eliminate friction in design eliminate friction in design

ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN

PAGE 1


LEVERAGING CAD TECHNOLOGIES FOR GLOBAL COLLABORATION


PAGE 2

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW There is no doubt about it: today’s product development process is highly collaborative. Technical and non-technical teams in businesses of all sizes—from start-ups to multinational corporations—make critical decisions. Collaborating across complex processes and supply chains takes considerable effort, where stakeholders coordinate to execute a multitude of interdependent tasks. Engineering sits at the heart of this effort, playing a critical role in pushing design processes forward and connecting teams.

Despite the need for increased design collaboration, a surprising amount of friction still exists. Engineers face a range of challenges when trying to perform work and meet project requirements. Exchanging designs and ideas across teams is painful and time-consuming. When non-engineering stakeholders require access to designs, this exacerbates matters further and causes project-wide issues. Collaboration becomes a tedious and error-prone process, susceptible to delays and mounting costs.

Fortunately, solutions exist to reduce this friction. They allow engineers to seamlessly exchange ideas and nontechnical participants to provide feedback on designs. These modern tools are on cloud-based platforms, which provide access to high levels of computational power and streamline interaction. They protect companies’ intellectual property and improve design collaboration across product development.


PAGE 3

This report provides insight into these issues, including:

• Trends driving engineering to act as the hub of collaboration,

• Sources of friction in traditional collaboration processes and technologies,

• New approaches and tools to reduce the friction in collaboration, offering a range of benefits, and

• A roundup of crucial capabilities that organizations should consider when assessing new tools.


PAGE 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW ....................................................................... 2

ENGINEERS: THE HUB OF COLLABORATION ............................... 5

DESIGNING WITHIN AND ACROSS DISCIPLINES ....................................... 5

DESIGNING FOR THE ENTERPRISE .................................................................. 7

COLLABORATION WITHIN ENGINEERING AND BEYOND ....... 9

EXCHANGING DESIGN MODELS ................................................................... 10

MANAGING MULTI-CAD DESIGNS ............................................................... 11

CIRCUIT BOARD COLLABORATION .............................................................. 11

CABLING AND WIRING COLLABORATION ................................................. 12

MODEL-BASED DEFINITIONS ......................................................................... 13

ITERATIVE REQUEST-FOR-QUOTE PROCESSES ....................................... 14

DESIGN-TO-MANUFACTURING INTEGRATION ........................................ 15

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ...................................................... 17

SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. 17

RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................... 19


PAGE 5

ENGINEERS: THE HUB OF COLLABORATION

Traditionally, individual accountability defined engineering. Drawings would feature an engineer’s signature. Their reputation would rely on the performance of that design.

Today, things have changed. Design is an extremely collaborative process that extends over cross-organizational boundaries and spans international supply chains. This section explores the trends driving this change in modern design.

DESIGNING WITHIN AND ACROSS DISCIPLINES

No longer dominated by mechanical components, state-of-the-art products also include a complex mix of electronics, embedded systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. Electronics hardware such as circuit boards, sensors, cabling, and antennas provide processing power, sensing, and networking. Embedded software controls these systems and provides an intelligent interface between human and machine. Products stream data to


PAGE 6

IoT platforms for later analysis, enabling remote monitoring capabilities. Ultimately, all these technical components must work together as a whole.

Figure 1: Engineers from a variety of disciplines collaborate to develop

today’s smart, connected products.

This sea change in the composition of modern products directly affects design processes. Within mechanical design, engineers scrutinize crucial decisions in minute detail during marathon design reviews. Yet, engineering cannot do this in internal silos. As more and more design and development work is outsourced to suppliers, engineers from external companies should take part in these activities. Customers also participate as they integrate designs into their work. Any or all these participants may reside across the globe, requiring a considerable amount of coordination. These activities add a thick layer of complexity to product development. This situation is not unique to mechanical design; collaboration is increasing in complexity across many areas. Mechanical, electrical, and software engineers must all coordinate to develop today’s smart, connected products.

For example, mechanical engineers’ expertise is crucial to dissipate heat generated by electronic systems defined by electrical engineers. Software running on electronic systems needs the right level of control, where antennas and sensors stream data to IoT platforms without interference from mechanical components. Engineers must navigate a complex and interconnected web of design disciplines to provide the functionality demanded by today’s market. As a result, mechanical engineers must work closely with stakeholders in other domains to resolve them and ensure that final products function as a cohesive whole.


PAGE 7

At the end of the design process, engineering should also provide a Bill of Material (BOM) that describes the complete product to the company’s internal manufacturing teams and suppliers. However, BOMs require careful consideration across product development lifecycles and should not be left to the last minute. Instead, different engineering disciplines should collaborate on BOMs throughout the development process. This approach helps the company avoid costly delays and identify potential savings.

