I've been in this trade nearly thirty years now; we're talking back when some dies were still produced in sections before wire EDM became common.  Since nearly day one I've noticed time and time again that the biggest obstacle to getting a die done on time and built profitably is very often the design.  The design doesn't get done soon enough so the toolmakers aren't left with enough time to build it, and/or there are too many errors in the design that prohibit timely and profitable completion.  If you are going to be stuck with too little time to build the die, the design had better be good.   If you've been around for ten or twenty years, you've probably also seen the lead times dwindle from sixteen weeks to twelve weeks to eight weeks for some dies.  We have less time than ever for mistakes.

     We all know that nothing can substitute for good old fashioned experience.  But since the level of experience and the quality of skilled employees continues to dwindle, nothing goes further in making up for this void than software.  And excellent software in the hands of someone with good old fashioned experience is just that much better.  For those of you that have been around for some time, you remember back in the late eighties and early nineties how many shops said that they didn't need that CAD stuff and the drawing board worked just fine for them.  How many shops do you know that are still in business now, 15 years later that haven't made the switch.  Zero?