Currently, an engineering analysis before manufacturing is an essential process in nearly every industry. To obtain more accurate results from an engineering analysis, the input data for the CAE system which performs the analysis should be well translated from the original data, such as CAD data or CAM data. However, in a company producing printed circuit boards (PCBs), it takes too much time to obtain CAE data from the original CAM data because a CAD system is typically located between the two systems. Most of the time is wasted when attempting to translate the shape information and when modifying the errors that arise during the manual work involved in the process. In this study, a new methodology for the direct and automatic translation from a CAM system to a CAE system is suggested. This methodology is based on macro-parametric methodology that is developed for exchanges of CAD data. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.