New tools like AI are automating tasks and giving us ways to analyze big data in new ways. But what does this mean for the CAD manager? Is the role more important than ever? Or is it outdated and headed for extinction? This award-winning panel is back to share insights on the digital transformation and important lessons learned from decades of experience. Learn from this panel of diverse CAD managers that are widely respected as leaders in their field. Hear their unique perspectives and solutions to challenges facing CAD managers from organizations of all sizes and backgrounds. The panel will discuss how new tools can make you more effective, while sharing where you need to enhance the human element. Hear how they've worked to embrace the future, while not forgetting the past and being productive today. Join us for a panel discussion that has become an anticipated AU tradition. Take this opportunity to learn from four CAD managers who have been there and done that.

This session will delve into the transformative journey of African manufacturing, focusing on resilience, innovation, and sustainability. We will explore how Autodesk's digital tools, including BIM workflows with Revit, have empowered African manufacturers to overcome challenges, innovate their processes, and thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape. Additionally, we will highlight the critical role of sustainable practices in ensuring long-term success for manufacturing in Africa.

This session will dive into an effective workflow using AutoCAD Plant 3D software tailored for the plant industry. From project preparation to integrated management through Autodesk Construction Cloud, we'll explore a series of processes, including managing specifications and libraries with Inventor software, and we'll culminate in the creation of final piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) drawings. This approach ensures efficient project management and heightened quality, leading to successful project outcomes and streamlined data integration management.

The process of managing factory design layout data and fostering collaboration between the design team and external reviewers using Vault software and Autodesk Construction Cloud to handle clashes in Navisworks software is an integrated procedure. The design team can use AutoCAD software or Inventor software to develop the factory design layout, which is then stored in Vault. Vault acts as a secure, centralized storehouse for design data, enabling the team to access the latest information, reducing potential mistakes and rework. It also tracks version history and documents updates, offering clear accountability. Once the design is finalized, it can be disseminated to external reviewers through Autodesk Construction Cloud. Autodesk Construction Cloud serves as a shared data environment, allowing teams to collaborate and exchange design data in real time. It also supports model coordination, document management, and design review, augmenting collaboration between the design team and external reviewers.

Advanced nuclear is challenged to design and construct on short timelines, with smaller budgets and fewer workers. Digitalization can help companies overcome these constraints. Unfortunately, a digital twin (DT) is often presented as a monolith. This results in organizations abandoning DTs as having benefits that are minimal or unrealized in time. Many perceive DTs as too large an undertaking to even begin. However, digitalization isn't a track meet; it's a marathon of incremental milestones. And, like all races, it has a starting line. This session will summarize a journey that Argonne National Laboratory and Implexus Lab made to digitize the Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL), a test facility for advancing sodium fast reactors. Components were designed with Inventor software and assembled in Navisworks software, and AutoCAD software generated construction documents. Integrating with Revit provided a DT foundation. Ultimately, the suite of Autodesk tools enabled the creation of a DT boasting live data visualization within a virtual reality (VR) environment.

With the ever-increasing demands in manufacturing, end users require best-in-class solutions from all their vendors, which ultimately make their businesses more profitable and successful. At the same time, manufacturing companies must currently invest resources in combating data silos and data translation tasks that do not bring business value. Strong partnerships between hardware and software solution providers can ensure the highest productivity and the smoothest processes for end users. MDES is an open specification that enables the Autodesk Manufacturing Community to benefit from a seamless experience when investing in the latest, cutting-edge manufacturing solutions. In this session, the audience will learn how MDES facilitates a smooth integration between Fusion 360 and other key manufacturing assets—from high-performance cutting tools to crash-proof CNC machines—and how MDES enables a seamless data workflow.

If you joined us at last year's AU and attended "A Factory Design Utilities Discussion with Peers on a Successful Deployment," you know the group discussed best practices and what to avoid when implementing Factory Design Utilities software. The information we discussed helped people who'd already implemented it by validating the experiences of others, and helped the people who were planning on implementing it soon. In this session, we'll pick up where last year's ended and focus on best practices for maintaining a successful deployment. We'll especially focus on using simplification workflows to keep file sizes smaller, managing simplified models, and understanding how to update the simplified models automatically when changes happen to the main file. After this session, you'll be able to integrate smaller models into your designs and keep them updated as changes occur.

Inventor Content Center is an important and powerful tool inside Inventor software, but it needs to be customized. Autodesk provides generic databases to help you get started, but it's up to you to make it compatible with your needs. Learn how to manage and edit the Content Center database and create your own. Discover tips and tricks, and learn how to avoid mistakes. Are you wondering how to change what exists? How to create a new family? How to migrate your Content Center to a new version? How to update everything that has already been produced? How to share it with all your users? If so, this session is for you.

In this session, we'll present a study showing the process for implementing Vault Professional software with Autodesk Fusion Manage software with bidirectional integration. See what went well, and what didn't go well and why. Discover what lessons we learned. Explore how much can be implemented at one time for users to absorb, understand, and gain ROI from.

ECOFACT is a €12 million Horizon 2020 project aimed at developing an ECO-innovative energy FACTory management platform for four demo sites: Arçelik (white goods industry), Athenian Brewery (Heineken brewing company), Gullón (biscuit factory) and Tofaş (a body painting plant of Stellantis vehicles). This platform features a dashboard that includes an LCA/LCCA module based on SimaPro and an Energy and Resource Management System (ERMS) built on Autodesk Platform Services. The ERMS consists of a Digital Twin Platform (DTP) that combines industrial digital twin models of production lines and machines with simulation and optimization tools into a single web environment. Using an advanced IIoT infrastructure, each digital twin streams real-time field data to ensure user-friendly monitoring. Managers and operators can run simulation and optimization applications integrated into the DTP for improved factory management in terms of energy, resources, and costs.

