# LightningCAD

> LightningCAD is a browser-based design automation framework built by RoleModel Software. It is not a CAD tool and it is not a CPQ system. It encodes a manufacturer's own design rules, product constraints, and pricing logic into a browser tool that sales teams and the shop floor can use without CAD training, so quoting stops waiting on drafting or engineering. More than $2 million has been invested in the framework since 2015. LightningCAD is the framework; DPQ (Design, Price, Quote) is the product category built on it.

## Who this is for

Companies that configure and design to order, where a custom quote today requires a draftsperson, an engineer, or a senior estimator. Typically $5M to $100M in revenue and 20 to 500 employees: railing, deck, dock, fall protection, structural fittings, industrial guard rail, and related configurable products, plus site work, landscape takeoff, and other rules-driven design work.

The problem shape: sales cannot produce a price for a custom job without waiting on someone else, and the rules that produce that price live in spreadsheets, a homegrown tool, or one or two people's heads.

## When this is not a fit

- Catalog, stock, or SKU pricing with no design or engineering rules behind it
- A product family structured enough that off-the-shelf CPQ already handles it
- Distributors or manufacturers' reps with no in-house design or fabrication
- A CPQ or ERP already live and genuinely calculating all design, BOM, and labor rules

## What it is

- [LightningCAD](https://lightningcad.com): Faster quotes, fewer errors, software built for your products. The framework overview.
- [DPQ: Design, Price, Quote](https://lightningcad.com/dpq): The category. Traditional CAD is powerful but needs training and does not collaborate. CPQ is easy but swaps parts rather than designing layouts. DPQ does both: drag-and-drop design in a browser that simultaneously produces the estimate, the quote, and the parts list.

## Products built on it

- [Railing Designer](https://lightningcad.com/dpq/railings): Design, price, and quote railing systems in a browser.
- [Deck Designer](https://lightningcad.com/dpq/decks): Deck layout, pricing, and materials lists.
- [Dock Designer](https://lightningcad.com/dpq/docks): Dock configuration and quoting.
- [Dock Designer App](https://lightningcad.com/dpq/dockdesignerapp): The hosted dock design product.

## Proof: outcomes with numbers

- [Kattsafe](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/kattsafe): Fall protection systems, Australia. A 2D/3D configurator lets sales design systems without a draftsperson. Four-plus hours down to about 30 minutes, 80% ROI, and production lead times cut by three to four days.
- [Absolute Dental](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/absolute-dental): Dental surgical guides. Design took skilled technicians three to six hours each. Now one to three hours, with 50 to 75% improvement in labor productivity and half the errors.
- [Airfield Designer](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/airfield-designer): Airfield design for US Air Force RED HORSE Groups. Runway grading now solves in seconds for the elevation that minimizes fill dirt, to eighth-inch precision, where review and revision used to run for weeks.
- [LandOne](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/landone): Landscape materials takeoff. Manual takeoff on a commercial project ran six to eight hours. The tool saves 50 to 75% of that time.
- [Omega Industrial](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/omega-industrial): Industrial guard rails and safety barriers. Rules-based design covering a network of 100 product accessories, replacing quoting by hand.
- [Falcon Railings](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/falcon-railings): Railing design and quoting.
- [EZ Dock](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/ez-dock): Modular dock configuration.
- [City Post](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/city-post): Railing and post systems.
- [FieldX VRT](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies/fieldx-vrt): Agricultural variable-rate technology. A custom formula editor for variable-rate treatment calculations, proof the pattern is not limited to physical layout.
- [All case studies](https://lightningcad.com/case-studies): The full LightningCAD library.

## Who builds it

LightningCAD is built and maintained by [RoleModel Software](https://rolemodelsoftware.com), a custom software consultancy founded in 1997 and led by CEO Caleb Woods. We are headquartered in Apex, North Carolina, with an office in Menomonie, Wisconsin and a US-based remote team of about 50. We do not use offshore developers. Primarily Ruby on Rails and React, built with test-driven development and domain-driven design.

- [RoleModel Software](https://rolemodelsoftware.com): The parent company and the full custom software practice.
- [How we work: Explore, Craft, Ship](https://rolemodelsoftware.com/approach): Process first, software second. Working software in the first few days rather than a six-month discovery.
- [Expertise Amplification](https://rolemodelsoftware.com/blog/expertise-amplification): The core idea. You are the expert in your business; we are experts at learning your business and encoding it into a software asset you own.
- [Clutch profile](https://clutch.co/profile/rolemodel-software): Third-party verified reviews.

## Optional

- [Schedule a call](https://lightningcad.com/schedule-a-call)
- [Consultation](https://lightningcad.com/consultation)