Design concepts need to be turned into profit-generating products. This means generating design alternatives then analyzing them to an acceptable level of fidelity. It means keeping track of the analyses and concepts so you can reuse them as markets change. It means communicating effectively so that the product development team works in parallel whenever possible. It means keeping track of geometries, files, sketches, and other artifacts from conceptual design to manufacturing to product maintenance.

• Are you using email to transfer documents between team members and/or contractors?
• Is your shared file system a confusing labyrinth of folder naming conventions?
• Does your design team struggle to keep track of design alternatives?
• Are your communications filled with questions about which version is being discussed?
• Do your contractors always have the right version of the design?
• Do your team members have a hard time keeping track of the latest requirements?
• Do your team members know how the design is performing relative to the requirements?

Whether you design aircraft engines or hotels, systems-on-a-chip or the software that runs on them, you need a system for managing the artifacts associated with your designs.