198311 – Ford & Pollock – Computer Aided Design

The introduction of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), has given industry more use of its scarcest resource: engineering. In the real sense of the term Computer Aided Design, the word “Design* implies that a considerable portion of work that otherwise would have been accomplished by a design engineer, is now done by a computer. The design revolution is spreading, applications are proliferating.

The computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing industry has grown at a phenomenal rate. For example, sales in the U.S.A. grew from $165 million in 1378 to $500 million in 1980. CAD usage has extended into PCC design, architecture, electrical, automobile, furniture, piping* mapping and railway signalling.

The growth in the industry has been almost unaffected by the recent recession.