To summarize, modern design requires a high level of communication, collaboration, and consensus across internal engineering and external stakeholder teams, while still demanding deep technical expertise in specific fields. Today’s engineering needs the right tools.

DESIGNING FOR THE ENTERPRISE To develop viable products, today’s engineers should not only fulfill complex technical issues but also take a range of other organizational considerations into account. A design tweak may allow the organization to source components at a local level and reduce costs. A geometry change may eliminate a costly manufacturing procedure. Rearranging the assembly could reduce time to service a product. Such simple changes have a significant impact on development lifecycles, reducing time-to-market and manufacturing costs.

Figure 2: Engineers must not only develop designs that address form, fit,

and function requirements. They must also fulfill enterprise needs.

As a result, engineers are responsible for a lot more than finding a feasible design that satisfies form, fit, and functional needs. Engineers must find designs that align with the overall goals of the company. This objective is a complex undertaking, requiring designs that satisfies many—and sometimes


PAGE 8

conflicting—requirements. To achieve this goal, seamless collaboration is necessary across organizations—and sometimes beyond.

To gather and utilize feedback on designs, engineers must access relevant internal stakeholders, external companies, and appropriate parties. Access should include nontechnical users who view the design and assess it for manufacturability, serviceability, sourcing, sales and marketing, and other departmental needs. Furthermore, all participants, even those outside the company and on the other side of the world, must document their design feedback and communicate it clearly to engineering.

Engineers use this feedback to find new, viable design solutions. They aggregate responses from different departments and explore individual design changes or entire trade studies, assessing the impact on the final product. This insight brings many benefits, where everyone can evaluate the effect of any design change. This feedback uncovers the right mix of design variables that satisfy both technical and broader requirements of the business, expediting innovation for organizations.


PAGE 9

COLLABORATION WITHIN ENGINEERING AND

BEYOND Engineering no longer designs in isolation. Modern product development places engineering as the hub of collaboration, without which communication channels would disintegrate, and product development processes would fail.

But not all interactions are the same. Each department has different needs, and as such, their collaboration requirements also differ. Mechanical engineers must stay coordinated throughout the design cycle. Mechanical and electrical design teams must collaborate to resolve the conflict between requirements and constraints across design domains, including the management of heat dissipation for embedded systems, routing cables throughout the product, and more.

Engineers also work closely with manufacturing, procurement, and suppliers to ensure production meets its cost targets and project deadlines. Interactions between engineering and different organizations each require distinctive, specialized capabilities. This section explores those needs and the enabling technology of progressive solutions.


PAGE 10

EXCHANGING DESIGN MODELS Different companies, and even different engineering teams in the same company, use various design tools. When developing products, engineers use a spectrum of mechanical computer-aided design (CAD) tools and, consequently, designs exist in an array of formats.

Figure 3: Engineers across supply chains use a variety of CAD applications,

resulting in design models in a range of formats.

Designs in a range of formats are not a problem until they come together in assemblies. Here, engineers digitally check for interferences, weight, and other characteristics to determine whether designs can co-exist. Broken geometries result from the exchange of neutral files in formats such as Standard for the Exchange of Product model data (STEP) or Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES). Engineers should fix and verify errors before performing further checks. Exchanging such models and fixing geometry is extremely painful to do once. Yet, when engineers modify designs, the entire process repeats, wasting significant time.

Cloud-based CAD applications provide an alternative approach. Engineers upload their design models to the cloud-based platform, regardless of their CAD tool. Engineers across the company and supply chain access models in the cloud through browsers, eliminating data translation and painstaking efforts to fix broken geometries. Anyone given permissions to make changes can make modifications to the design in the cloud. Multiple stakeholders can simultaneously view, comment, and make changes. Such approaches accelerate development by connecting everyone through a cloud platform that accessible at any time from anywhere.


PAGE 11

Alternatively, engineers can modify their designs in the original mechanical CAD application. Progressive CAD solutions stay connected to such file-based models, synch with changes, and provide updates to all participants through the cloud platform. This cloud-based strategy offers a frictionless means of collaboration where companies and teams continue to use different modeling tools to design concurrently in real-time.

MANAGING MULTI-CAD DESIGNS Associative design updates are incredibly powerful, but they are not a panacea for smooth collaboration. With design teams spread across different companies and geographical locations, security, file access, and management are significant challenges.

Many product data management (PDM) solutions manage files from one mechanical CAD application. However, because of the collaborative nature of modern design, today’s mechanical engineers exchange files in many formats and across several companies. Many teams rely on email and desktop drives, passing versions of designs across increasingly lengthy email chains and using never-ending version numbers.

These methods have substantial limitations. Emails can disappear. File attachments can be intercepted, introducing the risk of intellectual property (IP) theft. Attached models can be immediately outdated with a single change. This method introduces and propagates errors. It wastes valuable time-to-market when engineers cannot work concurrently on a single design. It puts engineering at risk for working with outdated files. It exposes vital IP to potential theft because of non-secure methods of collaboration.

