ELIMINATE FRICTION

IN DESIGN COLLABORATION
Leverage CAD Technologies to Work with
Other Engineering Teams and Enterprise Stakeholders
 ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 2

NO ONE DESIGNS IN A VACUUM

In companies ranging from the smallest shops to the biggest
corporations, the product development process has become
incredibly collaborative. Key decisions are often made among
teams of technical experts and nontechnical stakeholders from
across the company. Engineers, who are the hub of design
collaboration across the company, play a vital role.
Despite the demand for more design collaboration, a surprising
amount of friction exists in the process. Exchanging designs with
other engineers can be painful and time-consuming. Providing
non-engineering stakeholders access to designs can prove even
more challenging. In the end, the collaboration process is time-
consuming, susceptible to delays, and error-prone.
Fortunately, new solutions reduce collaboration friction. They
offer cleaner exchange of designs between engineering teams
and allow non-technical participants to provide feedback without
burdening engineers. These tools improve design collaboration
across all of product development.
The purpose of this eBook is to supply details on these issues,
including the following:
 The trends driving engineers to act as the hub
of collaboration;
 The source of friction in traditional collaboration
processes and technologies;
 The new approaches and tools that reduce the friction in
collaboration, offering a range of benefits;
 A roundup of the key capabilities that organizations
should consider when assessing new tools.

ENGINEERING IS THE MODERN HUB OF COLLABORATION
Not long ago, engineering was defined by individual
accountability. On drawings, you would find the signature of an
engineer whose reputation relied on the performance of that
design. Today design has transformed into an extremely
collaborative process. In this section, we explore trends driving
this change in modern design.
DESIGNING WITHIN AND ACROSS DISCIPLINES
Modern products are a marvel of integration. No longer
dominated by mechanical components, they include a hefty
amount of electronics, such as circuit boards, sensors, cabling,
and network antennas. They include embedded software that
acts as control systems and provides intelligent interfaces. They
stream data to Internet of Things (IoT) platforms for analytics and
remote monitoring. At the end of development, the company
must make sure all that technology works together as a whole.
The change in the composition of modern products has directly
affected how they are designed. Within mechanical design,
engineers now gather in marathon design reviews to scrutinize
crucial decisions. As more and more designs are outsourced to
suppliers, it becomes essential to include engineers from those
companies in these sessions. The same goes for customers who
need to integrate those designs into their own work. Any or all of
these participants might be scattered across the globe in
different technical centers, adding another layer of complexity to
this effort.
ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 3
The complexity of design collaboration isn’t isolated to
mechanical design. With more electronics and software being
incorporated into products, mechanical engineers must
coordinate their work with electrical engineers and coders. For
instance, electronics can run dangerously hot and require a means
to dissipate heat. The software running on those electronics
needs to provide the right level of control. The antennas stream
data to IoT platforms that can run into interference from
mechanical components of the product. Thus, mechanical
engineers must work closely with stakeholders in other domains
to resolve these issues so the product functions as a whole.
At the end of design, engineering must provide a single Bill of
Material (BOM) that manufacturing and suppliers can use to
produce the product. Engineers from different disciplines must
collaborate on the definition of that deliverable throughout
design, as opposed to a sudden rush at the end. This helps the
entire company avoid costly delays.
Modern design requires high levels of communication,
collaboration, and consensus while still demanding deep technical
expertise in specific fields. Today’s engineers need the right tools
to do that efficiently.
 ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 4

DESIGNING FOR THE ENTERPRISE ENGINEERING IS THE HUB OF COLLABORATION

The need to resolve technical issues isn’t the only trend making Engineering is no longer a role that designs in isolation. To
design more collaborative. It's also driven by the considerations develop modern products requires collaboration among
of other departments in the company. For example, a design numerous engineering disciplines and other departments.
tweak may make it easier to source components locally at a lower Engineers are the central enabler in that regard.
cost. Modifying a piece of geometry may eliminate a costly
manufacturing procedure. Rearranging an assembly can reduce However, it is inaccurate to state that the needs for all of these
the time required to service the product. interactions are the same. The interactions between engineers
and different organizations each require distinctive, specialized
Engineers are no longer responsible just for finding a feasible capabilities. The following sections explore this topic in the
design that satisfies form, fit, and function needs. They must now context of those different departments.
find the design that best suits the overall goals of the company.
To develop a design that satisfies those many—sometimes
conflicting—requirements demands good collaboration.
The process of gathering and incorporating feedback on a design
starts with access. Non-technical roles across the company must
be able to view the design and assess it for manufacturability,
serviceability, sourcing, and many other departmental needs.
Furthermore, they need the ability to document their design
feedback and communicate it to engineers.
With feedback in hand, engineers then find a new design solution.
They aggregate responses from those different departments and
explore single design changes or entire trade studies, assessing
impact. In the end, they find the right mix of design variables that
satisfies both technical needs and broader requirements.

