3D PMI What is the future and or are 2d drawings going away like the drafting board? 5

[SDETERS]

As I mentioned in a different thread, are 2D drawings a dying art>? What is the future of 2D drawings, vs. 3D documented models? We are still using 2D drawings, but we are controlling only critical dimensions on the 2D drawing. We are looking into annotated 3D models or 3D PMI. As Cad programs keep improving to translate between different packages, CAM CMM, are 2D drawings going to be like the old drawing boards?

 

[3DDave]

greenimi, if the software you have doesn't work, I can see why management, no doubt having been told spending money on that software would fix their problems, won't believe in spending more, particularly if "No automatic / machine readable annotations from AP242 is currently available or working properly." If the pool is poisoned to that degree, the best alternative is to move to a company that is more suitable.

I had a long career of picking winning software and picking it mainly consisted of seeing demos and looking for how the software fit the organization, while also looking at the problems the current software had in meeting organization needs. It is so much simpler now, with various online resources.

One advantage I had in picking software was making a necessary features list - a template - that I could compare software against. Pro/E, at the time, met about 90% of that list as-is, while their competitors did exactly 0%, mainly in the capture of engineering information as directly integrated to the model, the core of parametric modeling and PMI.

The company we were forced into a merger with was apparently like yours - their management felt they had been lied to about previous software purchases and refused to allow CAD to be used for any design work, only drawing boards were allowed. No offers of demonstrations of prior success in similar tasks would sway them and it proved to be quite costly. It eventually changed when their management was fired.

My guess is if you convinced your management to do this they will either fire now redundant workers and increase your workload with no change in your salary or compete for more work and increase everyone's workload, again with no change in your salary. The savings will either go to paying for the software or bonuses for management. Right now they see no savings so your job is safe.

Check for job openings with companies that require use of MBD systems and apply to them.