Cad, Cam ... COM

Skenderian—and every other product development director I interviewed for this article—believes that the most important work going on in computer-assisted design and diemaking is collecting, collating, and communicating CAD data to other processes in the packaging arena. It's about digitizing diemaking, and closing an electronic loop around every last seam, tuck, and fold. And it's about extending and exploiting that loop for another big c-word: Commerce. CAD/CAM system developers are making the down-and-dirty construction work of packaging both sexy and sellable.