The decision to look at MCAD software will depend heavily on how much of your work is oddball parts that cannot be made in software for made for the woodwork industry. The key problem with solidworks and inventor is the fact they are primarily focused on making steel and other ferrous materials. I use solidworks with solidworks CAM. In the years using this there has not been one tool or tool paths that are usable out of the box. You pretty much get to figure out everything you need.

That said, if you do oddball parts and have the patience to figure it out, you can automate the process quite well. I use driveworks in solidworks that that makes standard parts including preset toolpaths very quickly. Are they as fast as other software, I don't know. Being a long time solidworks user this was a natural pick and I did not look at many other options.

As noted above if Inventor is the path you are looking at check out Woodwork for Inventor addon. the W4I addon is designed for the woodworking industry. Thus the software handles the issues that aout of the Box Inventor can not. W4I deels with edgebanding, machining for hardware, cutlisting among others.

There are plenty of videos online that show some of the capabilities of W4I, also you can download a free trial. Though prior to doing so I would see at minimum view the videos, as with any software you get out what you put into it. Not too long ago W4I had offered an online seminar for new users and those trying the software.

With Inventor the parametrics work quite well. The tools offered by W4I only enhance Inventor.

There was a note above about having to draw each part to get a machine drawing. I do not have to do this. I have an addon from Cim-Tech that will process the Inventro assembly and create the part drawings I need to process for machining. I do not redraw individual parts. There are other options also, W4I has a CAM addon which will handle this also, I have only seen a demo and do not use this as I already had a CAM software. The other option, is depending on your subscription with AutoDesk you can use HSM or whatever it is to create programs from Inventor. AutoDesk has recently added Nesting of Inventor parts. Though I am not certain how the Autodesk HSM and Nesting work for the wood industry.

My last note, is search thoroughly, have your objectives you want the software to do and test the software thoroughly before spending all the money for whatever option you choose.

Feel free to send me an email if you have additional questions.

Dan