In this session, we'll discuss how Woodway converts its engineering bill of materials (eBOM) into its manufacturing BOM (mBOM) using the mBOM Editor in Autodesk Fusion Manage software. We'll then show how we partnered with coolOrange to develop a workflow, and which tools we used, to send these BOMs to our enterprise resource planning (ERP).

GEA is constantly working with its Mission 26 to improve customer experience and increase efficiency and quality. Dive into a compelling case study where Factory Design Utilities software, part of the Inventor and iLogic capabilities, radically transformed factory design from the sales stage to engineering / project execution and beyond! This course will explore GEA's groundbreaking transition to Factory Design Utilities, which reduced engineering time by up to 80% and simplified complex plant layouts. Discover the transformative approach that synchronized 2D and 3D designs, significantly benefiting sales and engineering processes, and delivering profound accuracy improvements. Join us to explore this shift as we explore how using Factory Design Utilities can help companies win more business, reduce design iterations, allocate time to critical tasks, manage more projects more efficiently, and ultimately improve overall factory design productivity and profitability.

In today's engineering and design landscape, collaboration between Inventor software and AutoCAD software has become essential for efficient project execution. Both software platforms offer distinct advantages, but harnessing their combined power necessitates a strategic approach. This presentation will explore practical strategies and best practices for optimizing workflow integration between Inventor and AutoCAD, enabling seamless collaboration and maximizing productivity. Participants will learn about integrating AutoCAD geometry into Inventor models, and easily managing design changes, optimizing performance, and creating better technical documentation for manufacturing.

Sit down with the Inventor product team and discuss your most pressing issues, concerns, and questions about Inventor. A number of Inventor team members will be available to answer your questions. What are the best practices for maximizing your Inventor usage? How are Inventor projects prioritized and chosen for each release? Where is Inventor going in the near future? Model States, building information modeling (BIM) workflows, Drawings, Sheet Metal, Autodesk Fusion vs. Inventor—all your favorite topics are open for discussion.

Imagine that you're manufacturing or construction company is operated through a completely automated, hands-off, Configure to Order digital end-to-end process. This empowers your employees to focus on their strengths, add value to specific projects where it is most needed, leading to a significant reduction in workload and time to market. Your most challenging projects and technical obstacles will see faster progress thanks to the time saved and the concentrated efforts of your skilled team. By standardizing processes, the service and spare-part business will experience an exponential growth. This session shows a fully automated end-to-end process build on solutions like CPQ, Inventor Design Automation, Vault, ERP and a Spare-Part Portal. A cloud-based Low-Code integration platform, with standardized application connectors, orchestrates the digital processes seamlessly. This will enable companies to eliminate application customization and regaining ownership on their business processes.

Our team created a digital twin of retail store located in the shopping mall complex using Autodesk Tandem software–reducing missed inspection time by 90% By combining laser scanning, intelligent modeling, and asset element and IoT sensor data in Tandem extended through our mobile app, we empower plant management to monitor assets and make more-informed business decisions. Dawood integrated our native mobile application—built with Flutter, Supabase, and BuildShip—to record equipment inspections. Elements are tagged with QR codes, enabling rapid information access. This allows for data exchange between the mobile app and digital twin using the Tandem API—making it the single source of truth. This allows on-site engineers to access information on the go to complete daily inspections and send inspection data to the digital twin so that management can assess and respond to events in real time. Automated reminders reduce incidents.

Discover how Viewrail, a leading stair and railing manufacturer, is harnessing the power of iLogic within Inventor software to redefine its engineer-to-order operations. Through a comprehensive demonstration, we'll illustrate the streamlined process of designing custom orders, enabling customer interaction through a dedicated portal, generating both customer and production facing prints, and seamlessly transferring manufacturing data to the shop floor. Gain invaluable insights into how Viewrail's strategic adoption of iLogic enhances efficiency and accelerates production timelines. Join us for an engaging conversation, and walk away inspired to revolutionize your own approach to engineer-to-order.

Join our transformative session on integrating manufacturing into building information modeling (BIM) workflows for prefabricated buildings. Through the case study —the Charlotte Main Library —we'll showcase how our BIM and parametric design expertise revolutionizes construction. Explore our use of Autodesk tools such as Revit, Dynamo, Inventor, AutoCAD, and Navisworks software for seamless integration. Discover how we overcome challenges, ensuring precision and efficiency. Learn from our experiences—highlighting enhanced integration between Inventor, iLogic workflows, and Revit-BIM—meeting project needs efficiently. Gain insights into streamlining project coordination and achieving superior outcomes. Experience tangible benefits, including efficiency gains and improved timelines. Elevate your understanding of integrating manufacturing into BIM workflows at AU.

This presentation will demonstrate the integration of Femap with Autodesk Inventor Nastran software to elevate CAE and finite element analysis capabilities. Focusing on Femap's advanced hex-dominant meshing and midsurfacing techniques, we'll reveal how these features enhance simulation accuracy and efficiency in Inventor Nastran. Attendees will explore the benefits of this synergy through case studies showcasing improved model fidelity and computational performance. Ideal for engineers and designers, this session will highlight practical strategies for incorporating Femap's functionalities into Inventor Nastran workflows, unlocking new potentials in product development and engineering analysis and boosting productivity and solution accuracy.

This workshop for CTE (career and technical education) teachers and industry professionals will focus on fostering innovation, collaboration, and partnership within the CTE community. By enhancing lesson plans, building industry partnerships, and engaging post-secondary educators, we can better prepare our students for success in the ever-evolving workforce. Industry personnel are encouraged to attend to lend expertise in designing exciting hands-on activities and industry-specific lesson plans. Help us establish a network of STEM teachers and industry partners across the nation.