State of CAD industry and industrial design trends

As the name implies, computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers to create, modify, analyze, or optimize designs. Engineers and designers take advantage of the software by increasing productivity and improving design quality.

CAD has already become a common tool for engineers, architects, and designers widely leveraged in different industries. New tools and applications appear on the market facilitating industrial design development.

The global CAD industry and design software area are developing at a lightning pace, and we are already predicting some ground-breaking changes in the industry. Here is a quick overview of the global CAD market and predictions.

Global Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Market Size and Forecasts

Computer-Aided Design (CAD in short) technology offering 2D and 3D design services has wide application in a multitude of industries, including but not limited to Industrial machinery, healthcare, electronics, automotive, aerospace and defense, architecture, and more. The stable growth of technology usage brought global market growth, skyrocketing the market value. Since 2018 the global CAD market has demonstrated steady 6,8% CAGR growth, and it will keep growing by 2026. Translated into numbers, the CAD market, valued at $9.3 billion in 2019 and $9.46 billion in 2020, with a CAGR of 6,6%-6,8% it will reach $18.7 billion by 2030.

—–

CAD global market registered a drop in 2020 amid worldwide lockdown and impending crisis.  Nevertheless, the major players still continue registering a revenue increase. Thus, one of the biggest names in the CAD, Autodesk, reported over $730 million in revenue in 2019 for AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT products. 

The major driving force for software technology growth and market development is the increasing application of CAD software in the automotive, healthcare, and manufacturing industries, the three largest fields that build high-value items. The surge of a cloud-based platform for 2D and 3D CAD software also impacts further growth of the technology and market overall. Moreover, cloud-based architecture is predicted to become an efficient modern way to streamline workflows and boost design flexibility. As for technology distribution, in 2018, 2D technology took 26,4% market share, and 3D got relatively 73,6%. By 2028, 3D will have 75,8% of the global market share.

Major CAD Market Trends

Solid modeling will dominate during the forecast period (2019-2030)

The solid modeling category that dominated the CAD software market from 2014 to 2019 will continue dominating due to the rise of product prototyping. Solid modeling CAD software has become the way to streamline design processes and send products to the deployment stage faster than ever.

The cloud-based deployment will attain fast growth

Alongside the global penetration and availability of the internet and digitization of processes, CAD becomes more accessible. Thus, the increase registered the following market growth results: North America – 90%, Europe and Asia-Pacific – 55%.

CAD software will gain fast adoption in Healthcare Industry

The healthcare industry will witness dramatic transformation amid CAD penetration. With 2D and 3D modeling, the healthcare industry will start creating supportive tools, practicing implantation of prostheses, and 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs.

—–

North America continues to be the largest adopter of CAD software

North America holds the largest market share of CAD software, and for the forecasted period, it will still lead the chart with the adoption of CAD in the aerospace and defense industry. In 2020, the CAD software market in the US was valued at $2,4 billion and is predicted to grow to $4,2 billion by 2030.  

Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing CAD market

The largest market has the potential to become the leading in the future. At an unprecedented CAGR of 9,4%, the Asia-Pacific CAD software market will start generating over $4.0 billion by 2024. It is attributed to China, Japan, and India with the primary healthcare applications. The countries have registered tremendous growth of smart technology adoption to develop medical devices exported globally. 

CAD software usage in the Packaging industry is the primary driver of market growth

The use of CAD software in the packaging industry proved to be the most productive way to streamline all the stages of production: planning, design, prototyping, development, and deployment. Packaging machines and designs become more complex, and CAD is the tool to meet the engineering challenges, gain competitive advantage and facilitate development in all stages without significant delays and resource waste. 

CAD and Industrial Design Innovations; What’s new

—–

Predicting a more inclusive and sustainable future, CAD software technology in the best way assists industrial design in creating tools for Industry 4.0. This fourth industrial revolution driven by digital technologies in manufacturing needs the power of CAD/CAM software to stimulate the rapid development of models without delays in the production line. 

The future of CAD and industrial design is much dependent on other smart technologies’ evolutions.

Thus, since 2020, computer-aided design software has turned to SaaS, offering better solutions with the support of AR technology, IoT platforms, real-time simulation, and generative design based on AI and machine learning. 

CAD is shifting towards SaaS models

Users will soon have a chance to use the benefits of SaaS in CAD software, shifting away from licensing models to flexibility and resource availability. A similar platform was announced by BeeGraphy, which promises to make parametric modeling available online․ Platforms like Beegraphy will provide customers with an extensive toolkit for editing and customizing 2D and 3D models and using them for any purpose. Among other benefits will be the support of various devices, simple setup, seamless collaboration, automatic updates, and more. 

3D laser scanning in Building Information Modeling (BIM)

One of the most noteworthy trends in industrial design is the use of 3D laser scanning in BIM software.

With 3D laser scanning, it will be possible to capture physical space dimensions and transmit data to software. Early adopters of the technology have already shown a 100% retention rate saying they will never go back to the traditional methods for CAD and BIM needs. In the future, 3D laser scanners will be used to produce and replace building parts faster than ever. 

Artificial Intelligence empowering CAD

The first attempts of using AI technology in CAD software proved to make the production more efficient by improving the accuracy. Moreover, the technology will be used in Model-Based Reasoning, predicting how the components interact. Used in the early stages of development, artificial intelligence automatically makes design changes without requiring human intervention. AI-powered CAD will deliver ergonomic engineering, cut design time, and automate repetitive and time-consuming functions.

CAD is the Future

CAD data is becoming widely available for anyone, whether online or in an app. The design process is now streamlined and efficient, transforming industrial design, the whole segments, and traditional production processes. Keep tracking the changes and innovations to be the first to adopt new CAD software.

Featured image: CAD designer – Image by DC_Studio, Envato Elements