CAD standardization. CAD consolidation.

They’re practically the same thing, right?

Well, not exactly. Now, up until about five years ago, I would have agreed with that statement. Years ago, OEMs strictly required the delivery of design data in specific formats. In fact, findings from The 3D Collaboration and Interoperability Study show that practice is still enforced. A little less than 30% of those respondents stated their engineering organizations must create, not just deliver, design data in CAD applications specified by customers.

Today, however, there is a growing difference between standardization and consolidation. Mainly, that’s due to new capabilities provided by CAD applications. And that difference isn’t some throwaway point. It means organizations can employ completely different practices, especially in interacting with external parties.

In all, that’s what we’ll explore in this post.

That’s the intro to my first guest post over on the Creo blog. Head on over to read the rest of  The Trend Towards CAD Consolidation, Not CAD Standardization post.