Somewhere between 1988 and 1993 I was the user group representative working with Computervision corporation and their manufacturing CAM software for 2 years. One of my jobs was to review papers submitted for the yearly user group meeting. They were papers back then, with good information, no powerpoint.
One of the interesting papers came from China. It had been passed to manufacturing, since other groups thought it was more manufacturing related. It outlined how they had uses the CAD system and the customization software to design Steam Engines for the railroad. It wasn't using the latest CAD software, it was about 5 years or older version because of technology limits on sales at the time.
When they entered the basic requirements, their software generated the CAD model for the boiler. A list of piping, lengths and sizes also. It was wireframe CAD at the time. There may have been more it generated, but that is what I remember.
I accepted the paper and I forwareded it to be published that year in the Computervision User Group presentations. I had to scan the paper in to prepare it for publication since it came as pages typed on a type writer and a few drawing prints. I invited them to come and present, but I don't think that was possible at the time.
I wish I had kept a copy, but you can't keep everything in 40 years of manufacturing, but I do have the memories.
