ENGINEERING WITH CAD

CAD is an important tool of many large industries, but it can also make a small company more profitable. For example, Grecon Manufacturing Co., a small engineering and consulting company, depends heavily on a PC- based CAD system to design automated production operations. In fact, Grecon's use of CAD led to a dramatic change in the way the company does business. Originally, Grecon was a metalworking shop, and the owner, Gregory Roberts, used a CAD system for many purposes: to design parts for production, analyze customer orders and blueprints before turning them over to machinists, and measure the least-cost size of sheet metal blanks required to produce a finished part. Mr. Roberts discovered, however, that his design skills with the CAD system were in sufficient demand for him to specialize in the engineering and design side of the business.

Today, Mr. Roberts designs production devices that automate secondary manufacturing operations. For example, if two metal plates are to be joined by a spring as part of a production process, Mr. Roberts uses CAD to design a production device that will automatically insert the spring. He does this by using CAD to draw the device to scale and then using the computer to check any problems with the design. If necessary, he subcontracts the actual production of the device to a third party. Designing a part correctly the first time, before it goes into production, is crucial to profitably creating a part. As Mr. Roberts puts it, "A mistake in designing the part costs you three times the amount of money— not just double—because you have to spend the time to undo the mistake and then to make the part over again." For Grecon, VersaCAD is a great help in avoiding these costly mistakes.

VersaCAD is one of several popular CAD packages that can be used for sophisticated design work on a personal computer.

Source: John Pallatto, "CAD System Makes a Profit," PC Week

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Date: 2015-02-03; view: 810