02—Services
CAD & Engineering Automation
I use Autodesk Inventor, iLogic and targeted software to automate recurring engineering work: variant models, assemblies, drawings, bills of materials and other output that would otherwise be rebuilt by hand.
Automate the engineering that is actually repeatable
I use Autodesk Inventor, iLogic and targeted software to automate recurring engineering work: variant models, assemblies, drawings, bills of materials and other output that would otherwise be rebuilt by hand.
The useful part is not the automation itself. It is deciding which engineering decisions are stable enough to put into a model and which still need an engineer.
It often starts in CAD
An automation project does not have to become a large software system.
Sometimes a well-structured parametric Inventor model with a few clear iLogic rules is enough. Dimensions can be derived from each other, components can be selected or suppressed automatically, and drawings can follow the model.
When the variation grows, the same approach can extend into automatic assembly build-up, file structures, bills of materials, drawings and production information.
First understand what is actually repeatable
Not everything that happens often should be automatic.
I first try to separate settled engineering knowledge from decisions that still require judgement. If that distinction is missing, the automation usually becomes a growing collection of special cases.
Good engineering automation makes the process smaller and clearer. It moves repeatable knowledge from manual actions into a model that can explain why something happens.
CAD is sometimes the right place, sometimes not
Geometric relations, component selection and drawing automation often belong close to the CAD model.
Other knowledge is broader than CAD. A rule that also affects pricing, a web configurator or manufacturing should not necessarily exist only inside Inventor. On larger systems I therefore look carefully at the boundary between CAD, product logic and software.
That makes it easier to reuse the same engineering knowledge instead of recreating it in several tools.
When automation becomes product configuration
There is a point where a smart CAD model is no longer enough.
If users have to choose between many valid product variants, if different choices influence each other, or if the same logic has to serve sales and engineering, the problem starts to look more like product configuration.
That transition matters. CAD automation describes how a model changes. Product configuration also has to describe which product can exist in the first place.
Typical assignments
I work on parametric Autodesk Inventor models, iLogic, automatic assembly build-up, configuration of components, drawing automation and output to bills of materials or production.
Sometimes the right result is a small automation that removes repetitive work from an engineer's day. Sometimes it is the technical foundation for a larger configure-to-order process.
When this becomes interesting
Engineering automation becomes useful when the same product family returns often, variants are still built largely by hand, or important product knowledge sits with a few experienced engineers.
If CAD already contains part of that knowledge but the process around it is still repetitive, I can help determine what should stay in CAD and what should move into a broader product model.
02—Selected