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How Manufacturers Can Begin A Successful Product Lifecycle With CAD

Every product has a limited lifespan in the marketplace, but longevity isn’t based on luck. Rather, it depends on the decisions manufacturers make even before the first sale, going all the way back to the initial design phase.

The right sales strategy can only take a product so far. Without the proper design features (and execution) from the start, products will face trouble in the marketplace, and not be as profitable as anticipated. Manufacturing designers need a smart solution to help them overcome design challenges and set each new creation up for success.

Computer aided design (CAD) software digitizes the product drafting phase and equips designers with tools that can accomplish more than pencil and paper. Here’s how the right CAD software can help manufacturers start their idea-to-cash journey off on the right foot.

How CAD Helps Build Better Products From the Start

During the last few decades, CAD has overtaken manual drafting as the go-to tool for manufacturing design. More than just convenient, CAD software is helping manufacturers redefine industry standards for product design. Here are some of the ways these features enhance the product lifecycle.
CAD software enables automatic high-quality 2D and 3D visualization of everything designers create — without the painstaking effort that goes into hand-drawn drafting. Decision makers can view a product from any angle or distance to understand exactly how it will look, and the digital nature of the art makes it easy to edit. In many cases, this replaces the need for producing physical prototypes, accelerating time to market while decreasing costs.

The most advanced CAD can even render designs with photo-realism, so decision makers can see how textures will respond to different types of light, or appear in different spaces. This visualization helps catch issues before going to market and make refinements that could hurt ROI. Even better, sales teams can use these renderings to show off products to customers and increase their close rate.
With CAD, every aspect of the design process can be executed efficiently. Careless drawing mistakes that could have cost a designer hours can now be fixed with a few clicks or keystrokes. For example, if stakeholders have competing ideas, it’s easy to make modifications and see which of their feedback is the most beneficial to the overall draft.

Most importantly, CAD’s efficiency frees up time for designers to collaborate with other stakeholders to create the best products possible. Without the manual labor that goes into hand-drawing and perfecting sketches, every product rendering can go through multiple review rounds with decision makers at the company, or even submitted for feedback from consumer testing. The more a product can be perfected for the market before release, the higher the ROI.
Many CAD solutions offer design templates, or integrate with third-party catalogs to standardize the parts designers can incorporate into their projects. Direct integration with catalogs also streamlines ordering. The software automatically captures and organizes this information to save time, as well as readies it for downstream use. Material lists equip sales teams to better answer the questions customers might have while they evaluate their options.

Break Through Competition With the Right CPQ Solution

A CPQ solution can transform your entire company, but not all CPQ solutions are created equal. Invest time into choosing the right solution to reap the maximum benefit of the technology. Do research, look at reviews, and know exactly what you want to achieve with a CPQ solution. The right one will enable:

The Secret to Winning Product Design

Optimizing product lifecycle requires manufacturers to understand the market, collaborate between departments, and utilize efficient processes. The design phase of the lifecycle will impact every subsequent stage. With so much riding on the product designers’ workflows, it’s critical for them to have the right CAD software in their toolkit.
Revalize CAD features an intuitive interface and today’s leading 3D rendering capabilities. Want to see for yourself? Schedule a demo of the platform.

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