With the introduction of CAD over several decades, 3D models became the new industry standard for the designing products, tooling and manufacturing processes. The majority of original equipment manufacturers and larger suppliers are now “Model Centric”, where 3D models are developed and used downstream, but these firms and their value-chains still relied heavily upon 2D drawings as the master design authority.
As more of the automotive industry makes the transition to 3D, virtual models offer an opportunity to significantly promote reuse, improve design efficiency, reduce cost and improve quality across the extended enterprise. Success, however, requires that business practices are transformed to leverage the enormous potential of the virtual model. The inclusion of complete definition of the product into the 3D design is called Model Based Definition (MBD), and the use of these models throughout the extended enterprise is called Model Based Enterprise (MBE).