COLLABORATING AMONG MECHANICAL DESIGN TEAMS
Collaboration between mechanical engineers is imperative for
product development. Unfortunately, a number of challenges
often undermine those efforts.
EXCHANGING DESIGN MODELS
The first challenge is that teams at other companies use different
design tools. One supplier might use a particular Mechanical
Computer Aided Design (MCAD) application, while another
supplier uses a different one. In the development of a product, a
whole spectrum of MCAD tools might be used. That means
designs meant to go into the same product are in an array of
different formats.
Having designs in different formats isn’t a problem by itself, but
to digitally check for interferences, weight, and a number of other
product characteristics, those designs must eventually be placed
in the same assembly. This is when problems arise. Using STEP or
IGES to translate models often results in broken geometry that
must be fixed and verified before any other checks can be
performed. Going through this process once is painful enough but
when designs change, the entire process must be repeated,
wasting more time in the design cycle.
Alternatively, engineers can use progressive MCAD applications
that natively open models from numerous other applications. This
eliminates the wasteful process of fixing geometry broken by
translation. Furthermore, such capabilities are also associative.
Thus, if the original model is modified by the original MCAD
application, it is automatically updated in the other tool. The
result is a frictionless means of collaborating.
ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 5
MANAGING MULTI-CAD DESIGNS
Associative design updates are incredibly powerful. However, this
functionality doesn’t solve the entire problem. When design
teams are spread across companies as well as the globe, getting
and managing these files is another challenge.
Most product data management (PDM) solutions are good at
managing the files from one MCAD application. However,
because of the collaborative nature of modern design, today’s
mechanical engineers must exchange files in many formats with a
plethora of other companies. By trying to manage them with
email and desktop drives, engineers risk working with outdated
files. These methods can introduce and propagate errors and
waste valuable time-to-market.
Progressive PDM solutions manage designs from many different
MCAD applications, integrating them into a single structure for a
product. They track changes and versions as well, reducing the
chances of referencing out-of-date information.
TAKEAWAYS
In reality, modern mechanical design is inherently a multi-CAD
environment. Leveraging MCAD applications that enable multi-
CAD associativity and PDM solutions that can manage multi-CAD
data reduces the friction in design collaboration processes.

COLLABORATING WITH ELECTRONIC DESIGN TEAMS
The number of electronics and electrical harnesses in today’s
products is growing rapidly. With that comes a variety of new
issues that must be resolved collaboratively between the
mechanical and electrical design teams, including heat dissipation
for embedded systems and routing cables throughout the
product.
CIRCUIT BOARD COLLABORATION
Traditional MCAD applications provide the ability to import design
information from an Electrical Computer Aided Design (ECAD)
application. However, the standard capability is whole-design
exchange, meaning the entire board design is provided. Modern
circuit board design is highly iterative, with mechanical and
electrical engineers changing things like the board outline and
height of board components. The functionality provided by
traditional MCAD tools means the whole design is provided every
time. As a result, the work of placing the circuit board into an
enclosure or routing cables must be duplicated, which leads to
wasteful rework that is all too common in the design cycle.
In contrast to traditional tools, progressive MCAD applications
support iterative or seamless changes back and forth with ECAD
applications. This means that only the changes are
communicated, instead of the whole design. With changes
isolated in such a way, mechanical engineers can easily see what
has been modified, and not replicate their entire effort every time
the electrical engineer provides a new iteration. This dramatically
reduces the amount of manual effort for engineers on both sides.
ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 6
CABLING AND WIRING COLLABORATION
Today’s smart, connected products are packed with electronics,
including circuit boards, antennas, sensors, and much more. To
connect them all, cables and wires must be run between them.
The same issue that plagues collaboration between traditional
MCAD and ECAD applications also haunts interconnect design. To
illustrate, an electrical engineer lays out a schematic that defines
which electronics components are connected to others. The
schematic is then imported to an MCAD application, where
engineers route cables through the 3D assembly. Doing this once
is little trouble, but when the electrical engineer makes changes
or when issues in the 3D assembly require a change, the whole
process must be repeated.
Progressive MCAD and ECAD applications rely on incremental
communication instead of export and import of the entire design.
This lets engineers on both sides isolate those changes,
streamlining the process and reducing friction in design.
TAKEAWAYS
Embedding electronics and connecting them with cables and
harnesses requires iterative changes in design. Traditional tools
only support whole design exchanges. Progressive ones enable
incremental modifications that, in turn, reduce the friction in the
development process and facilitate truly collaborative design.

