Which industry uses Inventor the most?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, another general question.

I am wondering which industry uses Inventor the most, is there a top 10 list?

I am from New Zealand, so if anyone has any information on NZ industry that would be great, but otherwise thanks all.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Inventor is one of the popular mechanical design tools for various manufacturing industries. It is very popular among industrial equipment and machinery. For New Zealand specific information, you may want to contact CADPRO System, one of our resellers in NZ.

https://autodesk.secure.force.com/plocator/PLocatorMapViewBeta?id=a5z300000004CtOAAU&cnt=New%20Zeala...

https://autodesk.secure.force.com/plocator/PLocatorMapViewBeta?id=a5z300000004D7IAAU&cnt=New%20Zeala...

Many thanks!

[leowarren34]

Autodesk Inventor is a 3D CAD application so it's uses are very diverse.  Industries include machinery, product design, simulation.

For a comparison: https://enlyft.com/tech/products/autodesk-inventor

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. But I have contacted CAD PRO and Enlyft before, and they are not willing to share that information with me for NZ industries.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Jerry,

Do you mind elaborating why you are asking this question? Are you a student? Or, you are doing a marketing study? In mechanical design, there are primarily three popular tools on the mid-range market: Inventor, SWX, and Creo. If you learn one, you pretty much learn the other two. The commands and workflows are different for sure but the concepts are very close.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi Johnson,

I am a student doing Grad. Dip. CAD in Ara. I wanted to understand the reason industries uses Inventor for designing and manufacture. So I wanted to find out which industries use it the most and understand the differences between each industry. And maybe, later on, it can help me decide which industry to go into.

[Anonymous]

why not ask your teacher?

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Jerry,

I think you might have asked the question in a reversed order. You need to find out what you like to do first. Inventor is a popular mechanical design tool of choice. The objective of using the tool is to create a 3D digital twin virtual model in high precision as a baseline You will make the physical part in real life based on this digital model.

Mechanical design has wide applications. Anything you see around you that you did not build pretty much are designed by somebody using one of the mechanical design tools (Inventor included). Learning to use the tool is one thing. Finding what you like is another, which is much more important. You can never become proficient on a tool without knowing what you want first. So, ask yourself what you like to do. Then you can pick the right tool.

Many thanks!

Best wishes,

[CadManagerMoffatNZ · Accepted solution]

Jerry

There is no real answer to your question.

As a bit of background I have worked with CAD systems in NZ manufacturing since 1985.

I have seen Inventor used in all areas of manufacturing, plastic, machinery, marine and industrial design.

I deal with suppliers & sub-contractors that use Inventor or SolidWorks or Pro-E or Solid Edge or etc etc etc.

There is no rule book that says if you design widget x you will use software Y.

A lot depends on the historical CAD systems and data created before transitioning to a modern mid range 3D modelers.

We use Inventor because the sheet-metal module is very good for the products we design, the drawing out-put suits our internal manufacturing processes and the integration with Vault Professional allows us to manage the huge amount of manufacturing history a company needs to and copy designs with ease.

My advice is that if you want to work at a NZ manufacturer you learn to do the basics well be it with Inventor or SWX etc. Learn how to construct models that are robust and allow for changes to occur without the model having to be remodeled from the very first feature. The same will need to apply to your assembly modelling techniques.

As an employer we look for CAD users that can demonstrate these skills. We can teach you how to design our products but we don't want to teach you how to do the basics you should be getting from your time at Ara or thru personal development. Every-time someone has to remodel a part to make basic changes to it you are costing your employer time and hence profit. This is not a good look and will not make you employer happy. 

In a typical work day i might design a handful of new parts, 3 being sheet-metal, one being a fabricated gas manifold and the last one being a small injection molded plastic escutcheon ring. Those 3 sheet-metal parts might be used on 15 different models and be in manufacturing for 8-12 years during which they will go thru multiple engineering changes. You will now understand why robust modelling techniques are paramount.

Hopefully this helps a little.

[KakaSungura]

To add on this.

There are some artists who use Inventor.

Check out https://gallery.autodesk.com/

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your answer and your valuable insight. It did not help me a little, it has helped me a lot.

No wonder our tutor kept telling us to have all drawings fully constrained.

Cheers. 🙂

[CadManagerMoffatNZ]

Jerry

your tutor is a wise and sensible person.

all the best with your studies and future in NZ manufacturing.