Government manufacturing spans the entire spectrum of the product development value chain – from research and technology invention to deployment and acquisition. However, innovation and production on such a scale brings with it inevitable challenges. Agencies face constant pressure to improve tactical and technological advantage, while saving costs and reducing manufacturing lead times. They are also seeking ways to leverage next generation manufacturing processes to address the key challenges inherent in the design and manufacturing process.

With roadway design and construction outsourcing costs rising and growing pressures to maximize tax dollar value, state and local governments are increasingly looking for better ways to improve transportation design projects – on a lower budget. Outsourcing has its advantages, providing convenient access to skilled expertise while helping agencies ease their workload. The process, therefore, of moving this function back in-house is often easier said than done.

Many state, local and municipality professionals surveying and AEC professionals are familiar with the tools of their trade, and perhaps less eager to embrace quickly evolving technologies – even though they can help them achieve more with less.

Do you need to access and edit AutoCAD files on the go? Did you know Autodesk has a free app for that? AutoCAD WS has been around for a few years now. If you’re not using it, then the new features that are yet to be released might just change your mind.

By Joe Porostosky This blog is part six in a series that discusses the challenges and process involved in implementing BIM at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, a project which saw the team win the 2011 [acronym] Magazine Public Sector CAD Award. In my last post, Brian and I discussed the benefits we both experienced from implementing BIM at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center. In this post, I will discuss some of the additional benefits we are expecting to see from our adoption of BIM along with some of our future plans for expansion.

Want to learn what’s new in AutoCAD 2013? The AutoCAD team is hosting a Facecast today at 8.30 AM PT (11.30 AM ET) on the AutoCAD Facebook page.

This blog is part five in a series that discusses the challenges and process involved in implementing BIM at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, a project which saw the team win the 2011 [acronym] Magazine Public Sector CAD Award. As our BIM Implementation Project progressed both Joe and I found this process to be mutually beneficial in many different ways. While there were both extremely positive and some unexpected outcomes, this effort allowed us to capture knowledge and insight that we weren’t initially expecting. In addition, we’ve both been excited to see the industry’s response to the project.

By Joe Porostosky This blog is part four in a series that discusses the challenges and process involved in implementing BIM at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, a project which saw the team win the 2011 [acronym] Magazine Public Sector CAD Award. Phase 1: Big Bang Implementation Following the all important completion of Phase 0, we were ready to kick off the actual work of developing Revit-based building information models from our AutoCAD floor plans. In June of 2011, the implementation process started with two undergraduate architecture students and two graduate architecture students from the Knowlton School of Architecture, along with one undergraduate civil engineering student, all from The Ohio State University. While their first week included on-site orientation, team building and a project overview, the students quickly became acclimated with the technology they would become expert at during a focused three day training session on Revit Architecture.

This blog is part three in a series that discusses the challenges and process involved in implementing BIM at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, a project which saw the team win the 2011 [acronym] Magazine Public Sector CAD Award. Phase 0: Standards and Process Development As discussed in the previous post, Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center senior leadership signed off on the “Big Bang” approach to converting all 6 million square feet of Medical Center space from a 2D CAD based process to an intelligent BIM managed process in November of 2010. Starting in February of 2011, we began Phase 0 of our implementation plan, which included four primary objectives: • Creation of the BIM Implementation Team • Development of BIM Standards and Revit Templates • Development of a process and workflow for model development • Preparing for Phase 1 (Big Bang Conversion) kick off

More and more government agencies are using Autodesk software to improve communication and collaboration between agencies, gain cost effectiveness and improve the productivity of design and manufacturing projects. Here’s our lowdown of the top five ways AutoCAD is being or can be deployed by agencies to improve workflow processes and reduce cost without sacrificing the quality of work.