What was the vision when you started the company in 1995?
The vision was to put a 3D CAD on every desktop. At that point of time the
industry had said that CAD/CAM is mature with nothing more. It took about 3-4
years for us to get the first 100,000 licenses sold in the market, but it took
only two years to get the next 100,000. Today, we have more than 600,000 to
700,000 users. We grew because our products were easy to use, inexpensive, and
though we started as a CAD company, we moved on to other engineering designs and
then to data validation management.
How critical is validation of the entire design process?
When you design a product, how sure are you that it would work with the
end-user or your customer has always been the question. Years ago, a product
failing during warranty period was acceptable, but today it is just not
acceptable. The products have to be designed in lesser time, must meet tougher
specifications and must not fail within warranty period while at the same time,
excessive life beyond the warranty would mean that profitability wasnt
optimized.
All product development costs like raw materials, energy and labor are
increasing. Also, consumers expect new and improved functionality regularly, in
all types of products without paying extra. These factors are influencing the
designers to impact the profitability of the companies that they work for.
What role has products from SolidWorks stable played in the customers
domain?
Our role in this entire exercise is to validate the design, which is much
more than just creating a design. When I have a 3D model, I apply, give support,
take the material, etc. Then research would say whether the product is ok or
not. The effort is always to make things easier for our customer, so that every
designer is table to use it.
Are you approaching potential SME markets such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
or Maldives?
Our Sri Lankan operations are being managed from India and we will have a
design validation in Sri Lanka in the month of September this year.
Prasad Ramasubramanian
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in