I will never forget my first exposure to 3D visualization. It was back in 1996 or so. I was assisting on the development of a Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) program at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. There was an executive presentation on the progress of the program and how their new parametric feature-based CAD …
Technology Insights
Is CAD Still Disruption Ready?
Over the past year, CAD has seen some major changes. We went from incremental improvements spread across suites of CAD applications to new ways of modeling, opening up the application to potentially larger number of users. It’s definitely been interesting to see the industry reinvigorated with many new discussions and lots of passion. As I …
Digital Notebooks for Engineering?
A little more than a month ago, I published a post titled The Forlorn Engineering Notebook. My point in it was that while certain activities in engineering like the creation of drawings and automation of processes had seen dramatic changes in enabling technology, the engineering notebook had been pretty much ignored and forgotten. There are …
The Misnomer of Simulation Lifecycle Management
It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago when we started hearing about Simulation Lifecycle Management (SLM). But blink your eyes and its five years later. When software providers first started talking about this type of solution, I remember there was quite a bit of confusion. What exactly does it do? Is it like …
PLM: The Debate Over The Troubled TLA
It’s funny. It seems that unresolved debates come back in vogue like retro clothes. In recent weeks, I’ve found myself in a spat of conversations about the definition of PLM again. Most of these conversations have been initiated because new software products have launched that challenge what seems to be an accepted definition. As a …
The Forlorn Engineering Notebook
I’ll never forget the first time I went to go see a real engineer work. During the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college, I worked for a technology transfer program at school. Our job was to visit various local manufacturers and assist them with their designs by applying the latest technology, which …
Let Your Engineers Engineer
For quite some time, I’ve been mildly horrified at little time engineers actually get to engineer products. There are a billion and one distractions, all very real distractions, but ones that could be avoided. The folks at Cadalyst reached out to be to see if I’d be willing to write an article that talked to …
The Pitfalls of Multi-Disciplinary Simulations: Divergent Model Abstractions
For the past few years, most of the simulation and analysis industry has been abuzz concerning multi-disciplinary (MD) simulations, and rightly so. MD analysis offers a far more realistic view of product performance than one-off simulations. But despite the increasing availability of MD simulation capabilities, it’s not all roses. In fact, there are some serious …
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CAD Standardization: Approaching An Obsolete Practice?
I remember back when I came into the industry, back in 1995, CAD standardizations ruled. OEMs at the top of design chains carried huge power in selecting a CAD application and then requiring their suppliers to deliver 3D models to them in that format. OEMs that switched their standard from one CAD application to another …
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