Management promotes sharing

The extensive use of CAD tools in aerospace design brings many benefits, but also a number of challenges.

Aircraft manufacturers have embraced the concepts of modeling and simulation, using digital design tools to develop planes without building several expensive prototypes. But as more files are created, managing them becomes an issue. As developers use software to do more design and analysis, they are also finding it more difficult to handle incompatible tools.

However, the benefits far outweigh the challenges. Design tools help developers get more complex systems into production quickly, making it simpler for design teams to work together regardless of where they are located. The importance of these tools is hard to understate.