The benefits of 3D, and Catia specifically, are endless! Working with Catia gives you the power to design correctly the first time around. Some companies are still stuck in the primitive way of doing things and are paying dearly for it. Yes, Catia costs money. Yes, Catia calls for a bit of training and/or expertise, but what price are you willing to pay to be able to eliminate potential design flaws before they manifest? Being from the automotive industry where parts are always due yesterday, design errors are costly. They cost money and, more importantly, they cost time.

Most OEM's are governing their suppliers to use Catia and only native format Catia files will be issued. 2D drawings are also a thing of the past as all relevant information is on the 3D design. Although direct suppliers are governed, it is normally not filtered down to the sub-suppliers, meaning that if they don't have a Catia seat, the CAD will have to be converted to a universal format which will remove all the crucial annotations, views and tolerances necessary to manufacture a part to the customer’s specifications.

I personally think that industry, especially at the lower end of the spectrum, can do with a re-think of their technological design facilities. Catia is a very powerful banquet of packages that can do almost anything that you want it to do and used correctly will eliminate your design flaws, reduce your turn-around time and save you time and money in the long run, not to mention making your company viable for future work because of the fact that you have Catia.