Use AI and digital cost tools safely across the whole job plan. Part of the free VE Academy: 13 narrated modules, hands-on labs and a certificate of completion.
Start Module 11 →Free. A free account opens Modules 2–13, the exam and your certificate.
What you’ll learn
Today's cost-engineering tools, and what each one actually does
Where AI really speeds up VAVE, phase by phase, and where it doesn't
In what order to adopt the tools: crawl, walk, run
The rules that keep AI-assisted cost work safe and checkable
What you’ll produce
By the end of this module you’ll have a plan for using AI and cost tools safely in your study. Free templates:
AI should-cost engines: software that reads a 3D CAD model, simulates how it would be made, and gives cycle time, tooling and part cost for each region, before any supplier quotes
CT scanning and 3D teardown: industrial CT scanners record competitors' products without taking them apart: wall thicknesses, hidden joints and how the inside is laid out
Spend analysis ("spend cubes"): your purchasing data sorted and linked to parts lists, showing different prices paid for the same part across factories and suppliers
Generative design and topology optimisation: software works out where material is needed to carry the loads, and removes the rest
Additive manufacturing (3D printing): combining several parts into one, making small volumes without tooling, and moulds with cooling channels that follow the part's shape
Digital twin / CAE: removing excess safety margin once simulation shows it's safe; virtual experiments replace physical trials
Generative design in practice: GM and Autodesk engineers turn an eight-part seat bracket into one 3D-printed part, 40% lighter and 20% stronger. It was a proof of concept, not a production part. The video plays from YouTube. Watch on YouTube
11.2 · AI language tools (LLMs) in the workshop
Large language models (LLMs), the AI behind tools like chat assistants, now help throughout the job plan. They
dig through warranty text and quotes in the Information phase, produce and group ideas in the Creative phase, and
draft business cases in Development. They also power linked cost databases that connect functions, parts, costs
and suppliers, so no lesson is lost between rounds. The practical view: AI speeds up analysis and idea
generation, and people are responsible for judgement, checking and decisions. Teams that treat AI
output as a first draft save a lot of time. Teams that treat it as the answer just make mistakes faster.