'''CAD data exchange''' is ana method of [[Engineering drawing|drawing]] [[data exchange]] used to translate between different [[Computer-aided design]] ([[Computer-aided design|CAD]]) authoring systems or between CAD and other downstream [[CAx]] systems.<ref name="Schoonmaker2003">{{Cite book|last=Schoonmaker|first=Stephen J.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50868192|title=The CAD guidebook : a basic manual for understanding and improving computer-aided design|date=2003|publisher=Marcel Dekker|isbn=0-8247-0871-7|___location=New York|oclc=50868192}}</ref>{{Rp|page=157}}
Many companies use different CAD systems and exchange CAD data file format with suppliers, customers, and subcontractors.<ref name=":2" /> Such formats are often proprietary.{{r|Schoonmaker2003|p=157}} Transfer of data is necessary so that, for example, one organization can be developing a CAD model, while another performs analysis work on the same model; at the same time a third organization is responsible for manufacturing the product.<ref name=":05">Xu, X. (2009). ''Integrating advanced computer-aided design, manufacturing, and numerical control: Principles and implementations''. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.</ref>
Since 80sthe 1980s, a [[Computer-aided technologies|range of different CAD technologies]] have emerged. They differ in their application aims, user interfaces, performance levels, and in data structures and data file formats.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Product Data Interfaces in CAD/CAM Applications|last=Schuster|first=R.|date=1986-01-01|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|isbn=978-3-642-82428-9|editor-last=Encarnação|editor-first=Prof Dr-Ing José|series=Symbolic Computation|pages=238–251|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-82426-5_21|editor-last2=Schuster|editor-first2=Dr-Ing Richard|editor-last3=Vöge|editor-first3=Dr-Ing Ernst|chapter = Progress in the Development of CAD/CAM Interfaces for Transfer of Product Definition Data}}</ref> For interoperability purposes a requirement of accuracy in the data exchange process is of paramount importance and robust exchange mechanisms are needed.<ref name=":05" />
The exchange process targets primarily the geometric information of the CAD data but it can also target other aspects such as [[metadata]],{{r|Schoonmaker2003|p=153}} knowledge, manufacturing information, tolerances and assembly structure.
