CAD (Computer-Aided Design)
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is the software discipline and toolset for creating, modifying, analyzing, and refining 2D drawings and 3D models of physical products before they are manufactured. CAD is upstream in the product lifecycle — it owns the design intent and the geometry. CAD outputs models, drawings, and specifications; it does not output machine instructions.
Why it matters
Without CAD, design is a manual drawing-and-sketching process that's slow to iterate, hard to share, and error-prone. CAD makes design digital, collaborative, and amendable. Every change to the geometry can be propagated to downstream views (drawings, sections, BOMs) automatically. CAD is also the source of truth for the product geometry — every other system (CAM, CAE, BOM, PLM) reads from CAD and considers it authoritative.
External References
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Cite this definition
Finocchiaro, Michael. “CAD (Computer-Aided Design).” DemystifyingPLM PLM Glossary, 2026, https://www.demystifyingplm.com/glossary/cad-computer-aided-design