COLLABORATING WITH MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLIERS
Collaboration during the design cycle is critical to successful
product development. However, it is also crucial for engineers to
work closely with manufacturing and procurement organizations,
as well as suppliers, to ensure production stays on schedule and
hits cost targets. As they do during design, engineers act as the
hub of collaboration on several fronts.
MODEL-BASED DEFINITIONS
Regardless of whether parts are produced by an internal
manufacturing department or an external supplier, high-quality
engineering documentation is vital. Model-Based Definition
(MBD)initiatives offer a new means of documenting designs in a
way that is clearer and requires less technical skill for
interpretation.
Traditional MCAD applications, in this regard, only offer
capabilities to develop 2D drawings. These items are often
released directly to manufacturing or included in technical data
packages as part of a request-for-quote process. Because the 2D
drawings may not always be clear, suppliers include some
padding in their prices to mitigate risk. Manufacturers get higher
prices. With internal manufacturing organizations, engineers are
often inundated with time-consuming requests for clarifications.
Progressive MCAD applications, on the other hand, offer a set of
capabilities to develop model-based definitions, which deliver an
unambiguously annotated 3D model. Suppliers bidding on
projects can be more aggressive on their pricing because the
sourcing requirements are clearer. Manufacturing can
independently interrogate such models to gain more information.
ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 7
ITERATIVE REQUEST-FOR-QUOTE PROCESSES
While removing ambiguity from engineering documentation is
good, there can still be a lot of collaborative interaction during
the request-for-quote process. Suppliers must often ask for
clarification about delivery, volumes, materials, and all manner of
other job characteristics. Facilitating such collaboration is a good
thing, as more certainty lets suppliers price more aggressively.
Traditionally, such collaboration occurs over email. While it is a
widespread tool, email has significant flaws when it comes to
collaboration. Attached files can be updated elsewhere so that
someone on the email thread might be working with out-of-date
information. This can quickly lead to miscommunications
and errors.
The good news is that new solutions allow better collaboration
around the request-for-quote process. Online portals enabled
with 3D model viewers and messaging capabilities support the
iterative nature of the process. Additionally, the sourcing
company can securely share technical data packages with a
number of suppliers independent of one another. Furthermore,
discussions with bidding suppliers are private, meaning that each
supplier has its own set of questions.
 ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 8

DESIGN-TO-MANUFACTURING INTEGRATION
At the end of the day, companies need to cut steel to make parts.
That requires toolpaths to drive machining equipment. Such
toolpaths are generated using Computer Aided Manufacturing
(CAM) applications based on the 3D models released from
engineering.
Traditionally, the MCAD applications are separate from the CAM
application. 3D models are often exported from MCAD tools and
imported into CAM tools using the same STEP and IGES formats
exchanged between mechanical design teams. Unfortunately, the
interoperability issues that plague mechanical design teams also
hinder machinists. Broken geometry must be fixed every time a
design is handed over. Changes to a design only restart the entire
process. Such friction slows down the entire process.
Progressive MCAD applications, however, offer tools to directly
address this need. They are often tightly integrated with a CAM
application so 3D models can be moved back and forth easily and
seamlessly. Furthermore, these solutions include capabilities to
assess the manufacturability of the design. That means engineers
can more easily incorporate feedback on the production
worthiness of the design. In turn, the handoff proceeds far more
smoothly and companies can be assured that a design is
manufacturable before parts are cut.

TAKEAWAYS
Collaboration for engineers doesn’t end at design release. It
continues as they must play their part in a successful
development project. Model-based definitions, Request-for-
Quote portals, and CAD-to-CAM integration are all critical to
empowering good collaboration for development.

