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Engineering Services » Why CAD ? |
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Why Convert Paper Drawings to CAD?
While CAD systems have become commonplace in most engineering offices, the integration of manually created drawings with the CAD system is still a topic that many professionals disagree on. Three solutions to this problem exist today
- CAD Conversion
- Scanning and Editing a Raster Image
- Manually Maintaining Drawings on Power
CAD conversion offers significant advantages over other methods such as significant cost saving, increased drawing value, and improved overall drawing management efficiency.
Reduce the cost of Revisions
Revisions done in CAD may be 2-8 times faster than the same revision done by manual methods. Conversion allows the user to take advantage of these savings even when working with old paper drawings.
Cost of revision may be further reduced by shortening the time of CAD revisions. Converting drawings to fully vectorized files increases the ease of editing. The user no longer needs to switch back and forth between raster and vector files. Conversion utilizes a CAD system to its fullest extent.
Add Value to Drawings
Once the drawing is in CAD format, the uses for it increase dramatically. For instance, intelligent CAD files can be used with cost estimating software, facilities management applications such as area calculation and inventory tracking as well as engineering design and analysis software or numerically controlled machining in manufacturing.
Intelligent CAD drawings can also significantly reduce the time required to extract data from the drawings and enter it into databases which are used for such things as maintenance and material control, project management, quality assurance attributes with symbols from a vectorized drawing.
Reduce Drawing Life Cycle Cost
Since conversion is a one-time cost, the second and third revisions to a drawing produce even greater saving, reducing the overall cost of maintaining a drawing throughout its useful life. This saving also results in earlier payback for conversion projects.
Create a Standard Filing
Establishing CAD as the standard filing procedure will decrease the amount of engineering time spent looking for drawings, and also the number of lost drawings. Filing more drawings electronically may also reduce square footage being used to store paper drawings.
Obtain a Competitive Advantage
Converting drawings to CAD allows a firm to project a consistent, progressive, and high quality image to their clients by eliminating the use of outdated manual drafting methods. CAD is recognized as the industry standard in technical drafting and can now be used for drawings, which were created before CAD.
Maintain a Consistent Level of Quality for all Your Projects
Begin the commitment of quality at the very first stage of any project; even those projects utilizing old and tattered paper drawings. With CAD conversion, company standards such as text fonts, line weights and other drafting standards are enforced. CAD drawings offer a much higher and more consistent level of quality.
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