Joel Orr's World

Sean F. Johnson, Sr. Project Engineer, Cincinnati Milacron LLC, Plastics Machinery Division, Batavia, Ohio, writes:
Joel, Re: "Let's Move Beyond Modeling" from the Dec 10 issue of Machine Design: Bingo! bullseye! The Emperor has no clothes! Whatever you want to call it, you nailed the problems with computer aided design on the head. I'm a career design engineer, and long time user of a high-end CAD software. In the past, I was trained on other systems. I've also talked with contractors we've hired from time-to-time about the systems they use, so I'm well aware of the problems with CAD regarding time from concept to market. Release after release of the software adds more whistles and bells, while the basic things needed to get to real-world parts get more complicated. While it would be nice to have a paperless world, where all of my suppliers could grab my designs without documents like drawings, it's simply not there yet. Read more