Archive for the 'Business' Category

John McEleney Elected to Board of Directors at Stratasys

Published
by
Josh
on December 20, 2007
in Business
. 1 Comment

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john.jpgWondering what John McEleney has been up to since leaving SolidWorks?… Yeah, me neither, really, but it’s kinda interesting that he just got elected to the the BoD at Stratasys.

Beside’s having a cool sounding name that makes you want to keep repeating S’s’ss’ss’ssss, they are the “leading provider of 3D prototyping technology.”

He can probably give them some good guidance, being that he was the CEO and all of SolidWorks. You go John.

Stratasys Press Release

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200cc’s of SolidWorks STAT: Should You Upgrade?

Published
by
Josh
on December 14, 2007
in Business
. 2 Comments

200cc-of-solidworks.jpg

I imagine software upgrades like vaccines. I’m one of those people that don’t get them just because they tell me I’ll die if I don’t. I check it out first. Sometimes it’s unnecessary, contains mercury, arsenic and just the right amount of recombinant mouse DNA to give your body a delayed hypersensitivity reaction.

SolidWorks Legions brings up some interesting thoughts on the SolidWorks release cycle and makes a suggestion. A 2-4 year release cycle. How would you like that? Upgrading SolidWorks every couple years?

Well, while it’s certainly feasible, here’s why it would work and why it wouldn’t work.
Continue reading ‘200cc’s of SolidWorks STAT: Should You Upgrade?’

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PTC Goes History-Free, Buys CoCreate

Published
by
Josh
on October 31, 2007
in Business
. 18 Comments

ptccocreate.jpg

You may have seen the news about Dassault’s poor earnings yesterday. Well, as suspected, PTC (Proe/E, MathCAD) is reporting higher earnings. But, that’s not the interesting part. PTC also announced they are acquiring Germany-based CoCreate, another 3D CAD System, for…get this… 250 million. That’s about $2500 per seat CoCreate reports having. not too shabby.

Why would they buy CoCreate?
CoCreate is a history-free modeler. Pro/E, like SolidWorks, is history-based. History-based modelers makes a list of each feature you create with latter features dependent on previous features. History-free modeling is thought to free up the modeling process by taking away those dependencies that otherwise constrain your design. CoCreate has a fair number of seats. This along with the history-free modeling approach gives Pro/E a wider audience. Mechanical CAD definitely seems to be moving toward this history-free approach and I imagine that is why they are taking that direction. A similar history-free product making some waves is SpaceClaim.

What’s Dassault going to do?
I think this is bit of a bigger threat to Dassault than AutoDesk’s threats of combining Inventor and Alias or bringing better surfacing capabilities into SolidWorks. This changes the way modeling is done and the approach that 3D Mechanical CAD has been thought of. Even though AutoDesk is doing one thing and PTC is doing another doesn’t mean Dassault has to follow suit. Whatever Dassualt does, whether it is buying a company like SpaceClaim or souping up SolidWorks surfacing, it seems to me like it would be a history-free, PLM, 3DVia, Microsoft concoction. If Microsoft wasn’t in the mix it would probably be a SketchUp PLM of sorts.

So, whatcha think? Now that PTC has a history-free modeler, what’s Dassault and AutoDesk going to do?

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Dassault Systemes Gets a Tax Smack

Published
by
Josh
on October 30, 2007
in Business
. 2 Comments

If you think your Tuesday was bad, how would like to get 36% of your revenue taken for taxes. That’s exactly what happen to Dassualt Systemes (SolidWorks, Catia) today as they reported their Q3 earnings. Their net income fell 24% over the last 3 months due to the higher tax rates and the weak US dollar on top of that. That means US based companies like AutoDesk (Inventor, AutoCAD) and PTC (Pro/E, MathCAD) will most likely report higher earnings this quarter.

Their sales didn’t see an impact with software revenue still going up 14% in their 3D segment and overall sales going up 8.3% with a forecast of 15% for the year.

Taxes stink and US companies are more attractive right now, but it’s interesting to see how the market reacts even with sales still increasing.

dassault-stock-price.jpg

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The Thumb Wrestling Continues

Published
by
Josh
on October 23, 2007
in Business
. 14 Comments

playing-with-dirt.jpg

Usually, CAD business can be pretty boring. But occasionally even the most subtle movement and conversation can get interesting. Recently Autodesk had a summit on manufacturing. Sound’s exciting huh? Well, Upfront.eZine posted some highlights that have sparked the fires of speculation. If what AutoDesk says has any merit you’ll be jumping the SolidWorks ship, but does it have any merit or is it something else entirely?
Continue reading ‘The Thumb Wrestling Continues’

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3DVia and Virtual Earth Join Hands

Published
by
Josh
on October 20, 2007
in Business
. 4 Comments

images_ve3dvia_logo.jpgMicrosoft and Dassault Systemes announced Tuesday and Thursday that you can make 3D models inside Microsoft’s Virtual Earth with the 3DVia technology.

“This free online application, developed by Dassault Systèmes, allows consumers to imagine and create realistic 3-D models — such as of buildings and structures — then share them through Microsoft Virtual Earth and online communities.”

