Many North American tooling shops are thriving, while others are going out of business or getting absorbed by larger companies. On the surface, this might look like the natural ebbs and flows of industry. But underneath it lies a series of strategic decisions that have separated the best from the rest. This growing separation exists at every level of a tool\u2019s lifecycle, from quoting to delivery. This article focuses on how tool design and engineering workflows have created a growing gulf between industry leaders and laggards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, tooling shops in North America have two basic choices when it comes to CAD solutions: premium software like Siemens NX for Mold Design<\/a> or Die Design<\/a> or special niche solutions directed toward SMBs. The latter solutions promise an experience close to premium for less money, and many Tier 2 and 3 suppliers have opted to go this route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the short term, it always makes sense to choose a less expensive CAD tool. This is doubly true if a shop\u2019s design team is already familiar and comfortable with that solution. Investing in a more expensive option is a hard sell to both ownership and users, and few managers feel strongly enough about the difference to take that on. Yet the question lingers: why do premium CAD solutions continue to survive and thrive, not only among OEMs and Tier 1s but among Tier 2 and 3 suppliers? Are these other shops financially undisciplined? Don\u2019t they know there are cheaper options out there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason we ask these questions is because lost efficiency isn\u2019t always easy to spot in a design and engineering workflow. Different CAD solutions offer different time-saving commands, hoping that users will miss the forest for the trees. But every lost efficiency is like incurring a debt\u2014the pain might not be felt immediately, but sooner or later, the debt is paid in full\u2026 with interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For top tooling shops, convenient commands and feature-to-feature comparisons with other CAD tools are pointless. What truly matters is integrating their CAD solutions with their upstream and downstream processes, along with other major digital assets like BOM automation tools and standard parts libraries. Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing<\/a> is an excellent example of one such company, which looked to Siemens NX for its mold design applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith NX, we could literally generate a mold base in minutes\u2014slides, lifters, hydraulic actions, ejectors pins, standard components, all of it,\u201d Jim Korenev, Cavalier\u2019s head of engineering and manufacturing processes, said. When asked if Cavalier might maintain its industry-leading innovation and time-to-market with a different CAD Solution, Korenev answered, \u201cThere\u2019s no way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSeeing clearly through the fog<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n