Individuals can download a free, executable plug-in of the symbol from www.adhesives.org and use it in several versions of AutoCAD® as well as TurboCAD®. Users can complete fields with information such as adhesive chemistry type and physical form, surface preparation, curing information and more.

When asked about the development of the new symbol, ASC President Lawrence D. Sloan said, “ASC initiated the adhesive CAD symbol project in response to focus group feedback received from the engineering, architecture and design communities. ASC wanted to understand these groups' perceptions of adhesives. What we learned was that these "end-users" desired a way to graphically represent an adhesive on a CAD drawing.”

From those focus group sessions, ASC approached ASTM International with the idea of creating a new global standard and symbol. The new standard resulted from ASC‟s efforts with ASTM's D14 Adhesives Committee, specifically the D14.60 subcommittee, which manages the Adhesive Material Classification System.

“The focus group respondents indicated they would be more amenable to specifying adhesives as an alternative fastener type because the tool would eliminate the tedious task of manually adding adhesives in the "notes" section of CAD programs,” Sloan said.