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SolidWorks World 2012 - Day 3 General Session Video #sww12

SolidWorks World 2012 - Day 3 General Session Update #sww12

Today is the last day of SolidWorks World 2012, and it's been great so far. Everyone had a great time at last night's block party. Today kicked off with Mark Schneider announcing the winners of this year's Model Mania contest. Congratulations to Neil Custard of SolidWorksTips.com for winning the user division, and to Mike Spens of GoEngineer for winning the reseller division.

That led straight into What's New for SolidWorks 2013. This year the team came up with a sort of "Back to the Future" theme, featuring SolidWorks founder Jon Hirschtick. Some of the enhancements that got the most enthusiastic response were previous release interoperability, variable pattern instances and the ability to insert multiple parts. Be on the lookout for these when SolidWorks 2013 goes into beta later this summer.

We then announced this year's top-ten list, which was brought to us by students from Assabet Valley Technical High School, and reads like this:

1. Start using more CPU cores

2. Mass properties should include the option to automatically put a point at the center of gravity

3. Don't delete your children, dangle them instead

4. Address "shaded with edges bleed through" issue

5. Reduce the bounding box of drawing views to visible components only

6. Ability to control a plane's front & back side orientation

7. Dimensions should stay where you place them

8. Escape key should immediately return control of the interface

9. Add "lock rotation" option to cylindrical mates

10. Add a "thread creation wizard"

Marie Planchard then introduced us to French customer Aldebaran Robotics, which is doing some amazing work, including using robots for therapeutic purposes. They talked about the evolution of Aldebaran Robotics, the SolidWorks skill sets of the company’s designers and how founder Bruno Maisonnier forged his professional path through technology and education.

Bruno also detailed how robotics can perform therapy for the disabled in a way that humans can’t. The secret is the way that robots interact and respond to patient needs and communication—a true illustration of the influence of technology.

And before closing out the day, Bertrand Sicot returned to announce the date and location of next year's SolidWorks World, which will be in Orlando, Florida from January 20 – 23, 2013.

That's it for this year. Thanks for following along, and check back in later for the video.

SolidWorks World 2012 - Day 2 General Session Update #sww12

We kicked the day off with a recap of Monday night's final CSWP party on the USS Midway, followed by Richard Doyle handing out awards for the SolidWorks User Group Network.

According to Richard, 2011 was another really good year for SolidWorks User Groups with another 21 local chapters joining the network.  SolidWorks User Groups are now in 44 U.S states, 5 Canadian provinces, and 27 other countries around the world.  From Los Angeles California to Tangerang City Indonesia, the SolidWorks User Group Network extends to all corners of the world.

The award for the User Group of the Year went to the New Hampshire SolidWorks User Group, managed by Cindy Berend, John Blutt and Hoang Bao.

Rachel York of the Tech Valley SolidWorks User Group won the User Group Leader of the Year award.

And SolidWorks forum MVP Charles Culp won the Michelle Pillers SWUGN Community Award for achievement in the SolidWorks community above and beyond the call of duty. Congratulations to all of the winners.

We then had two special guests join us on stage. First, the Howe brothers, Mike and Geoff, (of Black Ops Brothers fame) came up and told the story of how they started their design careers at eight years old: with a four-foot-tall, handcrafted cabin in their backyard, built to top their friends’ forts. And this began their design philosophy of making everything they build bigger and badder, culminating in the Ripsaw. Ripsaw is a developmental light tank that can hit 60 mph in four seconds, and the brothers described design challenges resulting from the weight, size and speed of the vehicle, which they took on one by one until the design was perfected.

Howe & Howe’s latest project, a hydraulic arm designed for firefighters, was designed and rendered in SolidWorks in a single day. The project went from idea to fabrication in just nine days, proving that with the right approach, design can move incredibly quickly.

The key takeaways from the Howe brothers: solve problems one at a time and remember that design is about opportunity.

Next Ben Kaufman from Quirky gave us all a lesson in collaborative design. Ben pointed out that invention is a trait inherent to all people—even a reflex—rather than a learned skill, and one that we all need to nurture.  Quirky has chosen to nurture it through collaboration, and invites people to submit ideas for community feedback. Each week, two inventors are crowned to bring their product to fruition, and Quirky also introduces two new products to the market each week. This methodical, sustainable approach to building a pipeline of consumer products has paid off for Quirky, the inventors it supports and the members of the Quirky community, through Quirky’s unique business model.

