Must-Have Tools for Mechanical Engineers

From the pyramids in Egypt to the Great Wall of China, humans have found new ways to build even when presented with the limitations of our physical bodies. We have introduced complex mechanics to this world that do far more than what we would be capable of otherwise.

Of course, the fundamental and prehistoric tools of engineering, such as the compass, maintain their symbolic meanings. Yet these tools have now taken on a more modern digital form to continue transforming the physical. Now we have CAD software for machine design, FEA for simulation, 3D printing, and so much more.

Here, we discuss the essential tools and software mechanical engineers are likely to use daily, and how a cloud-native platform like Onshape consolidates many of them into a single, streamlined workflow.

CAD Software

CAD is the most essential of the bunch: Computer-aided design (CAD) solutions are the industry standard for product design and offer development software for parametric modeling, simulation, analysis, and product documentation. CAD software is used to create 2D drawings and 3D models of the products we want to produce in the real world before manufacturing.

Besides having a rounded understanding of science, physics, materials, and mathematics, engineers need to be experts in working with CAD software to develop their design projects.

Plus, mastering cloud-native CAD eliminates the need for paper drawings and the fuss of traditional product data management (PDM) software. Cloud-native CAD, such as Onshape, enables engineers to collaborate with ease regardless of location and distance – all made possible with new-era PDM software built into the platform.

FEA Simulation Software

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Software is a computerized method for predicting how a product will function under real-world circumstances, such as force, vibration, or heat. Essentially, this software predicts what will ensue when the product is physically used over a selected period of time.

Some CAD platforms have this feature built in, such as Onshape Simulation, which is available in Professional and Enterprise plans. With a seamless connection between CAD and FEA features, engineers can examine structural analysis to understand how the product will hold up through the habitual wear and tear of the physical world.

Onshape also has simple integrations with simulation apps through the Onshape App Store that offer a variety of other simulation solutions.

3D Printing Tools

Engineers commonly use 3D printing to prototype their designs under low-risk circumstances. The premier 3D printer originated in 1981 with Dr. Hideo Kodama, who invented a rapid prototyping machine that produced parts layer by layer of resin polymerized by UV light.

The landscape of the 3D printing industry has changed swiftly over the years, even now enabling the printing of tools aboard the International Space Station in space itself. With 3D printing, engineers can produce prototypes of their designs, address constraints, and find solutions in a matter of moments.

READ: Find out if your CAD software is the best choice for 3D printing.

レンダリングソフトウェア

Before a product ever reaches manufacturing, it needs to pass through design reviews, executive approvals, and sometimes customer previews. Photorealistic rendering translates technical geometry into visuals that non-engineers can evaluate and act on, accelerating the decisions that keep a program on schedule.

Traditionally, rendering meant exporting geometry to a standalone application, managing yet another file format, and re-exporting every time the model changed. Marketing teams routinely ended up rendering outdated versions. Approvals were delayed while waiting for updated visuals.

Onshape Render Studio allows for browser-based rendering directly from the live CAD model.

CAM ソフトウェア

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software translates CAD geometry into the toolpaths and G-code that CNC machines, mills, and lathes use to cut physical parts. The handoff between design and manufacturing has historically been one of the most error-prone steps in the product development cycle – the moment where a wrong file revision or a missed design change becomes a scrapped part.

In a traditional stack, an engineer exports a STEP or IGES file, a manufacturing engineer imports it into a separate CAM package, programs the toolpaths, and often discovers design-for-manufacturability issues that require a trip back to the designer. If the design is still evolving, the CAM programmer may be working from a version that no longer exists.

Onshape CAM Studio, which is available in Professional and Enterprise plans, integrates CAM directly into Onshape. Toolpath generation, machine simulation, and G-code output all run in the browser, with no local software installation required.

PCB Design Tools

As hardware products become increasingly connected – robotics, consumer electronics, medical instruments – the gap between mechanical and electrical design has become one of the most common sources of costly late-stage rework. The circuit board needs to fit the enclosure. The enclosure needs to route around the board’s components. And when either side changes, the other team needs to know immediately.

