FAQs

CADDi is an AI data platform for manufacturing that also functions as a manufacturing intelligence software. Its mission is to "unleash the potential of manufacturing" by transforming legacy drawings and supply chain data into active, actionable intelligence. CADDi offers a suite of solutions designed to empower manufacturing employees and optimize processes.

CADDi is most frequently used in three departments:

• Procurement, where CADDi helps find optimal suppliers, materials, and component parts, and builds, sends, and manages RFQs
• Design Engineering, where CADDi surfaces relevant past designs to help create new parts consistently, quickly, and using all the lessons learned from past work
• Sales, where CADDi helps respond to RFQs quickly and accurately by surfacing relevant past pricing information

However, anyone who works with your manufacturing data, including quality assurance engineers, production line managers, strategic decisionmakers, and more, will find lots of value in exploring CADDi.

CADDi Drawer is an AI-empowered manufacturing data management platform that offers many useful features. Here are a few:

• Batch digitalization of drawings: CADDi can upload and convert all of your drawings, whether they live in PDFs, CAD files, PLM systems, scanned hand-drawn images, or anywhere else, allowing them to all be searchable in one place
• Optical character recognition (OCR): CADDi extracts all the text on each drawing, including title block information, dimensions, and other notes, and makes it searchable and filterable by category
• Comprehensive document linking: CADDi links related documents for each drawing, including purchase orders, quality reports, design revision notes, and sales records, giving you contextual data for every part and allowing you to search across all documents
• Similarity search: CADDi uses patented AI technology to find part drawings that are structurally similar to a chosen drawing, or even a hand-drawn sketch of a part, enabling unprecedentedly quick searching and organizing of drawing without needing to know IDs or tags
• 3D CAD integration: CADDi connects the 3D CAD object for each drawing, allowing you to view it in a number of different ways conveniently‍
• Difference identification: CADDi allows you to compare two drawings, highlighting similarities and differences, to help manage version control and track changes

CADDi Quote is a one-stop sourcing application for manufacturers that revolutionizes the procurement process. Key features include:

• AI analysis of RFQ drawings to automatically suggest competitive bids and surface prices for similar products.
• Automated comparison tables to assess options based on price, material, quality, and more.
• Centralized management of RFQs, status updates, pricing information, and communication with suppliers in one searchable place.
• Automatic linking of purchase and pricing data with drawings.
• Ability to understand price patterns between design features and costs at a glance.
• Aims to make procurement processes knowledgeable, flexible, and agile to navigate supply chain disruptions.

CADDi acts as a data lake, collecting and consolidating data from various sources in a unified repository. It can ingest data from:

• Modern 3D CAD models (e.g., Solidworks, CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, various file formats).
• Traditional 2D drawings, including old hand-drafted scanned documents.
• Handwritten notes on drawings.
• Enterprise systems like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), and PDM (Product Data Management).
• Other supply chain documents like spec sheets, quality defect reports, and CAM files. CADDi uses proprietary OCR-based AI technology to extract unstructured data from these sources and convert it into structured, searchable assets.

Similarity search is a patented CADDi feature that uses AI machine vision to identify similar parts across an entire archive of drawings. It goes beyond basic text searches by:

• Analyzing the geometric shape of parts depicted in drawings.
• Detecting similarities even if drawings appear visually distinct, have different orientations, or were created decades ago or as rough sketches. This allows users to quickly find relevant past designs, compare them, and leverage accumulated knowledge for new designs, procurement, and cost estimation.

Yes, CADDi is designed to work complimentary with existing systems such as PLM, PDM, and ERP. It functions as a data lake, combining data from multiple services including ERP, PLM, and CAD. It can easily connect ERP data (e.g., SAP, Netsuite), CAM, CAD, quality defect reports, and spec sheets automatically, by uploading CSV files or leveraging API integration. This allows CADDi to contextualize specific product and part data by connecting related information, providing a comprehensive view of operations.

CADDi addresses numerous critical pain points in manufacturing, including:

• Rising costs in procurement and engineering.
• Inefficient design processes and "reinventing the wheel" due to difficulty finding past designs.
• Knowledge drain and reliance on experienced individuals as senior staff retire.
• Fragmented data and data silos across different systems and departments.
• Slow and inaccurate quotation processes.
• Supply chain disruptions and the need for agility in sourcing.
• Quality control issues leading to scrap, rework, and warranty claims.
• Long onboarding times for new hires.

CADDi drives cost reduction through several mechanisms:

• Value Analysis/Value Engineering (VA/VE) initiatives, helping uncover opportunities for efficiency and savings without sacrificing quality.
• Supplier consolidation, enabling companies to reduce the number of suppliers and leverage higher volumes for better negotiation and bulk discounts.
• Data-driven negotiation with suppliers by providing historical cost data for similar parts, exposing price inconsistencies.
• Identifying cheaper alternatives for materials or components that still meet quality thresholds.
• Reducing parts proliferation by enabling design reuse and standardization, which lowers procurement and inventory costs.
• Assisting with should-cost analysis by scrutinizing historical pricing data.