Ben’s bottom line is that invention should be accessible, and collaboration is changing the face of design forever. Since community is such an important part of SolidWorks and the design process, we can’t wait to see what’s next.

That's it for today. Check back later for footage.

SolidWorks World 2012 - Day 1 General Session Video #sww12

Earlier today, I promised you general session video. So here it is!

SolidWorks World 2012 - Day 1 General Session Update #sww12

The first general session of SolidWorks World 2012 ended just a little while ago, and there’s a lot to talk about. We should have some video for you a little later this afternoon, but for now, here’s a quick recap of what went on here in San Diego this morning.

CEO Bertrand Sicot was introduced by a Nao robot from Aldebaran, and started out talking about the size of the SolidWorks community, which has reached 1.7 million members. To put that into perspective, if all of those users formed a new city, it would be the 5^th largest in U.S.—larger than Philadelphia. If all 1.7M users formed a new country, it would rank #150 in size out of 235 countries existing today. That’s a lot of people.

Bertrand went on to talk about how everyone in the SolidWorks community is united by the concept of design, with product design being a constant in all aspects f our lives. He used Dan Herzberg as an example. If you don’t know Dan, he learned SolidWorks at WPI, interned at SolidWorks in 2009, and is now professional engineer and SolidWorks user group leader in Virginia.

Last year, Dan had surgery to replace a defective valve in his heart. Before the surgery, Dan learned that the valve being implanted in his body was made by On-X Life Technologies, a new SolidWorks customer. Most people with artificial heart valves spend the rest of their lives taking blood thinning medication. But the team at On-X has paid a lot of attention to the way the blood flows, and they believe their unique design will reduce or completely eliminate the need for blood thinners in the near future. Today marks six months since Dan’s surgery, and he joined us in the audience.This is an amazing example of one user’s life being saved by another user’s design.

Shortly after, the first guest of the day came out to talk—Mike Rowe from Discovery’s Dirty Jobs. Mike talked about the growing skills gap in the US, and focused heavily on the need for education in trades. Stay tuned for a special interview with Mike later today.

Bertrand came back to talk about the role if innovation at SolidWorks, highlighting the R&D team and the ways that they remain focused on SolidWorks’ core principle of focusing on the end user. He also announced that we recently reached a new milestone of 50,000 Certified SolidWorks Associates, Professionals and Experts.

We were also joined by Dassault Systèmes CEO Bernard Charles, as well as Dr. Maia Hoeberechts from NEPTUNE Canada. NEPTUNE is the world’s first underwater observatory network.  It includes more than 130 instruments and 400 sensors in the northern Pacific, linked by over 500 miles of cable—all connected to the Internet and constantly collecting data. This data is available freely to a community of researchers around the world, twenty-four hours a day. The public can also take part and make discoveries, and this combination of professional and hobbyist research is leading to new insights about the ways in which our oceans work.

The session ended with a keynote presentation from Tony Fadell, considered by some to be “the father of the iPod.” Tony talked about the early days of designing the iPod and arguments with Steve Jobs over Windows compatibilty, and also focused heavily on the challenges of managing a global 100-person start-up. He also talked about the process of founding his new company, Nest, and how they went about designing and selling the world's first learning thermostat.

Well, that’s it for today. Check back later for the Mike Rowe interview and session video. See you tomorrow!

SolidWorks in 2012 – The CEO’s perspective

The first general session of SolidWorks World 2012 just ended a little while ago, and I wanted to take this opportunity to share some thoughts with those of you who could not attend.

The SolidWorks community has grown a lot in the past year. In 2011 we added 15,939 new customers & 250,000+ new users, for a total of 1.7 million. To put that in perspective, if all 1.7 million SolidWorks users formed a new city, it would be the fifth largest in the United States–larger than Philadelphia. And by SolidWorks World 2013, I expect that number will be at (or above) 2 million.

I also learned recently that more than 50,000 of you have been certified through our CSWA, CSWP and CSWE programs. This is an amazing achievement, and it goes to show that SolidWorks skills are valued by employers throughout the world. So if you are using SolidWorks today, you are in good company.

SolidWorks was founded on a very simple idea—to put the power of 3D solid modeling on every engineer’s desktop. From the very first days of SolidWorks, we have focused on you, our customers. And eighteen years later, we’re still as focused on the customer experience as we were then. We have shown the world that we can build a successful business while still treating our employees, customers, resellers, and partners with dignity and respect. But we know that our products are not perfect. They can always be better. We can always be better.

