Cad Software

Have you ever wondered how new furniture designs, automobiles, tires, and other household appliances are being manufactured? Yes, there are a series of consultations, tests, error checks among a lot of other processes that are being considered before a new product is launched to the public. The design itself should be perfect to make it more marketable and appealing to prospective customers. Some testers create a dummy prototype first to detect the defects of a certain product as far as design is concerned, then replace it with a new one once it is free from flaws so to speak. It is a good thing though that there are a lot of skilled workers or machinists available that can operate the machines used to create the finished products. Other companies may opt to do this but it will only slow down the process as there as a lot of software-automated machine tools available nowadays. Because of this, an effective and efficient way to manufacture products has been introduced. The answer is the CAD/CAM software (Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing).

A CAD/CAM software is used mainly to simplify the designing and machining process of any newly-produced product. It is like running a factory with less user intervention and the machine itself does more work. This is made possible by a programmed computer with a series of commands done by a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) programmer. A CNC code is then generated to make sure that the CAM system will work well with the 3D CAD design software, as specified by the machining operation program itself to drive numerically controlled machine tools and equipment. This process does not aim to get rid of the need for highly skilled manufacturing professionals and programmers. They are still part of the manufacturing process as the knowledge for advanced productivity tools while building other skills such as optimization, visualization and simulation are still being considered.

The first utilization of the CAM software was in 1971 when aerospace and automotive industries like UNISURF used it to design cars. On the other hand, as expected to most systems and processes, there are some shortcomings experienced with the use of the CAD/CAM software. Given that it is mostly machine-operated, a drawback would be that when a certain code was not interpreted well, the whole system crashes. This is because it lacks flexibility, and correct reasoning that only humans possess. In addition, machines are subjected to wear and tear over time. Unlike an engineer that always bring his/her working knowledge about the tools and processes anytime, anywhere.

Amidst of these shortcomings, more companies still consider having a CAD/CAM software as there is (1) an increase in cost-effectiveness and production value, (2) uniformity in geometric design parameters and (3) the convenience of making minor and/or major changes on the configuration metrics within the same system, provided that it is still manned by skilled engineers and programmers to avoid problems from happening.