DETROIT--Mechanical computer-aided engineering (MCAE) is the next step in computerized product design and computer-integrated manufacturing its first two proponents claim.

Both Cognition Inc. and Aries Technology Inc. announced their first production models at the Autofact show here last week amid some skepticism that the engineering tool will take off unless prices drop dramatically.

Billerica, Mass.-based Cognition, the newest company to be founded by Phil Villers (of Computervision and Automatix fame), announced it had sold its first MA1000 systems to General Electric Co. for an unspecified task. At a price estimated at $125,000 for the three-seat system, it is a pricey way to replace a pencil and paper of design engineers.

Aries, based in Lowell, Mass., said it will begin first shipments of its ConceptStation within weeks at a lower price than Cognition's

 "MCAE is not CAD (computer-aided design) nor is it going to replace CAD," Villers said in a press conference here. "This is a step before CAD, assisting engineers in the conceptual design."

It combines geometry and engineering principles with a touch of expert systems technology in these exploratory and analytical stages of design, when CAD systems may prove too rigid, Villers said. With computer quickness it can accommodate countless drawing board changes.

This was Cognition's first sale in a corporate history that spans less than two years and the confirming phone call was said to have come in the middle of the press briefing. However, five of the MA1000 systems are being evaluated at beta test sites at Xerox Corp., Rohr Eastman Kodak Co. and an unnamed domestic auto maker.

Aries has systems at eight beta sites and claims a small backlog already for its offering, priced at about $50,000. While cheaper and different than Cognition's, it still is a high-end product and may cost more than some of the cheap PC-based CAD systems it will augment.

"All engineers make sketches and conceptualize designs as part of their work, but only a few do it full-time, and only a fraction of those can afford to dedicate a system to this function," Daratech Inc., a Cambridge, Mass., market research firm, wrote in a report on CAD, CAM and CAE. "Thus, low-cost MCAE tools that run on personal computers seem far more appropriate for the majority of mechanical engineers--an opportunity made-to-order for the personal computer software publishers."

"It is the next logical step," said Vince Scotti, vice president of sales in the Pittsburgh office of Tenomatix Inc., a non-competing firm. "There are some things that a CAD system just cannot do. And if you're a large enough company, you'll be able to afford even these initial prices if you think it can save you money."

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