TECHNOLOGY ENABLERS FOR COLLABORATION
Collaboration is a key responsibility of today’s engineers. They
drive coordination among technical design teams. They work with
non-technical departments like procurement, manufacturing, and
service to fulfill enterprise requirements. To fulfill those
responsibilities while maintaining their productivity, engineers
need a set of technological capabilities that reduce the friction in
collaborative processes. Keep the following in mind as you
consider solutions:
 MCAD Application-to-Application Associativity: Engineers
have to coordinate their efforts with others, including
suppliers and customers. Those engineers are likely to use
a range of MCAD applications. To avoid recreating or
fixing broken geometry, progressive MCAD applications
can natively open models from other tools and update
that geometry when it is changed in the original tool.
 Multi-CAD Data Management: Maintaining associativity to
other engineers’ models is a powerful capability, but
engineers also need to manage the model files for
configuration purposes. Engineers need PDM solutions
that can manage design data from many different MCAD
applications, not just the one the engineer happens to
use.
 MCAD and ECAD Design Updates: Designing electronics
embedded within mechanical products requires iteration
and exploration. From manually interrogating circuit
board designs to understanding what has changed, MCAD
and ECAD applications must support a seamless exchange
of incremental changes, allowing engineers to focus on
the design instead of documenting modifications.
ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 9
 MCAD and Cabling Schematic Design Updates:
Connecting various electronics is a crucial activity for the
development of smart, connected products. While cabling
and harnesses are designed in ECAD tool schematics, they
are routed in the 3D models of MCAD applications. Much
like the design of electronics, this process also requires
iteration and exploration. The exchange of incremental
changes is also crucial so an engineer doesn’t have to
waste time manually checking for modifications.
 Model-Based Definition: Compared to 2D drawings,
model-based definitions provide a more clear and
unambiguous form of engineering documentation. That
translates to reduced prices in RFQ processes and fewer
errors on the manufacturing floor. MCAD applications
must supply these capabilities for engineers to recoup
their time and facilitate collaboration.
 Request-for-Quote Online Support: The RFQ process is
iterative, much like many processes in development. Email
and desktop drives introduce errors and delays in that
effort. Online portals with specific RFQ capabilities
support the process with less manual effort by engineers.
 MCAD and CAM Integration: Another key part of the
development process is generating the NC code that
drives machining equipment. Integration between MCAD
and CAM, which enables seamless exchange of models,
accelerates the process and eliminates non-value-added
work for both engineers and machinists.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
There’s no doubt about it: Modern engineers are the hub of
collaboration in development. One of their key responsibilities is
facilitating a coordinated effort among a wide array of
stakeholders while still maintaining their productivity.
COLLABORATION AMONG MANY
An engineer’s collaboration responsibility covers many fronts. It
includes working in concert with other technical participants like
mechanical design engineers as well as electronics and electrical
engineers. It also involves coordinating with those in non-
engineering departments such as machinists in manufacturing,
inspection workers in quality, buyers in procurements, and service
planners in maintenance.
SHORTCOMINGS OF TRADITIONAL TOOLS
Many of the traditional tools that engineers use provide useful
capabilities but fall short in the context of their new collaboration
responsibilities. Long-standing MCAD as well as CAM data
exchange capabilities force engineers to waste time recreating
geometry. Wholesale design exchange between MCAD and ECAD
tools force engineers to manually find and check incremental
changes. Conventional MCAD capabilities produce 2D drawings
that lack clarity. Email and desktop drives often result in errors
and a wasteful use of engineers’ time. It all creates considerable
friction in the development process and becomes a drain on
engineering productivity.
ELIMINATE FRICTION IN DESIGN COLLABORATION 10
CAPABILITIES OF PROGRESSIVE SOLUTIONS
In contrast, progressive MCAD and other solutions provide a
number of capabilities to reduce or eliminate these issues,
empowering engineers to recoup their time. These include:
 MCAD Application-to-Application Associativity
 Multi-CAD Data Management
 MCAD and ECAD Design Seamless Updates
 MCAD and Cabling Schematic Seamless Design Updates
 Model-Based Definition
 Request-for-Quote Online Support
 MCAD and CAM Integration
FINAL TAKEAWAYS
The responsibilities of the modern engineer are expanding.
However, organizations aren’t helpless to watch the productivity
of their engineers dwindle. New capabilities empower engineers
to protect their productivity while still acting as the hub of
collaboration.
© 2018 LC-Insights LLC
Chad Jackson is an analyst, researcher, and blogger with Lifecycle
Insights, providing insights on technologies that enable
engineering, including CAD, CAE, PDM & PLM.
chad.jackson@lifecycleinsights.com