The greatest problem I see with CAD is it facilitates making images that are "too believable". Any undergrad ME student now can create a slick photo real image that management will eat up. Management tends to equate the time needed to create the image and the actual time to create the widget. It is counterintuitive to many that it is possible to create images of widgets that can’t be manufactured. I made this mistake when I first started using 3D CAD as my personal sketch pad, and allowing management to see my “sketches”. “Seeing is Believing” gets in the way of reality too many times in our business. The elevator example is perfect, it illustrates how what looks just fine at the 30,000 foot level (the pretty 3D rendition of a cute blond standing in a fully textured and ray traced image) but falls apart when actual tolerances and mating relationships are worked out to completion. From management’s point of view, the problem is “conceptually whipped”, with only minor details left to sort out. As a result, we are left to produce on a compressed schedule, leaving only enough time for an “average” solution. The old adage: “Quality, Speed, Cost; pick any two” is as valid today as it was in the days of Gum Arabic.
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Re: Does CAD/CAM Technology Diminish Quality of Li