Dominating the Market?
This, of course, continues Dessault’s efforts to dominate the CAD market. Aligning with Microsoft, as they have done in the past, is not a bad way of going about it either. This is obviously a move to compete against Google’s SketchUp and 3D warehouse, but who do you think would win?
Continue reading ‘3DVia and Virtual Earth Join Hands’

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SolidWorks Teams with Google, Co-founds ‘The CAD Academy’

Published
by
Josh
on October 15, 2007
in Business
. 2 Comments

google-loves-solidworks1.jpgWell, it’s happening, when you wonder what the future of CAD is going to be, who is pushing development and innovation, you can mark this day. First there was the eDrawings compatibility with Sketchup around this time last year. Now, SolidWorks has co-founded a program with Google, along with Graphisoft and the Discovery Channel, that recently acquired HowStuffWorks.com, to promote study and generate interest within the CAD related field of engineering and architecture.

The business
cad-academy-logo.jpgIt’s currently set up as a reseller model with groups ranging from SolidWorks Resellers to Technical Colleges. There’s plenty more space available, so this is another way for businesses and institutes to grow their offerings and bottom line. Currently there is a handful of curriculum overviews going on that are shown in the site’s event calendar.

The commentary
Compatibility with eDrawings is one thing. The other CAD companies have that. What this does is place those solutions in the same genre and marketplace and introduces technology savvy learners to the possibilities of future advancement in those areas. In other words, little Johnny engineer says, I use SolidWorks and Sketchup, why not mix it up? I do everything on the web except my blueprints and cost estimation, why not suck this into the Google API or vice versa?

I’ve actually been wondering when something like this was going to happen, although I thought it would more of an alliance, like back and forth compatibility between Google SketchUp and SolidWorks. That would just about kill the competition in my opinion. This is just the first move toward eliminating other 3D engineering programs. Why? Ask why Inventor, Pro/E, SolidEdge, or SpaceClaim were not selected. Maybe you start off with a strong foundation with some core products and add the rest. But with SolidWorks as the co-founder and Google as an allied and innovative progenitor of web technology I highly doubt that is going to happen.

It may seem like a minor business move, especially since it’s just education right? It all starts somewhere. I see this moving how we use CAD right along.

The site has the most information in the Solutions section of the site. There you can see videos and view PDF’s on the curriculum and what makes it unique.

the-cad-academy.jpg

Source: SolidWorks

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Hiring Someone With SolidWorks Experience. What Would You Do?

Published
by
Josh
on October 12, 2007
in Business
. 12 Comments

plastic-chips-and-ham.jpgSo, I’m wondering what you would do. Is it better to hire someone with SolidWorks experience and teach them the industry, or someone with industry experience and teach them SolidWorks?

That is the question. Sometimes you don’t get both, so what do you think would work best?

image: TurboForce3D

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Joel Orr Breaks Up the PLM Fight

Published
by
Josh
on October 9, 2007
in Business
.

joelorr.jpgJoel Orr from Cyon Research and COFES.com has some insight to the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) discussion. If you read his interview over at Novedge, you can clearly see he looks and sounds much wiser than me. The interview is great, because it make me think how, yeah, CAD has been around for ages, but this is really just the beginning of how it’s going to be innovated.

I like what he says in one of his post on PLM.

As far as I can tell, those resisting the term (PLM) seem to be saying, “It’s too much to go from today’s partly-automated, unintegrated manufacturing enterprises to something as comprehensive as PLM. Nobody has really done it. So why not take the smaller steps that are really required, without glorifying the whole process?”

Those promoting the term say, “Why waste time and energy on partial solutions?”

He ends by asking what can we learn from the debate. My response… that engineering keeps going, manufacturing keeps going, regardless of the PR blitz or latest tech buzz.

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Digital Prototyping: Repackaged Cooking Lard

Published
by
Josh
on October 8, 2007
in Business and Product Design
. 7 Comments

autodesk-digital-prototyping.jpg

Some of my blog friends were having a conversation offline about a post at PR, Marketing and the business of CAD that covered the Mechanical Media Summit where Autodesk revealed their new “forward-thinking solution” to do away with PLM. Digital Prototyping.

“It is presented as a way to prove a new product, prototype it digitally, fully simulate it digitally and manufacture it digitally, prior to committing to the production line.”

Hmm. Now, ponder that for a moment.

Prototyping something digitally (modeling) that allows manufacturing an opportunity to critique is hardly a new concept, maybe newish, or new from a 2D pencil and pad, 1983, fax it on over, completely oblivious and unorganized, third world point-of-view. But let’s pretend to get excited for a moment. It’s hard, I know. Put yourself in a Content Editor’s shoes and think of all the ads you could sell, buzz you could generate, and the friends you could make. Or better yet, in a manufacturer’s shoes, since this is what it’s aimed at. If this, for one moment, seemed like it could be beneficial, how likely would you be to try it out?

We try out things again, because they’ve been repackaged in a shiny wrapper or new name. Digital Prototyping is what you as a designer/engineer do each day. There are probably things that will make this easier for you, but it’s not going to be a word, or really even software. Software and hardware are tools that can help, but if you really want a word for something that will help with product lifecycle, how about DISCIPLINE.

If anything needs help it’s how companies organize and allow others to access their information. Not a top heavy PDM system. I can get it modeled. Give me something to seamlessly and effectively kill the inefficiency in between engineering start and manufacturing finish. A web-based, slick-as-snot, data collector/compiler/sender/notifier of a system to communicate back-and forth between customer(manf) and vendor(eng). Two points, the cycle is gone and I’m getting things done.

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