What is ECAD? A Complete Guide for Modern Electrical Engineers

What is ECAD?
Why ECAD Is Critical in Electrical Engineering
ECAD vs MCAD: What’s the Difference?
Desirable Features of Modern ECAD Software
ECAD in Action: Use Cases Across Industries
The Future of ECAD: Trends in Digital Engineering
Final Thoughts: Should your team be considering ECAD?

What is ECAD?

ECAD stands for Electronic Or Electrical Computer-Aided Design, depending on the context. It refers to specialized software used to design and document electrical systems, such as wiring diagrams, printed circuit boards (PCBs), harnesses, and control panels; and produces manufacturing reports for use on the shop floor.

Unlike general-purpose CAD tools, ECAD is built specifically for the needs of electrical engineers—handling wires, symbols, connectivity, and compliance standards automatically.

Why ECAD Is Critical in Electrical Engineering

Electrical systems are getting more complex, particularly in areas such as automotive, aerospace, medical equipment, and industrial automation.

Faster design cycles through automated design workflows and rule check validations
Improved accuracy with symbol libraries, part databases, and Design Rule checks
Better collaboration with mechanical and electrical design teams
Documentation compliance with IPC/WHMA-A-620, UL, ISO, and more

ECAD also supports digital continuity, allowing changes to flow from schematic design to physical layout to manufacturing instructions without data re-entry.

ECAD vs MCAD: What’s the Difference?

While ECAD focuses on electrical design, MCAD (Mechanical CAD) supports the mechanical side, such as enclosures, housings, and mounting, while also accounting for spatial constraints and routing paths for the wire harness within the product

Feature	ECAD	MCAD
Used For	Electrical schematics, wire harnesses, PCBs	3D models of Enclosures, brackets, housing and mechanical parts focusing on routing
Key Users	Electrical Engineers	Mechanical Engineers
File Types- Native	.SCH, .BRD, .PRJ, .XML (tool-specific for schematics, harness, PCBs)	.SLDPRT, .SLDASM, .IPT, .IAM, .CATPart (native 3D model formats)

Modern systems support ECAD-MCAD integration to ensure electromechanical alignment, especially crucial for compact designs like EV batteries and wearable tech.

Key Features of Modern ECAD Software

Here’s what today’s engineers expect from ECAD tools:

End-to-end solution supporting design, quoting and manufacturing
Extensive and available symbol and component libraries with common and niche parts and the flexibility to easily add new or custom components
BOM (Bill of Materials) generation enabling fast and accurate quoting
Connected data strategy creating a single source of truth across design and manufacturing
Compliance & Design Rule Checks ensuring quality throughout schematic and harness design
MCAD integration enabling data flow to and from your design software and 3D CAD tool.
Real-time collaboration with version control including design locks

Top ECAD Tools in 2025 (And What to Look For)

The ECAD software market is crowded, but some platforms stand out for electrical engineers:

ECAD Tool	Best For	Notable Features
Altium Designer	PCB design	Unified environment, 3D layout
AutoCAD Electrical	Control systems and panel design	Symbol library, PLC I/O tools
Arcadia	Schematic and Wire Harness Design	Modern architecture, intelligent component database, full solution for designing, quoting and manufacturing
Solid Edge Wiring & Harness Design	MCAD collaboration	Siemens ecosystem integration

When evaluating ECAD tools, consider:

How automation and compliance checks (Design Rule Checks) add speed and quality to your workflow
How an ECAD solution’s intelligent component database can reduce quoting lead times, from 1-3 weeks down to 1-3 days
How a solution with connected data from design-to-manufacturing can reduce harness lead times from 16 to 20 weeks down to 4 weeks or less
How real-time collaboration enhances your ECO process and ensures your team is using current data and designs
How an ECAD solution with a modern architecture can ensure productivity within 5 days of adoption, vs. weeks or months
The entire workflow from design to manufacturing – any solution focused only on schematic and harness design, without considering manufacturing reports and formboarding, can lead to longer lead times for quoting and harness manufacturing
How connected data drives traceability, speed, quality and compliance, all leading to competitive advantage

ECAD in Action: Use Cases Across Industries

ECAD plays a pivotal role across a wide range of applications:

Automotive: Designing complex wire harnesses used in EVs, ICE vehicles and ADAS systems
Aerospace: Managing strict compliance requirements and redundant systems
Consumer Electronics: High-density PCB design
Industrial Equipment: Designing and maintaining control cabinets
Medical Devices: Traceable and FDA-compliant electrical design

The Future of ECAD: Trends in Digital Engineering

ECAD is evolving to meet the needs of digital-first teams. Emerging trends include:

Cloud-based ECAD tools that enable real-time, multi-user collaboration
Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) integration
AI-powered design guidance and auto-routing
Digital Transformation support with connected data and traceability from Design-to-Manufacturing
Augmented reality (AR) visualization for harness manufacturing

As product complexity increases, ECAD tools that are flexible, collaborative, and cloud-native will lead the market.

Final Thoughts: should your team be considering ECAD?

ECAD software is an essential part of electrical engineering workflows. Whether you’re designing a simple control panel or a complex aerospace harness, the right ECAD platform drastically improves accuracy, speed, and documentation quality.

If your current toolset feels outdated, slow, or disconnected from manufacturing teams, it’s time to explore more modern ECAD solutions designed for modern engineers.

Our platform, Arcadia, is an end-to-end wire harness design & manufacturing solution creating a faster, more efficient process. If you feel like your current ECAD process could be more effective, reach out to our team and we’ll show you how it’s transformed design and manufacturing for teams like yours!

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