[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":701},["ShallowReactive",2],{"{\"resolve_relations\":\"reference.source\",\"version\":\"published\"}resources/blog/why-more-manufacturers-are-expanding-access-to-cad-data-beyond-cad-applications":3},{"data":4,"headers":678},{"story":5,"cv":660,"rels":661,"links":677},{"name":6,"created_at":7,"published_at":8,"updated_at":9,"id":10,"uuid":11,"content":12,"slug":651,"full_slug":652,"sort_by_date":653,"position":654,"tag_list":655,"is_startpage":300,"parent_id":656,"meta_data":24,"group_id":657,"first_published_at":658,"release_id":24,"lang":525,"path":24,"alternates":659,"default_full_slug":24,"translated_slugs":24},"Why More Manufacturers Are Expanding Access to CAD Data Beyond CAD Applications ","2026-08-17T23:34:45.905Z","2026-08-17T23:50:40.910Z","2026-08-18T18:21:24.262Z",210207071942078,"38c787d7-474b-48ea-978b-5a17df8a0d2d",{"_uid":13,"body":14,"date":470,"fold":471,"unit":551,"intro":552,"title":6,"author":560,"sidebar":561,"category":633,"end_date":17,"location":17,"metadata":638,"component":641,"thumbnail":642,"past_event":300,"hide_author":300,"english_only":300,"hide_sidebar":300,"redirect_url":17,"hide_from_feed":300,"show_date_range":300,"is_external_page":300,"open_graph_image":646,"external_page_url":17,"include_open_graph":93,"block_search_engines":300},"015c4825-95f3-4f19-abd8-1dcd8091b8a2",[15,19,94,202,258,309,311,341,355,392,403,414,425,436,445,454,456,464],{"_uid":16,"height":17,"component":18},"fc3725b4-7fbc-4e55-9c67-90291430fe64","","element-spacer",{"_uid":20,"body":21,"alignment":17,"component":92,"is_full_width":93},"d6494edd-4bb7-4c9f-ba48-c2d26b77a7c2",{"type":22,"attrs":23,"content":25},"doc",{"backgroundColor":24},null,[26,38,46,70],{"type":27,"attrs":28,"content":30},"paragraph",{"textAlign":29},"left",[31],{"text":32,"type":33,"marks":34},"There is a growing list of people across manufacturing organizations who need to interact with engineering data who have never opened a CAD application. From production supervisors and suppliers to marketing and sales teams, they need the info from the model itself, not to build or edit components.  ","text",[35],{"type":36,"attrs":37},"textStyle",{"color":17},{"type":27,"attrs":39,"content":40},{"textAlign":29},[41],{"text":42,"type":33,"marks":43},"That gap, between who needs engineering data and who needs full CAD authoring capability, is prompting manufacturers to rethink how product data gets distributed across the organization. While the CAD application may be the natural home for engineering data, for modern manufacturing organizations, it is often a poor choice for expanding access to that information. ",[44],{"type":36,"attrs":45},{"color":17},{"type":47,"content":48},"blockquote",[49],{"type":27,"attrs":50,"content":51},{"textAlign":29},[52,54,59,61],{"text":53,"type":33},"This piece is the second of our series previewing our original report “",{"text":55,"type":33,"marks":56},"How Manufacturers Are Solving the Growing Demand for Engineering Data",[57],{"type":58},"bold",{"text":60,"type":33},"”. ",{"text":62,"type":33,"marks":63},"Sign up here to receive it on release.",[64],{"type":65,"attrs":66},"link",{"href":67,"uuid":24,"anchor":24,"target":68,"linktype":69},"https://pages.techsoft3d.com/engineering-data-insights","_blank","url",{"type":27,"attrs":71,"content":72},{"textAlign":29},[73,75,83,85],{"text":74,"type":33},"Check out the first two posts in this blog series, ",{"text":76,"type":33,"marks":77},"Why Engineering Data Has Become a Strategic Manufacturing Asset",[78],{"type":65,"attrs":79},{"href":80,"uuid":81,"anchor":24,"target":68,"linktype":82},"/resources/blog/why-engineering-data-has-become-a-strategic-manufacturing-asset","621665bc-ffa7-47f8-9576-8123dff3b147","story",{"text":84,"type":33}," and ",{"text":86,"type":33,"marks":87},"How Engineering Data Bottlenecks Come With Big Costs",[88],{"type":65,"attrs":89},{"href":90,"uuid":91,"anchor":24,"target":68,"linktype":82},"/resources/blog/hidden-cost-of-engineering-data-bottlenecks","41e987b6-cc3b-4c4f-b52e-11e82a02f7db","copy",true,{"_uid":95,"body":96,"alignment":17,"component":92,"is_full_width":93},"f2d2f96e-8fff-4e49-b1c5-d6b61a168d50",{"type":22,"attrs":97,"content":98},{"backgroundColor":24},[99,106,111,126,139,152,165,178,191],{"type":100,"attrs":101,"content":103},"heading",{"level":102,"textAlign":29},2,[104],{"text":105,"type":33},"The