CAD has arguably become the most important tool in developing new products in many industries. It is however, often used too early to create detailed product geometry suitable for manufacturing. Often, the actual component engineering has either already been performed (using closed-form calculations either manually or on the computer in a spreadsheet, in a program like MATLAB, or some specialized software) or the engineering details will be worked out with iterations using simulation software (structural, flow, thermal, mechanisms, dynamics, etc.). Why are designers and engineers NOT incorporating engineering fundamentals into their initial conceptual design geometry?
The fundamentals from statics, dynamics, structural mechanics, mechanisms, etc. can be incorporated right into the workflow of geometry creation in just about any CAD program. When the engineering work is integrated into the geometry creation, development time is shortened, results are generally graphical, and documentation is consolidated and far easier to generate. The CAD tools have been able to incorporate equations for some time (I was using Pro/PROGRAM in Pro/ENGINEER to solve systems of equations as far back as 1998!) either directly with their own built-in equation/programming capabilities or with tight integration with programming tools or spreadsheets.
I was really hopeful that SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual was going to be a game changer for concept development. Based on everything I have seen, there is no capability to use this tool to develop concepts based on engineering principles. All of the "engineering" content is seemingly addressed through the simulation modules for motion (kinematics/dynamics) and structures. This is a very reactive approach that is dependent on geometry driving the process rather than engineering fundamentals and functional requirements being incorporated right from the start.
Product development cycles can be shortened significantly and innovative ideas can emerge if we push for stronger engineering content in concept development. The demands of consumers, investors, and regulators will increasingly call for products and systems to be rigorously engineered. These faster CAD conceptual tools only really address the geometry part of the problem. The tools themselves are not the problem either. It is how we use them. Let's go engineer!