What
are the major issues facing your business?
| The
major issue facing PlanetCAD is one related to market
education. The global engineering market is largely
unaware that our Web-based application services are even
available. Our primary challenge will be to educate
the millions of design and manufacturing engineers that
these services exist and that they can save significant time
and money on a daily basis.
A
further challenge is assuring engineers of the inherent
security of their data as it is transmitted across the
Internet. This has represented a major barrier that is
being overcome by education and familiarity as more and more
engineers use the Internet.
This education effort extends well beyond the
individual engineer, however.
Decision makers in key areas dealing with engineering
issues should be considering an application solution at the
enterprise level because it will have an impact on their
company's bottom line. |
PlanetCAD
offers automated solutions for manufacturing and design
engineers to enable data interchange, improve data quality
and streamline the manufacturing process.
PlanetCAD started as a
division of Spatial Technology Inc. in January 2000.
Spatial Inc. changed its name to PlanetCAD Inc. on November
14th, 2000 following the sale of its Component Software
Division to Dassault Systèmes. The company's
PlanetCAD Division was not sold in the transaction and
continues to operate as an independent company under the
name PlanetCAD Inc. |
Have
these changed from a year ago?
A year ago, our main
challenge was trying to grow our core software business in a limited
developer-based market. With the launch of PlanetCAD this
year, we have opened up a whole new set of avenues to a broader
end-user engineer customer base.
What
do you think will be the major developments or changes in the US
CAD/CAM market over the next few years?
More and more engineers are
moving towards Web-based or enterprise-based product and service
solutions. Companies involved in the manufacturing supply
chain are looking for ways to lower production costs, increase
productivity and improve process efficiency. A careful balance
between Web-based and enterprise-based services will provide a way
to respond to customers' diverse needs. By combining the core
competencies of several aggregate players in this market, PlanetCAD
and similar services that follow its lead will be able to respond to
these growing, changing needs.
What
are the most exciting opportunities for your business?
PlanetCAD has the
opportunity to leverage several assets together with a significant
new partner, Dassault Systèmes, the leading engineering software
supplier in the automotive and aerospace industries. The goal
is for PlanetCAD to become the leading provider of Web
infrastructure tools and applications that maximize the value of
engineering data in the manufacturing supply chain.
PlanetCAD's assets include:
-
significant software expertise in
engineering and 3D software markets
-
recognition as a neutral supplier of
engineering solutions
-
excellent customer relationships
with many CAD/CAM/CAE application software providers
-
recognition as a pioneering Web
infrastructure tools and applications supplier to the
engineering community.
What
are the biggest potential threats to your business?
A
potential threat to our business would be the difficulty in
educating the global engineering community about the value of
Web-based or enterprise-based application services. Engineers
may still be of the mindset that their everyday engineering problems
and tasks must be solved hands-on. This approach is extremely
labour and time intensive, but is no longer necessary with the
innovative techniques available to engineers today through services
like PlanetCAD.
How
far is the US CAD market ahead of Europe?
The European engineering
market, while being substantially smaller in total revenues than the
US market, still represents an enormous opportunity for software and
technology companies offering ubiquitous solutions for engineering
problems. The European
Internet market is also evolving somewhat differently than the US
market with an increased focus on the wireless Internet market.
With that in mind, we do not anticipate substantial growth of
revenue from Europe for another 12 months while that market evolves
and reliance on Internet connectivity develops.
The potential market in the US is already well in place and
growing rapidly.
What
implications do the economic forecasts for 2001 have for PlanetCAD?
The predictions of
economic slowdown mean that while our sales message and positioning
might change slightly to focus on the issues that arise in these
circumstances, we anticipate a rise in sales due to the time, effort
and cost savings directly associated with PlanetCAD products for
manufacturing enterprises.
Many
thanks to Rachael Dalton-Taggart for talking to CAD
SPAGHETTI.
Note
from the Editor:
Please note that the views expressed here are purely those of
PlanetCAD Inc. and do not necessarily represent the views of CAD
SPAGHETTI.
CAD
SPAGHETTI
will be presenting exclusive
market research on attitudes to Web-based application services in a
future issue.
| Do you need more information on the
awareness of and attitudes to your products and services in
your target market? Our market
research services can provide the solution. |
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