CADDi significantly improves operational efficiency and speed by:

• Accelerating quotation capacity, with customers reporting 1.5x to 2.1x faster quotations and search times reduced from hours to seconds or minutes.
• Reducing design time by preventing "reinventing the wheel" through instant access to similar past designs, with some engineers saving hundreds of hours per month.
• Streamlining procurement processes by reducing the time spent gathering information by over 60-80%.
• Faster supplier selection (1.4x to 1.5x faster).
• Automating data extraction and analysis from drawings and documents, eliminating tedious manual work.‍
• Accelerating CAM data creation by allowing reuse of CAM files for nearly identical parts.

CADDi significantly enhances quality control by:

• Quickly accessing quality defect details alongside drawing information.
• Mitigating quality defects by identifying similar parts prone to the same issues. When a quality issue arises with one part, similarity search can instantly find other drawings with similar features or materials, allowing for proactive risk assessment.
• Providing design feedback to engineers to avoid repeating mistakes in new designs.
• Allowing for monitoring supplier performance against drawing specifications to identify quality issues early.
• Helping to reduce scrap and rework through insights from historical data. CADDi customers have reported a 15% improvement in defect rate.

CADDi empowers American manufacturing across nearly every industry and company type or size. We are especially impactful for companies working in High Mix Low Volume manufacturing, custom manufacturing, and complex product manufacturing. Example industries include:

• MedTech/Medical Device companies.
• Automotive manufacturers 
• Industrial machinery and equipment manufacturers 
• Parts manufacturing and job shops
• Companies involved in precision machining, anodizing, filling machines, vacuum devices, and prototype manufacturing.

Essentially, any manufacturing company dealing with complex design data, procurement, and supply chain management can benefit from CADDi's solutions.

CADDi customers have reported substantial improvements:

• Cost Reductions: 22% reduction in fabricated part spend for Dairy Conveyor Corp., $6.5 million direct cost reduction for Subaru, and 8% procurement cost reduction for Ebara Corporation.
• Increased Efficiency & Speed: 90% reduction in drawing search time for Izumi Techno and Punch Industry, 80% reduction in workflow time for Dairy Conveyor Corp., 2.1x faster quotations for Izumi Techno, and 1.5x faster supplier selection.
• Improved Productivity & Knowledge Transfer: Reduction in labor costs equivalent to one full-time worker per month for TOA-DKK Corporation, 84% reduction in time for new employees to become productive at Daito Seiki, and 90% adoption rate among procurement teams within 3 months for Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
• Streamlined Operations: 1.3x more streamlined production routing for Sugino Machine

Learn more by exploring our case studies.

Many manufacturers are struggling with the ongoing retirement of veteran engineers, who often have lots of knowledge that isn’t recorded anywhere. CADDi can help overcome this “brain drain” problem by:

• Digitizing institutional knowledge: Captures the expertise and insights of experienced professionals, converting tacit knowledge into explicit, digital formats that are preserved and shared.
• Accelerating new hire onboarding: Reduces reliance on senior staff by providing instant and intuitive access to historical design and procurement data, making new hires productive faster (e.g., 3 years to 6 months).
• Creating a "digital brain": Functions as a centralized repository for critical IP, allowing any employee to access past projects, understand design intent, and see how parts were sourced and costed.
• Democratizing data access: Organizes critical data and designs, enhancing access and decision-making for everyone, not just a few experts.

Manufacturing often struggles with making data accessible across functions and departments, leading to redundant work, inconsistent decisions, misaligned priorities, and a reliance on inefficient manual sharing. CADDi helps overcome these challenges by:

• Breaking down data silos: Creates an open, interoperable data architecture that enables the seamless flow of information between departments like engineering, procurement, sales, production, and quality assurance.
• Providing a "single source of truth": Centralizes diverse data around drawings, ensuring all stakeholders are working with consistent and accurate information.
• Linking relevant contextual data: Allows different teams to access procurement costs, production information, quality data, and design details all in one place, fostering a shared understanding.
• Facilitating communication: Enables easier sharing and access to data among all supply chain participants, enhancing coordination and efficiency.

CADDi helps deal with the increased costs and supply chain disruptions associated with tariffs through many benefits, including:

• Offsetting increased costs by finding cheaper supplier options, reducing overhead costs, and developing more cost-effective designs
• Overcoming supply disruptions by quickly surfacing optimal alternative supplier options and building RFQs
• Building proactive plans for reshoring by collecting and organizing data to facilitate strategic analysis

To learn more, check out our tariff learning center.

Pricing inquiries can be made through our pricing page.

CADDi is a secure, centralized repository for critical intellectual property and sensitive design data. We use single-user instancing and have robust data access control. More information, including our latest data on compliance and certification, can be found on our security page.