Not much more than 40 years ago, engineering and construction companies had dedicated in-house departments that did all of the design and drafting work. For companies that weren’t big enough to have in-house copywriters, the work was routinely outsourced. The plans were created by hand using pencils and geometric drawing tools; the older generation of architects and engineers will fondly remember their T-squares. For those who were not professionals in this day and age, it is still easy to imagine the immense amount of time, labor and money that went into creating drawings and plans, even for relatively simple jobs.

All that changed with the introduction of computer aided design. CAD drawings had the distinct advantage of being able to streamline and even automate many aspects of the drawing that would otherwise take days to complete by entire departments. In many cases, a single person using the software package could create these drawings themselves. While drafting departments slowly disappeared from the construction industry, a growing CAD library and technological advances ultimately benefited construction companies.

Thanks to the digital age, CAD drawings and even large jobs can be communicated between professionals around the world. Construction drafts became fast and flexible, allowing the industry to move forward with the changing times. A feasibility study, pilot plans, or change order could be completed on a time scale that meets current business and industry needs.

Let’s take a moment to explore the uses and potential of CAD drawings and the benefit of a CAD library to the construction industry in general.

Computer Aided Design Features Driving the Industry

Computer aided design now contains many more features beyond mere digital drawing. Current software is capable of generating a three-dimensional representation of a structure or building of any size or shape. This virtual model can be manipulated and viewed from any angle rather than having a series of drawings drawn from different perspectives. Virtual structures can be used to perform feasibility studies and any number of other useful calculations to determine the risks of a given draft. Finally, all properties and dimensions of these drawings are easily modified to allow for experimentation, review, and optimization. The full list of features is impressive.

The library has all this information digitally. A worldwide filing standard enables CAD drawings to be living documents that can be used as the basis for communication for sales, marketing, and the advancement of the industry as a whole. Drafts and plans are not kept in a file cabinet; instead, it can be freely used in future work.

The many uses of computer aided design

Computer drafting software can be used effectively in many functions at either end of the design and manufacturing process. The virtual newsroom allows an open environment for ideas to develop without the need to create a series of prototypes or spend tangible resources. CAD drawings are used in the modeling of almost any product, building, structure, or industrial system that can be used in the construction industry. However, the usability of computer-aided design goes much further.

Assembled CAD drawings in a library are an excellent tool for product lifecycle management, to name a particular application. The library houses a maintainable registry for document management and revision control. Any change in the planning phase or a work order change can be easily tracked along with the impact that change may have on the entire project. As the project moves from the design phase to prototyping and eventual construction, computer-aided design drawings document all vital specifications in detail. All of these elements are stored in a CAD library to allow easy re-editing of old design elements.

Anatomy of Computer Aided Design Users

Another way to understand how computer-aided design is used and how it has advanced the industry is to look at how many different people can use CAD drawings in their job roles. Architects use drawing tools to build buildings, civil engineers use them to design bridges, and mechanical engineers can design industrial equipment. Engineers of all professions use this tool in the process of creating conceptual designs and the corresponding programming and process control in the manufacturing stage of industrial products. Urban planners and artists can use this virtual space to design design elements and evaluate the aesthetics and utility of a particular design.

Ultimately, these drawings and access to a wealth of resources in a comprehensive CAD library have been essential to the advancement of the construction industry.