More than a mile up, with Colorado’s Cheyenne Mountains as his backdrop, Pat Conarro is working on something big. Scratch that, he’s working on a host of some big things.
That change is cloud-based CAD.
Communicating Manufacturability Is Critical to Design
The reason Conarro thinks cloud-based CAD represents a seismic shift in the design landscape stems from his background as a contract designer. Over the years, he’s been involved with projects both large and small, and on every project, he’s always stressed that, for a design to be good, it has to be manufacturable. No matter how sleek a package may look, or how revolutionary a product concept might be, at the end of the day, if it can’t be built at a reasonable price, then it’s really no design at all.
So, whether he’s helping Nike design prototypes that can be built overnight, or inventing a handheld vaporizer from scratch, how the end product will come to life is always at the forefront of his mind. But that is not always the case for everyone on the team.
For marketers, industrial designers and others in design and engineering, how a product is made is second (or even lower) on their list of priorities on any given project. In the past, having that type of disconnect occur during a product’s development could be costly, sapping resources through redesigns and lost time.
But recently, cloud-based CAD software has started to open up a space where users, regardless of their design or tech skills, can interact with and view a project as it’s being modeled on the computer—rather than when the physical prototype has been built and it's too late.
“These days, working with people across the country, or even the world, is just a part of doing business,” said Conarro. “What’s changed is that now it’s just much easier to take on projects, meet deadlines and, most importantly, collaborate with people who sometimes do, and sometimes don’t, understand manufacturing. Software like Fusion 360 is making that happen.”
What’s more, because cloud-based CAD is making the design process much more transparent, other members of a team are freed up to concentrate on their work, making it possible to create stronger product overall.
All the Tools You Need at Hand
Beyond making communication easier, cloud-based CAD suites like Autodesk’s Fusion 360 are also bringing together all the tools a designer needs to move from ideation to finished product. Whether it’s CAD, CAM, CAE, PCB design or even rendering, cloud-based CAD is making it easier to develop a product.
For Conarro, having all of his tools in one place means that his workflow is seamless, slashing the time it takes to develop a model, share it with a client and receive feedback.
One aspect of Fusion 360 that Conarro’s been most impressed with has been his experience with the software’s mold-making tools. In the past, he would often have to puzzle through the complexities of building wandering parting lines for odd molds. But now he’s able to use the T-splines tools in Fusion 360 to build even the most consternating molds with ease.
Beyond parting lines, Conarro’s also been impressed with Fusion 360’s integration of CAM tools. Once a model’s been turned over to him, he can use the same Fusion 360 platform that was used to build a model to begin setting up CAM operation for milling. With powerful feature recognition tools and some of the industry’s most efficient cutting routines, not to mention support for a larger number of mills, Fusion 360 delivers industrial-level CAM to users.
“The addition of CAM integration to Fusion 360 has been huge. It can handle a huge amount of data, and gives any designer access to the most powerful tools that used to cost a fortune,” Conarro said. “Recently, I finished building a mold with 16 cavity pieces. Building that mold would have taken forever in the past. With Fusion 360, it seemed easy.”
Though Conarro is on the cutting edge of product and tooling design, his experience in the industry, and his versatility in adapting to new tools, should be instructional to all engineers. Conarro’s seen the writing on the wall, and his experience with cloud-based CAD has made collaborating with colleagues, designing products and even setting up milling operations much easier to handle. For Conarro, being able to work through all aspects of a product’s design in a single software platform means that he’s more productive, mobile and versatile.
In a world where product design timelines are shortening, cloud-based CAD is proving to be the best solution for tackling product design challenges.
Pat Conarro’s practice is more than just an example of where design is heading. It’s the future.
Autodesk has sponsored this article, but the opinions and content of this piece are my own. Fusion 360 is available for $40 a month or $300 for an annual subscription. —Kyle Maxey