Growing Audience for Engineering Information ",{"type":27,"attrs":107,"content":108},{"textAlign":29},[109],{"text":110,"type":33},"We’ve already discussed how engineering data is traveling far outside design teams, becoming an asset throughout the company as a whole. Just a few examples of those leveraging CAD data outside engineering departments include: ",{"type":112,"content":113},"bullet_list",[114],{"type":115,"content":116},"list_item",[117],{"type":27,"attrs":118,"content":119},{"textAlign":29},[120,124],{"text":121,"type":33,"marks":122},"Production teams",[123],{"type":58},{"text":125,"type":33}," - referencing geometry and PMI to plan and validate work on the floor ",{"type":112,"content":127},[128],{"type":115,"content":129},[130],{"type":27,"attrs":131,"content":132},{"textAlign":29},[133,137],{"text":134,"type":33,"marks":135},"Quality teams",[136],{"type":58},{"text":138,"type":33}," – engaging with inspection results back to dimensions and tolerances defined at design time ",{"type":112,"content":140},[141],{"type":115,"content":142},[143],{"type":27,"attrs":144,"content":145},{"textAlign":29},[146,150],{"text":147,"type":33,"marks":148},"Purchasing and sourcing teams",[149],{"type":58},{"text":151,"type":33}," – Pulling part specs and BOM data to evaluate suppliers and negotiate accurately ",{"type":112,"content":153},[154],{"type":115,"content":155},[156],{"type":27,"attrs":157,"content":158},{"textAlign":29},[159,163],{"text":160,"type":33,"marks":161},"Suppliers",[162],{"type":58},{"text":164,"type":33}," – taking advantage of direct access to models and specs rather than working from a translated PDF or a phone call ",{"type":112,"content":166},[167],{"type":115,"content":168},[169],{"type":27,"attrs":170,"content":171},{"textAlign":29},[172,176],{"text":173,"type":33,"marks":174},"Sales & Marketing ",[175],{"type":58},{"text":177,"type":33},"– informing campaigns, promotional images, and client conversations more directly from the products they’re selling ",{"type":112,"content":179},[180],{"type":115,"content":181},[182],{"type":27,"attrs":183,"content":184},{"textAlign":29},[185,189],{"text":186,"type":33,"marks":187},"Service/maintenance organizations",[188],{"type":58},{"text":190,"type":33}," – accessing as-built configurations that may be years or decades removed from the original design. ",{"type":27,"attrs":192,"content":193},{"textAlign":29},[194,196,200],{"text":195,"type":33},"How teams are using engineering data is nearly limitless, and tailored to the specific needs of their industry. What doesn’t change as a throughline of all these teams is that they don’t need the full features of an engineering application. ",{"text":197,"type":33,"marks":198},"The CAD application seat is no longer the best way to access engineering data for many of those who need to use it",[199],{"type":58},{"text":201,"type":33},".  ",{"_uid":203,"body":204,"alignment":17,"component":92,"is_full_width":93},"8c77bc46-d997-44dc-b429-e345c462cc2e",{"type":22,"attrs":205,"content":206},{"backgroundColor":24},[207,212,217,222,227,232,237,242,253],{"type":100,"attrs":208,"content":209},{"level":102,"textAlign":29},[210],{"text":211,"type":33},"Why the CAD Seat Isn’t Always the Best Home For CAD Data ",{"type":27,"attrs":213,"content":214},{"textAlign":29},[215],{"text":216,"type":33},"For most of CAD's history the people who needed engineering data and the people holding CAD licenses were roughly the same group. A design team's headcount was a reasonable proxy for how many seats an organization needed. ",{"type":27,"attrs":218,"content":219},{"textAlign":29},[220],{"text":221,"type":33},"That proxy has broken down. A CAD license carries the training curve, cost structure, and interface built around authoring geometry, none of which serves the workflows we discussed above. Every year, the population that needs to reference engineering data grows faster than the population that needs to create it, with the cost of native CAD applications only increasing.  ",{"type":100,"attrs":223,"content":224},{"level":102,"textAlign":29},[225],{"text":226,"type":33},"The Benefits of Broader Access Outside of CAD Applications ",{"type":27,"attrs":228,"content":229},{"textAlign":29},[230],{"text":231,"type":33},"When the right people can get to engineering data without waiting on a CAD seat or a colleague to export a file, the effects show up quickly and operationally, not just financially. Production and quality can resolve questions directly against the model instead of working from a static screenshot or an outdated printout. Suppliers can confirm specs and flag issues before a part is cut, rather than after, and new stakeholders can get useful access in minutes instead of going through CAD training that has nothing to do with what they'll actually use it for. ",{"type":27,"attrs":233,"content":234},{"textAlign":29},[235],{"text":236,"type":33},"None of this requires giving every stakeholder full authoring rights. Instead, teams need an intuitive way to view, measure, mark up, and extract information from a model, ideally surfaced inside the tools people already work in (a service portal, a supplier's own procurement system, a quality dashboard) rather than a standalone viewer they have to remember to open. Engineering, in turn, stops fielding the steady stream of one-off requests for screenshots, exports, and \"can you just check this for me\" that shows up whenever access is the bottleneck. ",{"type":100,"attrs":238,"content":239},{"level":102,"textAlign":29},[240],{"text":241,"type":33},"Balancing Data Accessibility and Control ",{"type":27,"attrs":243,"content":244},{"textAlign":29},[245,247,251],{"text":246,"type":33},"Streamlining data access and opening it to new teams does not mean removing all structure and limitations entirely. Manufacturing organizations still have many valid reasons to control who has access to what information, especially where sensitive IP and external partners and suppliers mix. Version control is one of the biggest challenges in traditional CAD data access, and with more stakeholders accessing files without an intermediary, control issues remain as relevant as ever. ",{"text":248,"type":33,"marks":249},"Just as companies risk exposing their IP with poor versioning and data controls, a supplier or service technician acting on an outdated model can be just as costly as them not having access at all. ",[250],{"type":58},{"text":252,"type":33}," ",{"type":27,"attrs":254,"content":255},{"textAlign":29},[256],{"text":257,"type":33},"With that said, suppliers, vendors, and other teams usually need specific views, dimensions, annotations, and more relevant to their specific task, not a full file and unfettered access. Just as providing a full engineering application to a salesperson is a wasteful overcomplication, so too is unlimited data access for all parties. ",{"_uid":259,"colors":260,"padding":261,"contents":262,"component":301,"background_image":302,"background_video":307},"b0a0cd0c-d3e7-4991-b819-234da5515026","color-gray","padding-small",[263],{"_uid":264,"body":265,"alignment":17,"component":92,"is_full_width":300},"92476dc6-cdca-457a-b0f4-6c6b925453fa",{"type":22,"attrs":266,"content":267},{"backgroundColor":24},[268],{"type":47,"content":269},[270,279,281],{"type":27,"attrs":271,"content":272},{"textAlign":24},[273],{"text":274,"type":33,"marks":275},"\"Giving someone a link to a model isn't the same as giving them the information they actually need from it. 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The manufacturers getting this right aren't loosening control so much as building a more deliberate structure around who sees what, and in what form. ",{"type":100,"attrs":322,"content":323},{"level":102,"textAlign":29},[324],{"text":325,"type":33},"CAD Data Sharing – Visualization, Access, and the Build vs. Buy Debate ",{"type":27,"attrs":327,"content":328},{"textAlign":29},[329],{"text":330,"type":33},"The question manufacturers are increasingly asking isn't who needs a CAD seat. It's who needs engineering information, and what form that information needs to take for them to actually use it.  ",{"type":27,"attrs":332,"content":333},{"textAlign":29},[334],{"text":335,"type":33},"So, what types of applications should manufacturers use instead of CAD seats or flimsy workarounds? 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