CAD data sharing set to take off in Europe

Digital design management software firm Actify has brought in former Smarteam PLM (product lifecycle management) and Dassault Systemes director Chris Jones to be its new vice president for EMEA sales. Jones says that while results at Smarteam for the first half of its current financial year were “phenomenal”, with “stunning growth” over the previous year, there had been changes in the firm’s strategic direction away from PLM for the masses was at odds with his view. “Actify has a very clear vision: the products now announced and those coming address a market not being satisfied.” He’s referring to Actify’s design collaboration product based on Microsoft Sharepoint, which has been packaged and priced for manufacturing SMEs. “It does more than low end systems, but isn’t as complex as the MatrixOnes, Teamcenters and Smarteam,” says Jones. And he adds: “It’s almost the Solidworks for the SME market. That’s where Smarteam started but decisions were made to move it up the food chain.” Actify’s systems are aimed at companies with from 200 to 2,000 employees. With the rise of offshore manufacturing, and collaboration no longer a nicety but essential, there’s something here for Tier Two and Three automotive and aerospace suppliers – particularly with the claimed short deployment times. Says Jones: “Offshore manufacturing is of the key drivers happening in the automotive sector, with risk share being pushed down the supply chain. So they have to collaborate and communicate around the design and supply chain. They cannot afford to ignore it.” And he makes the point: “With 57 different CAD products and 57 CAD management systems, they can’t manage That’s where Actify can offer a solution – share information between different systems so they can see what’s happening quickly.”