A CEO fireside chat with Chris Randles, CEO, SpaceClaim
A CEO fireside chat with Chris Randles, CEO, SpaceClaim
PD&D Design Daily: You were appointed CEO in the fall of last year; could you describe what it has been like to be at SpaceClaim’s helm?
ADVERTISEMENT
Chris Randles: This is an exciting time for SpaceClaim. The timing is right for broad adoption of 3D Direct Modeling across engineering teams. Feature-based CAD systems are very powerful yet not the right solution for all applications, particularly conceptual design and analysis.
Direct modelers are finally able to extend 3D design to engineers and others engaged in product design. This is a vast, underserved market opportunity for us. SpaceClaim’s 3D direct modelers represent a huge advance in 3D engineering because our products were designed from the ground up to give engineers the freedom and flexibility to capture ideas easily, edit solid models and simplify designs.
We’re about to release our fourth release and feel we are poised to leverage the trends occurring in businesses to increase innovation across engineering and do it cost effectively. This is needed all the more now that we’re facing a global slowdown. So it’s a terrific opportunity for me to lead the talented team at SpaceClaim.
PD&D: Why is the adoption of 3D direct modelers rapidly broadening?
Randles: One reason is that PC hardware is so powerful now that it can perform real-time solid modeling in an intelligent fashion. Another reason is the availability of robust, easy-to-use, 3D solid modelers like SpaceClaim that are CAD neutral, powerful, accessible and cost effective.
With companies shifting their focus to innovation and engineering, customers are looking for tools they can put in the hands of engineers to improve collaboration and enable them to perform conceptual analysis before going to detailed design, rather than after – which takes much longer and is more costly. A powerful direct modeling tool like SpaceClaim is perfect to support simulation-driven design.
PD&D: Why should a design engineer be familiar with feature-based modelers?
Randles: We don’t believe they need to be any longer, that is the point of direct modeling. Feature-based modelers require training and are run by CAD experts for detailed design.
Engineers are engaged in the process earlier on, taking product requirements and developing conceptual designs and performing conceptual analysis. With a CAD neutral solution like SpaceClaim, engineers can import their designs, or edits made to existing designs, to the CAD experts after analysis has been completed for the final stage, eliminating the back and forth that can occur when there are gaps in the engineering workflow.
PD&D: What are some of the upgrades engineers can expect to see in SpaceClaim’s 3D solid modelers?
Randles: We will be announcing our fourth release of SpaceClaim 3D direct modelers in a couple of weeks. SpaceClaim has two products, including SpaceClaim Engineer, which is a fast, simple and powerful 3D direct modeler for top-down design, 3D layout, conceptual engineering, and model preparation for analysis. SpaceClaim Engineer interoperates with major CAD systems and with many analysis tools, providing a solution to bridge the gap in typical design and engineering workflows. New features include new model preparation tools that detect and repair problems with imported designs and simplify models prior to analysis; increased surfacing power for highly-stylized designed; and tools that support analysis for industrial design visualization and manufacturing validation.
SpaceClaim Style brings 3D design to industrial designers and product stylists and enables them to work collaboratively with the entire development team. SpaceClaim Style provides a rapid creation environment to realize new ideas and convert hand-drawn, 2D, and surface data to accurate solid models.
PD&D: How much influence do customer comments have on upgraded/added functionality in new software versions?
Randles: We are constantly speaking with our customers – in fact as soon as I joined SpaceClaim I made it a priority to visit as many of our customers and partners as possible. Certainly the new capabilities we are about to announce were influenced by customer comments and we will continue to listen to their experiences with our 3D direct modelers and leverage their feedback. To a large extent, the new SpaceClaim is a result of what we’ve heard from our customers.
PD&D: In your opinion, what new product will have the greatest impact on the design engineering community in 2009?
Randles: We believe that cost-effective products that enable 3D engineering throughout the entire workflow will experience strong momentum this year, as they hold the promise of reducing time-to-market and will dramatically improve engineering innovation and team collaboration. Perhaps most importantly right now, this new generation of 3D tools will enable manufacturers to better leverage their investments in skilled engineering staff and existing CAD software. SpaceClaim is poised to leverage this market opportunity and already has established a leadership position having addressed 3D Direct Modeling from a “clean slate” and unencumbered by existing investments in feature-based CAD.
PD&D: When in a recession, do you believe it is a time for a company to continue to invest internally or take a more conservative approach?
Randles: I believe that the companies that make it through this recession will be the ones that continue to innovate and while managing costs to a tighter spend, won’t “stop” creating better products and services. Standing still is not an option in this global, competitive environment. Companies are looking to find ways to focus the strategic functions that are most vital to their survival while leveraging existing investments without increasing their spend. We are increasingly seeing companies look to our 3D Direct Modeling to continue to drive innovation cost effectively, improve collaboration, and shorten time-to-market.
For more information visit www.spaceclaim.com