Make More Mistakes Faster

Recycled content:

> Does anyone on the list have
> any hard information that CAD and FEA actually makes projects better? I
> know the claims--mostly from software vendors--and I've seen all the
> gee-whiz articles in Mechanical Engineering. Neither is proof and
> probably isn't even true. Neater drawings and cool-looking solid models
> don't count either because flashier documents don't mean much.
>
> I'm thinking about improved products produced at lower cost at least,
but
> I think the proof lies in the quantum leap--stuff that could never have
> been built otherwise either because of money saved or design barriers
> broken. I'll trust everyone not to bring up money saved by firing
> experienced engineers and replacing them with outsourced CAD monkeys.
>
> I posed this question on a FEA list once, and there was a lot of words
> exchanged about how FEA can solve bigger more complicated problems but
> almost nothing specific about better designs that resulted. I'm inclined
> to doubt that there's been much product improvement with CAD or FEA. We
> can make more mistakes faster with a far greater impact, but are we
doing
> things better and smarter?
Received on Sat Jan 11 20:03:00 2003