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Ten Strategies for Becoming an Effective CAD Leader - Part 11

The importance of CAD
leadership

CAD technology has become the cornerstone of today’s
successful product development organizations. However, as with any tool,
maximizing the potential benefits of your CAD system demands a combination of
planning, organization, and expertise. Using the right tools at the right time
and under the right circumstances can make the difference between success and
failure. Ensuring that your organization deploys CAD tools in the most
effective, efficient, and practical manner is the role of the CAD leader.

Product development challenges continually evolve, as do the
CAD applications and related tools that are designed to help you overcome them.
Competitive pressures require steady improvements in productivity and ongoing
advances in innovation. With so many variables in play and goals that
constantly change and grow, design and engineering groups require a leader who
can sort it all out. Just as a symphony orchestra needs a conductor to bring
many discordant sounds together into a harmonious, musical blend that is
pleasing to the ear, successful design teams must have an effective CAD leader
to orchestrate productive CAD usage, cultivate consistent team performance, and
set an example of efficiency that percolates throughout the entire company.

Effective CAD
leadership critical for manufacturing success

In today’s competitive global economy, CAD leadership has
become a critically important factor to the success of manufacturers, both
large and small. It all starts with product development, where technology,
automation, and collaboration have joined creativity, talent, and engineering
know-how to create an increasingly dynamic, fast-paced design environment.

Product development is no longer a silo of productivity and
is increasingly woven into the fabric of the entire manufacturing enterprise. More
and more contributors are now involved in the development process—and more and
more functional areas can leverage CAD data—in the relentless pursuit of
efficiency and innovation.

As a design and engineering manager, you are the conductor,
the orchestrator, who is tasked with bringing all of these disparate elements
together into a single, cohesive whole. In that role, you need to make
decisions regarding how you leverage CAD tools that take the present and the
future—as well as departmental and company needs—into account. By executing
these 10 strategies, you can exhibit the CAD leadership that you, your team,
and your company need to succeed.

Read past articles:

Strategy 1: Embrace best practices and new technologies

Strategy 2: Develop skills and retain talents

Strategy 3: Maximize integration and automation

Strategy 4: Foster collaboration and innovation

Strategy 5: Focus on continuous quality improvement

Strategy 6: Leverage design data throughout the enterprise

Strategy 7: Document and analyze productivity

Strategy 8: Manage product design data efficiently

Strategy 9: Communicate effectively with business personnel

Strategy 10: Demonstrate product development contributions

Download the Whitepaper – Ten Strategies for Becoming an Effective CAD Leader