A Dose of Reality<\/strong><\/h2>\n![\"culture-change\"](\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/shutterstock_134350283-1024x678.jpg\")
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Now it is time for a dose of reality in plain language from a guy who has been in the CAD industry for over 30 years and has lived through many of these technological changes. The Cultural change is here!<\/p>\n
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You either adapt, or you fade away. Unless you are future-focused, your company is on its way to becoming a dinosaur. Do I need to tell you stories about companies in the past that had kept their heads buried in the sand, clinging to the status quo, and then went out of business? There are too many to list in this blog.<\/p>\n
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Mechanical engineering has not changed much in the last 5,000 years (Products fabricated from mechanical drawings produced manually<\/em>). Then, 30 years ago, engineering was introduced to software, CAD, simulation, and FEA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I lived and worked through the last 30 years of the Mechanical Engineering Industry, and the CAD train hit us hard. As a long time participant and observer, I expect the new train \u2013 Generative Design, to hit just as hard.<\/p>\n
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Case in point, 30 years ago, most companies were still on drafting boards. CAD was only found in well-heeled companies and CAD service bureaus. Many engineers and companies quickly dismissed the idea that mechanical drawings could be completed accurately on a computer faster than manual drawings on a drafting board. Further, engineers, designers, and drafters were afraid that their jobs would be at risk because of CAD. This is the tone that we are seeing in the industry today.<\/p>\n
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The detractors did have a minor point. The first mechanical drawing sometimes could be done faster manually by an expert draftsman. Still, any time a design change was required, ensuing redraws (iterations) were way, way quicker on a CAD system by a novice draftsman.<\/p>\n
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These were the fun days of being in CAD sales! I would let the customer prove his point on the first drawing, and then my Applications Engineer would allow the customer to suggest a few changes to the drawing (because there are always changes). The customer would then watch in amazement as the changes were made lickety-split in software. CAD was made for scale. So is Generative Design.<\/p>\n
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And the winner is…<\/strong><\/h2>\nI do not think anyone would argue that CAD won the battle, and generative design in Fusion 360 and additive manufacturing will win as well.\u00a0 The productivity of the average engineer, designer, or draftsman significantly improved and introduced a different level of scale. The companies that refused to move are all out of business.\u00a0 Generative design in Fusion 360 is following the same path.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Once the word spread, there was no stopping CAD software.\u00a0 In the beginning, CAD Implementations were only found in a few select Fortune 500 companies and high-end CAD service bureaus. As the costs came down, in-house CAD capabilities became a necessity; CAD software quickly became a commodity that was required by every company to remain competitive. \u00a0 The same is becoming true for generative design in Fusion 360 today, and we see the same transformation of companies in the market, both large and small.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The Additive Factor<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
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Image courtesy of RAMLAB.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Additive Manufacturing adds a whole dimension to this innovation wave and will very soon be competitive with and quickly surpass traditional subtractive fabrication methods in terms of time, cost, repeatability, and materials selection. Check this out:<\/p>\n
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\n- New machines are coming to market every day offering more choices at a lower price point<\/li>\n
- Every new machine and iterations of existing models are faster, more reliable, less expensive<\/li>\n
- Modern engineered materials provide more opportunities to explore unique structures<\/li>\n
- Due to software and hardware enhancements, pre-processing and post-processing of additively fabricated components are more simplified, more accessible, faster, and less costly, than ever before.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The significant upside is Additive manufacturing of the future will be able to offer new engineered materials, repeatable processes, and generative design in Fusion 360 will produce new concepts with geometries that can better meet engineering requirements that cannot be provided with traditional manufacturing methods. Even today, generative design in Fusion 360 and additive manufacturing capabilities have already demonstrated significant increases in performance and productivity for many companies.<\/p>\n
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The Younger Generations are Making the Move<\/strong><\/h2>\nOur youngest engineers and designers (Millennials, Generation Z) they all get it, have already bought into, and are readily accepting the advantages of Generative Design methodologies. They see Generative Design as a necessary component of adequately doing their job well. In their minds, this is not a Culture change, but the way things are.<\/p>\n
Three thousand engineers are graduating each year that have been trained in generative and additive design\/manufacturing processes. These engineers also have bought into and readily accepted the benefits of Generative Design.<\/p>\n
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