STATE OF CAD INTEROPERABILITY SURVEY 

Need Is Clear, But Internal Cost and Ownership is Unknown 

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. And NOVATO, CA - March 22, 2004 - TenLinks, Inc. and Proficiency today released the results of their co-sponsored "State of CAD Interoperability Survey," which took place on the TenLinks website during February and March 2004. More than 100 people ranging from CAD technicians, engineers, engineering managers, and senior managers in design, manufacturing, and analysis functions, to presidents and CEOs of companies completed the survey. OEMs, suppliers, and service providers from a diverse set of industries were represented, including aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment, shipbuilding, high-tech manufacturing, medical equipment, architectural, and consumer products.

The survey included questions on a variety of topics, including use cases for CAD interoperability, customer requirements, supplier communication, decision and budget responsibilities for CAD interoperability technology, and overall issue awareness in the companies. Data was analyzed by industry, and company type (OEM, supplier, or service provider). Highlights of the results include (percentages are % of respondents):

-  OEMs and suppliers in all industries require CAD interoperability for (multiple selections allowed): delivering models to customer using different systems (53%), design-to-design collaboration involving disparate CAD systems (43%), design-to-manufacturing collaboration (40%), communicating with suppliers (38%), design-to-analysis collaboration (28%), and migrating from one CAD system to a new one (25%)

- A variety of CAD products are in use in all markets. Survey findings were that the top CAD systems in use in the automotive, aerospace, and heavy equipment industries (I-deas, Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA V4, CATIA V5, and Unigraphics) Were almost evenly distributed through all levels of the design chain, and that the top CAD systems in use in medical, high-tech manufacturing, and consumer products (Pro/ENGINEER, Solidworks, and AutoCAD?) Were also evenly divided

- OEMs, suppliers, and service providers are employing a variety of methods to exchange CAD data today, including: geometric exchange and delivery or use of 'dumb solids' (35%), geometric exchange coupled with manual re-mastering of feature and history (23%), outsourced CAD conversion (22%), and use of feature-based exchange technology (19%)

- The expense related to CAD conversion is largely unknown by most manufacturers: OEMs, suppliers, and service providers included. When asked how much their company spent on CAD conversion, 61% of the respondents answers "don't know", and 33% responded "less than $50K", even though the same respondents earlier answered that significant effort was spent on geometric exchange and manual re-mastering of data for deliver to customers and suppliers

- The lack of expense visibility could be explained by the responses to the question of who funds the expense of data exchange: 45% said the expense is buried in the overall project expense, 33% responded "don't know", and 16% responded "a central group"

- When asked who is responsible for making decisions about data exchange solutions and technology, only 41% answered with a single functional group: "engineering department", 32% said "no one" or "don't know", and 13% answered that the decision is made by a committee representing multiple departments

"This survey is important in that it helps quantify what most of us in the CAD industry already know-that there is a significant cost to bear in the operational inefficiencies inherent in design and manufacturing processes," said Roopinder Tara, president and CEO of TenLinks, Inc. "The results of this survey should motivate company leaders to reduce interoperability costs in order to compete more efficiently in world markets."

"The Proficiency / TenLinks interoperability survey underscores the challenge product manufacturers face in dealing with disparate CAD formats between product development partners and across their supply chain," said Ken Versprille, Ph.D., partner & PLM research director, Collaborative Product Development Associates, LLC. "Those challenges are increasing as companies search for more flexibility and agility in the selection of their co-developers to satisfy shifts in market demand. The winners will be those companies that take the problem seriously and establish a coherent technical strategy of intelligent CAD data exchange." CPD Associates was formerly the PLM group of D.H. Brown Associates, Inc.

Detailed survey results will be mailed shortly to all respondents, and will be made available to other interested parties in April. All respondents who completed the survey were eligible for a digital camera, courtesy of Proficiency. TenLinks staff performed the drawing, and the winner has been notified.

About TenLinks, Inc. 

TenLinks, Inc. is the biggest CAD, CAM and CAE online media company. It was founded in February 1999. TenLinks operates four websites and distributes three newsletters that provide information and tools for engineers, architects and designers. Its flagship, TenLinks.com, is the only online directory where industry experts organize the Internet into TopTen lists. CADdepot.com is a leading destination for CAD shareware. CADdigest.com finds and organizes CAD-related articles. FreeCAD.com is a vast directory for free CAD, CAM and CAE programs. TenLinks also publishes three industry-leading newsletters: TenLinks Daily, CADdepot Update and CADdigest Weekly. 

www.tenlinks.com

About Proficiency 

Proficiency has been heralded as the leader in feature-based CAD interoperability. The Company's award-winning Collaboration Gateway allows development teams within manufacturers and their suppliers to efficiently collaborate on the design of complex products. A privately held company headquartered in Marlborough, Mass. USA, Proficiency has secured nearly $40M in venture capital investment led by Concord Ventures, Charles River Ventures and Carmel Ventures. The Company has numerous patents pending in engineering information representation technology. 

www.proficiency.com

 

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