Skip to main content
Industry case studies

Machine builders

Example industry study

Drawings from the 3D model, checked before release

A drawing is an instruction to the floor. When it is generated from the 3D model, the routine parts (views, sizes, hole tables, title block) come out in seconds. What matters is the check: every number on the sheet compared with the design, and an engineer signing before release.

01

Situation

  • Engineers rebuild similar drawings for every order instead of designing.
  • The same part and revision data is typed into CAD, PDM and ERP, and the three drift apart.
  • Release checks depend on who remembers what to look for.

02

Approach

  • Separate the drawing work that follows fixed rules from the work that needs an engineer.
  • Generate the routine drawings and test them against your past released drawings.
  • Hold every generated drawing until it passes the checks and an engineer signs it.

03

What to check

  • Can every released drawing be traced to one revision and one approver?
  • Which drawings look the same from order to order?
  • When a drawing is wrong, is it caught at release or on the floor?

What the numbers say

Every figure says where it comes from. Vendor claims are marked as vendor claims.

2.2–3.1 h

Time skilled staff took to draw each of three machined parts with 53 to 84 dimensions.

MeasuredNIST, Hedberg et al., 2016

142 of 142

Dimensions our generator got right across three sample parts, each drawn in under a second. Sample parts we designed, not client work.

MeasuredCortana drawing bench

1 missing depth

In the NIST study, a single hole depth left off a drawing got a whole lot of parts scrapped and remade.

MeasuredNIST, Hedberg et al., 2016

54%

Share of their time engineers say they spend actually designing.

Vendor claimTech-Clarity survey, 2021, sponsored by a CAD vendor

Try it on sample data

Turn a 3D model into a dimensioned drawing in under a second

Pick a sample part and watch the drawing build itself. Every number is checked against the design, next to how long it takes by hand.

Try the demo

Find the hours your shop loses to paperwork

Enter your monthly drawings, quotes, first articles and part data work. See the hours a year it takes, what that costs, and the sales it would take to earn the same profit.

Try the demo

Hold a generated drawing until it passes release checks

Pick a sample part and see the checks a generated drawing must pass before it reaches the floor, including a named approver.

Try the demo

Good to know

An example, not a client story.

An example built from what we see in manufacturing and from published figures. It is not a client story.

How we would do it

The steps behind this work.

Every study follows the same steps: find the bottleneck, redesign the work, test the fix, and keep the math where you can check it.