A novel method designs and analyzes composite parts including optimal manufacturing strategies. The invention analyzes part design including curvatures and other surface topology to formulate an optimal strategy for material layup, number of plies, initial orientation angle, and towpath steering vectors. The method computes an optimum starting point for each fiber path and a stagger offset for each successive fiber path to as to eliminate or minimize gaps and overlaps between adjacent plies. Intermediate surfaces are generated by a polynomial discretization method which generates large computational time savings and enhances blending of adjacent zones to control surface smoothness. The method further calculates a variable steering path for the layer taking into account material parameters and limitations such that plies originating in the same location have a variable orientation angle and follow any reference curve generated by the method to maximize strength and minimize weight of the component.