Traditionally, this coordination happened through manual STEP exports, emailed screenshots, and a lot of “can you just check if this fits?” meetings. It is a slow, fragile process that rarely catches collisions until a prototype is in hand.

Onshape PCB Studio includes native ECAD-MCAD co-design built directly into the Onshape environment, improving the workflow between the two design workflows.

Project Management Software

Meet Jira Work Management: An engineer’s dream in the scope of project management. In a place where professionals originate from a multitude of fields – marketing, operations, sales, human resources, finance, legal, and design – having a way to organize and arrange business projects is an integral part of streamlining efforts.

Designed under the Australian software company, Atlassian, Jira provides a hub where each project can take shape and be meticulously tracked to its full fruition. With an automated workflow, engineers can make the most of their time designing.

As Jon Hirschtick said, companies in the past had “one super expensive computer surrounded by a lot of ‘cheap engineers.’” Now, a company’s investment is in its engineers, and prioritizing their work is far more important.

For teams already in the cloud-native ecosystem, Onshape can connect directly to Jira, Slack, Arena PLM, and others to keep design data and project workflows in sync without manual data re-entry.

Integrations & API

No engineering team runs a single tool. ERP systems hold BOMs and procurement data. PLM platforms manage change orders. QMS tools track compliance. The question for any CAD platform is not just what it does on its own, but how well it connects to everything else.

Because Onshape is cloud-native, its data model is designed for programmatic access from the ground up and not as an afterthought bolted onto a desktop application.

Onshape provides a full REST API that gives teams programmatic access to documents, versions, assemblies, and part properties, enabling custom workflows, automation, and deep third-party integrations that legacy CAD tools simply weren’t built for.

Practical examples include automatically generating BOMs in your ERP upon design release, building product configurators that generate CAD models on demand, and triggering QMS workflows upon design approval.

Team Communication Tools

Slack is the modern business form of texting. The platform provides a way for employees to communicate in an organized manner, without the fuss and confusion of email chains. Perhaps this is the moment to reminisce on the overwhelming email storms of the past: In 2018, someone sent 25,000 Utah state workers an invitation to what was supposed to be an intimate potluck, which prompted recipients to reply all, creating an endless loop of chaos.

Be gone, email flurries! Working for a large corporation as an engineer will certainly require you to download Slack, or something similar, so it’s best to acquaint yourself with the platform sooner rather than later.

Onshape also integrates directly with Slack, so design notifications and approval requests can surface where your team is already working.

How AI Will Change the Engineering Tech Stack

AI is arriving inside the tools you already use. Onshape launched AI Advisor in 2025, an AI assistant built on Amazon Bedrock that lives directly in the design environment. It answers workflow questions in real time, suggests best practices, and can update the model itself based on plain-language instructions.

Looking ahead, Onshape is developing AI agents that can fix failing features, generate drawings autonomously, and flag manufacturability issues before a prototype is ever cut. A custom MCP server will let teams train agents on their own company data – their standards, their materials, their design history – so the AI actually understands the product, not just the software.

As David Katzman, EVP and GM at PTC, put it: “We’re shaping an engineering culture where AI is a trusted partner in the design process.”

Compare Onshape Professional and Traditional CAD

One of the strongest arguments for Onshape is how many tools it replaces. Here’s how the stack compares:

One CAD to Rule Them All

Investing in a cloud-native CAD (aka, Onshape) makes engineers far more efficient at their jobs. Onshape incorporates many functions businesses need to succeed, be it Render Studio for marketing purposes or communication tools within the platform, enabling simultaneous work.

With Onshape, all design data is up-to-date, and collaboration is easier than ever. Therefore, more and more companies are making the switch, meaning engineers need to as well. Indeed, CAD has transformed the engineering design process and continues to make it easier, more accurate, and more fun to use.

With Onshape, all design data is up-to-date, and collaboration is easier than ever. More and more companies are making the switch, meaning engineers need to as well. CAD has transformed the engineering design process and continues to make it easier, more accurate, and more powerful to use – and with AI now embedded in the platform, that pace of improvement is only accelerating.

(This blog was originally published August 30, 2023. Original content written by Jordan Mula was used in this update.)