Why engineering teams are rethinking 2D drawings in a model-based world

For decades, 2D drawings have been the backbone of engineering communication. Even as 3D modeling became the standard for design, drawings remained the primary deliverable for manufacturing, suppliers and quality teams. They define intent, document tolerances and serve as the contractual source of truth.

Yet today, many engineering organizations are taking a hard look at how those drawings are created, maintained and managed. Not because drawings are going away—but because the way they’re produced is increasingly at odds with how products are designed and developed in a model-based world.

The growing disconnect between 3D design and 2D documentation

Modern engineering workflows are built around 3D models. Designs evolve rapidly. Variants multiply. Assemblies grow more complex. Changes are frequent and often late in the process.

For many teams, drawings remain largely manual—created after the fact, updated separately and maintained through a combination of templates, personal knowledge and time-consuming checks. Each design change triggers a cascade of manual updates, increasing the risk of inconsistencies between the model and the drawing.

The result is a growing disconnect:

Engineers spend significant time extracting information that already exists in the model
Drawings lag behind design changes
Manufacturing teams receive outdated or incomplete documentation
Errors are caught late, when they’re most expensive to fix

In an environment where speed and accuracy are critical, this gap is becoming harder to ignore.

Why drawings still matter—perhaps more than ever

Despite the rise of model-based definition (MBD), 2D drawings are far from obsolete. In many industries, they remain essential for:

Regulatory compliance and certification
Supplier communication across diverse digital capabilities
Clear, unambiguous documentation of design intent
Long-term archival and traceability

What is changing is the expectation. Drawings are no longer viewed as static deliverables created at the end of the design process. They’re expected to evolve alongside the model—accurate, up to date and consistent at every stage.

That expectation is exposing the limitations of traditional, manual drawing workflows.

The pressure facing engineering teams

Several industry trends are accelerating the need to rethink how drawings are produced:

Faster product cycles
Engineering teams are under constant pressure to reduce time to market. When documentation becomes a bottleneck, it directly impacts delivery schedules.

Increased design reuse and variation
Product families, configurations and customer-specific variants multiply the number of drawings required—without multiplying available engineering resources.

Workforce constraints
Many organizations rely on a small number of highly experienced designers to produce and maintain drawings. As these experts become harder to replace, manual processes create risk.

Downstream accountability
Errors in drawings don’t just affect engineering—they impact manufacturing, quality, suppliers and ultimately customers.

Together, these pressures are pushing teams to ask a fundamental question: Is there a better way to produce drawings without sacrificing control or quality?

From manual effort to model-driven automation

Leading engineering organizations are finding that the answer isn’t eliminating drawings—it’s changing how they’re created.

By leveraging the intelligence of the 3D model itself, teams can automate significant portions of the drawing process:

Views, dimensions and annotations can be generated directly from the model
Standards and formatting can be applied consistently
Updates can propagate automatically as designs change

This shift from manual drafting to model-driven automation helps close the gap between design and documentation. Drawings become a direct extension of the model, rather than a separate artifact that must be recreated and maintained.

The result is not just faster drawing creation, but greater confidence that documentation accurately reflects the latest design intent.

What rethinking drawings really means

Rethinking 2D drawings doesn’t mean abandoning proven practices or handing control over to a black box. It means:

Reducing repetitive, manual work
Standardizing outputs across teams and projects
Enabling engineers to focus on design decisions, not documentation cleanup
Creating a more resilient process that scales with complexity

The question is not whether drawings are needed—but whether the way they’re created aligns with modern engineering realities.

Automatic Drawings in Designcenter X Solid Edge

For many teams, that realization is driving a fundamental shift: from treating drawings as a necessary burden to making them a streamlined, reliable part of the digital design process.

The capabilities of Designcenter X Solid Edge for automated drawings and dimensioning provides a shining example of how engineers can leverage modern tools to streamline tedious processes. In this case, AI-enhanced functionality allows engineers to reclaim their time and focus on higher-value activities.

Designcenter X Solid Edge streamlines documentation via:

Intelligent view creation: Automatically add orthographic/principal views along with pictorial (ISO) views at the right location and at an appropriate scale from your 3D models
Manufacturing-aware views: Insert view breaks only where geometry is non-critical, preserving full clarity around features that matter for manufacturing.
Smart dimension placement: The system can intelligently place dimensions, ensuring clarity, completeness and adherence to drafting standards, often with a single click
Reduced human error: By automating repetitive tasks, it can significantly minimize the potential for manual transcription errors or inconsistencies in drawings, leading to higher quality documentation
Time savings: Free up engineers from hours of manual drafting work, allowing them to dedicate their expertise to design refinement, analysis or new product development

This automation is not just about speed; it is about accuracy and freeing up your cognitive load, ensuring your critical design documentation is precise and produced efficiently.

Want to learn more about automatic drawings in Designcenter X Solid Edge? Check out the video below.

About Siemens Digital Industries Software

Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware, and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Our comprehensive digital twin solutions enable companies to optimize their design, engineering, and manufacturing processes to turn today’s ideas into the sustainable products of the future.