The History of CAD/CAE Technology

Do you know the evolution of technology behind your most favorite CAD/CAE software company? Well, after mapping the CAD/CAE Industry the first time (Original LinkedIn Article here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/history-cad-cae-fea-cfd-etc-james-shaw/) my curiosity struck again, and I decided to dig a little deeper.

But before we get to the map, I just can't say thank you enough to the hundreds (literally, hundreds!) of you who reached out, connected, and offered your own first hand experience of working in the CAD/CAE industry to help me build out the map to the breadth and depth that it is right now. It has been an absolutely eye-opening experience, and it just makes me feel so proud to be a part of it.

Now, on to the new map! This time, we took the companies (and their primary software release) and assigned a "Technology" category to it. These categories range from Mathematics and Industrial Design, to Physics Simulation and Manufacturing Automation. There may be 20 categories that each software company could fall in to, but one thing is for sure - if you thought the industry was dynamic before, just wait til you see it through this lens!

Just as before, here is a screenshot of the map, the fully interactive one can be found on the History of CAD CAE Technology blog on the website.

(The map has gotten too tall for Linkedin, so I had to crop the bottom of it, the full size image is on the blog)

Some things that I'd like to point out:

1. Some large companies appear to be very diverse and have had an active M&A strategy for quite a long time!
2. Surprisingly, some large companies do not appear to be very historically diverse at all.
3. Some companies have some blatant technology missing from their portfolio (perhaps insight into the future?)
4. Neither the diversity, nor the age of a company have a correlation to their current performance.

In addition to this, let's infer a few more things. First, chances are you don't know just how much capability your CA"X" tool has. If you see a technology on this map that you were not aware of, and that you think you can take advantage of, then go to their website, download a whitepaper, read the blog, or hit their forum. Then, call up your software vendor or local Value Added Reseller, and get a demo. There's nothing like a test drive...

Second, don't ever, ever, ever, forget to go to training. As you can see above, things change quickly! Sure, there's some free videos online, but learning HOW to use a CAE tool and learning WHY to use a CAE tool is completely different. Fastway Engineering specializes in instructor-led, classroom based training using interactive and proven Project Based Learning (PBL) Techniques. Think STEM learning is just for your kids? Think again. If you've chosen a career in Design and Engineering then you've chosen a career in problem solving and life long learning. Learn more about how we solve problems and teach classes on our website: www.fastwayengineering.com.

Just as before, I am wide open to your opinion and insight. If there's one thing I can guarantee, is that this is not etched in stone. Just wait a week, and it will change. I will do my best to keep up with the comments. I hope you enjoy this data viz, and I hope it sparks conversations with your coworkers in your office and with each other below. Enjoy!