Cloud-based data management solutions manage designs from many different mechanical CAD applications, integrating them into a single structure. These solutions track changes and versions, reducing the risk of referencing out-of-date information. Cloud-based data management solutions also provide automation, so users do not need to manually check in or check out changed models.

Instead, cloud-based platforms automatically track every change as it is made in real-time, allowing multiple users to collaborate on the same design simultaneously. A real-time, always-accurate, single source of the truth empowers efficient design collaboration.

CIRCUIT BOARD COLLABORATION Traditional mechanical CAD applications and electrical CAD applications are limited when it comes to sharing data, exchanging models of whole circuit


PAGE 12

boards. This approach contrasts starkly with the highly iterative collaboration between mechanical and electrical engineers during the development process. When working together to resolve competing requirements or constraints, they must iteratively trade modifications. Because traditional tools only support whole-design exchanges, granular tweaks are not evident. This shortcoming leads to painstakingly and ineffective visual searches and overlooked changes.

Figure 4: Mechanical and electronic engineers must collaborate to resolve competing and conflicting requirements.

Progressive solutions take a different approach, supporting associative, seamless changes. The applications communicate iterative, individual changes back and forth. With changes separated, engineers easily identify modifications, streamlining work every time electrical or mechanical engineers provide a new iteration. In cloud-based platforms, these changes associatively and automatically are available, eliminating the manual exchange of files. This new approach dramatically reduces the amount of manual effort for both the mechanical and electrical engineering teams.

CABLING AND WIRING COLLABORATION Today’s smart, connected products are packed with electronics, including circuit boards, antennas, sensors, and much more. Electrical interconnect systems in the form of cables, wires, and harnesses distribute power and deliver signals between them.

The same collaboration issue that occurs from using traditional solutions in circuit board design plagues electrical interconnect design. Electrical


PAGE 13

engineers lay out schematics defining electronic components connections. The schematic is then imported to the mechanical CAD application, where engineers route cables through assembly models—completing this task once is relatively simple. Yet, the whole process repeats when either engineer makes changes.

Figure 5: Mechanical and electrical engineers must work together to resolve

requirements when routing electrical distribution systems through mechanical assembly models.

In contrast, progressive mechanical CAD and electronic CAD applications rely on incremental communication instead of the export and import of the entire design. Automation streamlines this process massively, as changes are now associative and appear without manual effort or exchanging files. Engineers on both sides isolate those changes, streamlining the process, and reducing friction across the design lifecycle.

MODEL-BASED DEFINITIONS High-quality engineering documentation is essential when using internal manufacturing or external suppliers. Model-based definition (MBD) initiatives allow organizations to document designs in a clear and accessible manner for both.

Traditional mechanical CAD applications only offer capabilities to develop 2D drawings. Engineers release these items directly to the manufacturing team or include them in technical data packages as part of a request-for-quote process. These deliverables lack clarity, causing suppliers to pad prices to mitigate risk. As a result, manufacturers pay an unnecessarily high


PAGE 14

cost. Internally, engineers often receive a flood of time-consuming requests for design clarifications from manufacturing teams.

Figure 6: Stakeholders across the development cycle leverage design

documentation, including model-based definitions.

Progressive mechanical CAD applications offer a complete set of capabilities to develop model-based definitions, which deliver unambiguously annotated 3D models. Such design documentation allows suppliers to bid aggressively on individual projects because the sourcing requirements are clear. Likewise, internal manufacturing teams independently interrogate such models to gain more information without requesting clarifications. Cloud-based mechanical CAD solutions provide a way to open, view, and examine an MBD through internet browsers, eliminating the need to download 3D PDFs and install MBD viewers.

ITERATIVE REQUEST-FOR-QUOTE PROCESSES Removing ambiguity from engineering documentation is an important step forward. However, request-for-quote (RFP) processes require collaborative interaction. Suppliers require clarification around delivery, volumes, materials, and all manner of other job characteristics. Organizations facilitate such collaboration to boost supplier certainty and more aggressive pricing.

Traditionally, RFQ collaboration occurs over email. Although widespread, email has significant collaboration flaws. Out-of-date file attachments result in errors or detrimental decisions, which leads to miscommunications and inflated costs.

Progressive solutions dramatically improve collaboration around the RFQ process. Cloud-based platforms, enabled with 3D model viewers and


PAGE 15

messaging capabilities, support this process's iterative nature. These solutions provide direct, browser-based access to models without the need to download anything. Additionally, sourcing companies securely share technical data packages with suppliers independent of one another. Discussions with bidding suppliers remain private, allowing each supplier to provide its own set of questions and the organization to answer these while maintaining a level of discretion.

