall productivity of the designer and the firm.

5. Ease of Manufacturing
One of the greatest benefits of using computer aided design and drafting software is the ease
of manufacturing. As mentioned earlier, the integration of computer aided design and
computer aided manufacturing (CAD /CAM) greatly reduces the time required for production
planning and allocation of jobs to various resources. Present day CAD and CAM systems
have become very well suited to each other and in many cases they look as a single unit
instead of two different systems.

6. Benefits of CADD Software

This is the last article in the series of articles on benefits of computer aided design and
drawing software. Some more important benefits of CAD software are: greater accuracy in
the design calculations, standardization of the procedures, clarity of the drawings, and ease of
making engineering changes. Let us see all these one by one:

1) Greater accuracy in design calculations: The accuracy of mathematical calculations

offered by the CADD software are much more than that can be done manually and there can
be no real comparison between the two. The accuracy offered by the CAD systems can be
useful in number of ways. The parts can be labeled by certain nomenclature and numbers that
can be identified easily throughout the drawing. In some CAD systems, the change made in
name of the item can appear in all the drawings that use that part. The accuracy in CAD
systems is also reflected in accurate estimates of the materials and costs, and better
scheduling.

2) Standardization of procedures: The interactive CADD systems help in standardization

design, drafting and documentation procedures. This removes all the confusions regarding the
procedures to be followed for design, drafting and documentation and they will be similar for
all objects.

3) Easier to understand drawings: With CAD interactive systems you can see the drawings
in various views. One can see the drawings in isometric vies, oblique view, orthographic
view and others. Most of the CAD systems also have animation effects, which makes the
understanding of drawings far more easier. These are very important features for the newbie
or those who are seeing the drawings first time.

4) Improvement in procedures for making engineering changes: Many times some

changes have to be made in the design of the product. This can be done easily in the CAD
systems since all the drawings and reports are located within the CAD system of the
computer. Drawings and reports from the CAD system can be accessed much faster than
those kept in the drawing vault. With CAD system one can also keep track of all the changes
that have been made in the design of the product and one can revert back to any previous
design very easily. One can also easily compare the previous and present engineering
designs.