Design automation improves the productivity of engineer-to-order or design-to-order products.
Typically, industrial products are more suitable for engineer-to-order than are consumer products.
Some examples of engineer-to-order industrial products are tanker trailers, conveyors, and commercial refrigerators.
Models and software developed for design automation allow for different assembly components and dimensional changes.
Sometimes a different size component, e.g. a bolt, may be required.
Other designs may require a different quantity of a component such as a valve.
Dimensional changes may include length or component location (e.g. a valve on a panel).
The user of a design automation model may interact with the model using different methods.
- One scenario has model inputs specified in a file; the file may be populated either manually or by a program such as a web browser.
- Another has the user specify input values using Web.Link in the Pro/ENGINEER embedded browser.
- A layout (Pro/NOTEBOOK) is another input possibility.
Job specific assembly models, part models, drawings, and manufacturing information may are created from generic documents.
Some of the tools we use in developing design automation solutions include Pro/NOTEBOOK (layouts), Pro/PROGRAM, J-Link, Pro/TOOLKIT, and drawing programs.