DESIGN-TO-MANUFACTURING INTEGRATION Modern manufacturing relies heavily on Numerically-Controlled (NC) machining equipment driven by toolpaths. Machinists use computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) applications to generate toolpaths based on the 3D models provided by engineering.

Figure 7: Tool designers and machinists use design models to create their deliverables, a direct, derived dependency.

Traditionally, mechanical CAD applications are separate from the CAM application. Machinists import 3D models into CAM tools using STEP and IGES formatted files. Unfortunately, the interoperability issues that plague mechanical design teams also hinder machinists, often requiring them to fix broken geometries when a design change is handed over. If a design change occurs, the entire process repeats. Such friction slows down the whole production process.

Progressive mechanical CAD applications, however, have expanded to include a well-rounded set of capabilities that span the development cycle.


PAGE 16

This expanded functionality includes capabilities to produce machining toolpaths and more. But most importantly, machinists access CAM tools without moving or translating the design model. One model is used. Many different sets of capabilities are accessed.

Using these solutions, engineers also assess the manufacturability of designs with ease and incorporate feedback directly. This approach streamlines the handoff process, reassuring the organization that the final design is manufacturable before cutting any parts and reducing waste when production starts.


PAGE 17

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

There is no doubt about it: Modern engineers now serve as the hub of collaboration for product development projects. Engineers facilitate a coordinated effort across a vast array of stakeholders while still maintaining productivity. Reducing the friction in that collaboration accelerates development, reduces costs, and boosts profits.

SUMMARY • Engineer’s responsibility to collaborate crosses many fronts, working

in sync with other technical participants, including mechanical design, electronics, and electrical engineering.

• Engineers coordinate with non-engineering departments such as machinists in manufacturing, inspection workers in quality, buyers in procurements, and service planners in maintenance. This collaboration extends outside organizational and geographical boundaries, requiring engineers to work with internal and external teams from around the world.

• Engineers coordinate efforts with other technical and non-technical teams, including suppliers and customers, who use a range of


PAGE 18

mechanical CAD applications. To avoid recreating or fixing broken geometries, engineers must use progressive mechanical CAD applications that natively open models from other tools and update that geometry once it changes in the original tool.

• Maintaining associativity with other engineers’ models is a powerful capability, but engineers need to manage the model files for configuration management. They must leverage PDM solutions that manage design data from many different mechanical CAD applications, not just the one the engineer happens to use. Cloud-based solutions make these capabilities more accessible and seamless.

• Designing electronics embedded within mechanical products requires iteration and exploration. From manually interrogating circuit board designs to understanding what has changed, mechanical CAD and electronic CAD applications must communicate and support a seamless exchange of incremental changes with progressive tools, allowing engineers to focus on design. Cloud-based solutions make such associativity standard, eliminating manual effort.

• Linking various electronics is crucial to develop smart, connected products. While the design of cabling and harnesses take place in electrical CAD tool schematics, their routing also exists in the 3D assemblies of mechanical CAD applications. Similar to the design of electronics, this process requires iteration and exploration. The exchange of incremental changes is also crucial, so engineering does not have to check for modifications manually. Progressive, cloud-based solutions enable automatic updates.

• Compared to a 2D drawing, an MBD provides a clearer and less ambiguous form of engineering documentation. That translates to reduced bid prices in RFQ processes and fewer errors on the manufacturing floor. Engineers must use progressive mechanical CAD applications to create an MBD to recoup time and facilitate collaboration.

• The RFQ process is iterative, much like many development processes. Carrying out the process over email and desktop drives introduces errors and delays. Cloud-based platforms with specific RFQ capabilities streamline this process, enabling them to eliminate manual effort by engineering and reduce the likelihood of errors thanks to automated and real-time nature.

• The generation of the NC code to drive machining equipment is a key part of the development process. Integration between mechanical CAD and CAM provides a seamless exchange of models,


PAGE 19

accelerates the process, and eliminates non-value-added work for engineering and manufacturing.

RECOMMENDATIONS • Assess how extensively in-house engineers collaborate with other

design teams as well as other functional departments.

• Determine how many of the collaboration challenges outlined in this report appear in design and development processes. Quantify the impact of such problems on the company.

• Explore cloud-based solutions in each of the areas defined in this report, determining how such new capabilities affect engineering’s ability to collaborate.

Chad Jackson leads Lifecycle Insights’ research and thought leadership programs, attends and speaks at industry events, and reviews emerging technology solutions.

Lifecycle Insights is a research and advisory publishing firm. Our mission is to help executive reap more value from tech-led initiatives without disruption.

The entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Lifecycle Insights and may not be distributed, reproduced, archived, or transmitted in any way, shape or form without prior written consent by Lifecycle Insights.

EMAIL - [email protected]

SITE - www.lifecycleinsights.com

eliminate friction in design eliminate friction in design

Documents