Collaboration Systems Make CAD Models Accessible Across the Value ChainCollaboration Systems Make CAD Models Accessible Across the Value Chain

Computer-aided design (CAD) solutions remain a crucial technology tool of design engineering teams at manufacturing organizations, and such teams have long used digital technologies to share and collaborate on CAD models among themselves. However, a need for wider collaboration around CAD has emerged in recent years, driven by trends such as globalization, decentralization of design teams, and expansion of the product design process across multiple supply chain partners.

"Collaboration has taken on a new meaning," said Diego Tamburini, who leads manufacturing industry strategy at San Rafael, Calif.-based software firm Autodesk. "It's not just about having design teams together on a teleconference reviewing a design online, said Tamburini, speaking with Design News. "It's now about orchestrating the work of multiple disciplines." Emerging are collaboration systems that are modeled on social media, allowing for participants to communicate in less structured formats across the product lifecycle.