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With an experience of more than thirteen years in the IT industry, Ved Narayan, controls the reins as vice president of Asia Pacific operations of Dassault Systmes SolidWorks. He has chalked out ambitious plans for the company to take it to a new horizon. In a tte--tte with Dataquest, Narayan throws light on the companys recent achievements, and its future plans, for India in paricular. Excerpts

As the leading innovator in the field of 3D CAD technology, what has ensured that your company stays ahead in the race?
Our ability to stay ahead in the race can be attributed to numerous factors. First, we have been able to gauge what our customers need, and then provide services in accordance to their needs. Secondly, our ability to constantly innovate has enabled our customers to stay ahead. Thirdly, another plus point has been our ability to incorporate a significant amount of our customers suggestions in each release. For example, the recently introduced SolidWorks 2010, in which more than 200 new enhancements have been included. Approximately more than 90% of these enhancements were directly requested by customers.

How would you describe the importance of 3D CAD in the current business ecosystem?
Today 3D CAD is very much the pivotal point of a design-to-manufacture project. The various benefits offered by 3D CAD have made it an integral part of the whole design process. With many aces up its sleeve, some of the key benefits offered by 3D CAD are that it increases speed of the product design process. It also enables design changes to be made on the fly, maximizes the value of product data, and offers a single model for all parties. Apart from the above mentioned benefits, it also enhances viewing capabilities, enables to discard printing and prototyping, and allows the use of allied technologies like simulation, environment testing, and documentation. Last but not the least, it enables to easily design large and complex assemblies, and also easily design curves.

Ved Narayan, VP, Asia Pacific operations, Dassault Systmes SolidWorks

The companys 1,000,000th license was shipped in April 2009. Any comments?
This is a landmark achievement for us, and we are very excited about this milestone, and express our gratitude to every customer who has helped us move closer towards it. This is a symbol of our customers trust, signifying the success they have been able to achieve in their enterprises by using our services. We see a future with some exciting possibilities for us. It was the Utah based extreme sports gear designer, OGIO International, that bought the 1 mn license number for aluminum design engineerSean Petersonwho is working on OGIOs new line of motocross racing accessories. Peterson will use SolidWorks software to design products such as ramps, stands, and hardware for motocross bikes. OGIO is famous for designing creative and edgy athletic bags with innovative features like zipper-less ball pocket on its golf bags. The companys designers use SolidWorks software to model injection-molded plastic pieces such as carrying handles, wheels, and golf bag frames.

Could you elaborate more on your companys role with Design that Matters in creating a low-cost and low-maintenance incubator for the developing world?
Design that Matters (DtM), the non-profit social development organization has designed a low-cost infant incubator not for production, but to prove that its possible to create affordable, low-maintenance incubators for the third-world countries. For this purpose, DtM used SolidWorks CAD software as the design platform to bring together a national team of fifty professional engineers and engineering students from MIT, the Rhode Island School of Design, Stanford University, and Arizona State University. DtM challenged the team to design an incubator from automotive components, because they are available even in the poorest regions of the world.

The thought behind the incubator project was to demonstrate to manufacturers and donors that it is possible to build an incubator for less than $1,000, compared to the $30,000 that a typical commercial unit costs. Access to incubators sharply reduces infant mortality, but regions that need incubators the most, are also the least able to buy and maintain them. On studying the circumstances, DtM realized it was a combination of acquisition cost, maintenance cost, and availability of maintenance skills that made an incubator a rarity, and not just what it took to keep a baby warm. Cars and trucks are everywhere, so they decided to take advantage of that supply chain and local car repair resources to make a better incubator for those regions.

DtMs biggest challenges were adapting automotive parts to a new purpose and fitting the components into a form factor small enough to transport to remote locations. The engineers and students modified parts and designed assemblies in SolidWorks. Then, they distributed the 3D models over email to each other and to DtM.

SolidWorks was a logical choice for a standard design platform because its widely used in professional and educational settings, and its easy to learn and use. DtM reconciled the teams contributions into a final design, then demonstrated it to potential users. SolidWorks enabled DtM to show the incubator design to potential users all over the world without the expense of transporting a physical prototype.

In addition to the incubator, DtM has developed other products for medical, economic, and social needs in the developing world. They include an intravenous drip controller, ATM cards for third-world micro credit projects. The incubator project is an example of product design reaching past economics to address persistent social problems, in this case, the third-worlds infant mortality.

What are the R&D activities your company plans to carry out in India?
Our R&D operations in India are carried out through Geometric Software based in Pune. We have a team of over seventy professionals there. The team in Pune plays a key role in SolidWorks global product development program.

What are your future plans for India? Which are the areas where you see an opportunity for your company?
India is a very critical location for us, both from R&D and sales aspect. We will continue to grow these teams to meet the requirements of the market here, in addition to expanding our VAR network.

Is there any other information that you would like to share?.
It is interesting to note that as a part of the SolidWorks 2010, we have introduced SolidWorks Sustainability. SolidWorks Sustainability software for the first time. The software helps users determine the carbon footprint, energy consumption, and air/water impacts in a product designs raw material sourcing, manufacture, use, and disposal. An assembly visualization tool color-codes parts, based on their total environmental impact. Configuration support in the software also lets users compare multiple design iterations for sustainability concerns. Included with every license of SolidWorks software, SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress helps users immediately determine the environmental impact of any part. SolidWorks Sustainability products include an environmental impact dashboard, customizable reports, and a tool to find alternative materials to easily compare and instantly improve the sustainability of a part. Both SolidWorks Sustainability and SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress draw on the expertise, research, development, and data of Germany based partner PE INTERNATIONAL, the largest and oldest network of sustainability experts in the world, and PE Americas, its US division. Together, the new products give SolidWorks community a way to make a significant collective impact on the environment by incrementally improving every design.

Shilpa Shanbhag
shilpas@cybermedia.co.in

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