Last September, we announced the 20^th release of SolidWorks with our 2012 update. This release is a little bit unique, because we really focused on improving the core business processes that affect you on a daily basis. For example, SolidWorks 2012 marks the first time you can calculate and compare material costs early in the design process, directly in the software. This new Design Costing feature is already helping companies hit their manufacturing cost targets by providing automatic, real-time manufacturing cost estimates during the initial design phase. Some of you are already reporting that you can now create more accurate quotes as much as 80% faster than you did before.

We also introduced something we call Large Design Review, which lets you review your designs quickly and easily, no matter how big they are. And we added a lot of updates we call delighters, which are little changes that often have big impacts. These include an improved equation editor, as well as an easier way to place balloons in your drawings.

At SolidWorks, we’re committed to providing you with the tools you need to design products that change the world, and help you be more successful while you do it. We also remain committed to our core design principles. We want to help you solve complicated engineering problems easily, without introducing any unnecessary complications. It’s our hallmark – we call it making things “SolidWorks simple.”

As many of you know, the R&D team is hard at work building a new 21^st century CAD platform. It’s my responsibility as CEO to ensure we have a strategy for taking advantage of new trends, technologies and processing power that will benefit you. You’ve probably heard us say that over 90% of the new features in every version of SolidWorks are the direct result of customer requests, and that remains true.

So on behalf of the entire SolidWorks team, I would like to thank all of you for being a part of the SolidWorks community. Our connection to the community is what keeps us excited. It’s what fires the passion we all feel when we come to work every day. And it’s also what keeps us grounded, making sure we’re always asking “are we doing the right things for our users?” Thank you again.

Designing for sustainability in the Asia / Pacific region

I recently returned from a long trip to the Asia/Pacific region, and was struck by some of the ways that businesses in the region are truly embracing the idea of sustainability.

I first started noticing the trend when I arrived at the airport in Aukland, New Zealand. I would normally never think of an airport as a place that could embrace sustainability on a large scale, mostly due to the amount of fuel consumed by planes taking off and landing. So I was very impressed to see that the airport has dedicated a wall to talking about their efforts. In addition to a video about their sustainability practices, there is also a screen showing the amount of solar energy being generated at the airport over the course of the day, month and year. Watch the video below to see what I’m talking about.

On September 22, I attended a Sustainable Innovation Summit in Melbourne, Australia. This event was hosted by Dassault Systèmes, and I was asked to speak about the role of sustainable design.  If you don’t know, the Australian government is currently in the process of voting on a “carbon tax,” designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and limit global warming.

The argument I made was that manufacturers should worry less about the effects of the proposed legislation, and instead focus on making products and processes more inherently sustainable. Companies have a real opportunity to reevaluate their design and manufacturing processes now, and products like SolidWorks Sustainability can play a big role in helping them make better decisions. By designing more environmentally friendly products from the start, companies can be proactive when it comes to the changing environmental laws. I was very impressed by the reception from the customers in the audience.

I later found my way to Mumbai, India. When I checked in to my hotel, I was surprised to see a large display noting that every hotel in the ITC Hotels chain is certified LEED Platinum. Energy consumption is a real issue in India due to the population density, and I was very impressed to see that businesses there are really working toward lowering the amount of energy they use. The best way to save energy and prevent waste is to design it out of the building in the first place. If you’re not familiar with the levels of LEED certification, you can go here to learn more.

On a related note, our new Dassault Systèmes campus in Waltham MA is already LEED Gold Certified, and we’re working on an additional LEED certification for the interior space. 

Many people think that sustainability is just a North American or European idea, but that’s not the case. Sustainability is becoming a way of life around the world, especially in developing nations. At SolidWorks, we’re working to help every designer make better choices about the products they design. If we all work together, we can help ensure that the world we leave to our children is a better one than we inherited. If you or your company have started working on ways to make your products or processes more sustainable, I would love to hear about them.

Hey Linux fans, your DraftSight wishes have been granted

Remember way back to last summer when DraftSight first went into beta, and the team teased everyone with the promise of Mac and Linux versions? Well, in true "better late than never" fashion, the team is making good on what they promised.

Helping prepare Rwanda's students for the future with SolidWorks

 

As some of you may know, we at SolidWorks have been active in Rwanda for a number of years. SolidWorks' founder Jon Hirschtick first heard of Rwandan president Kagame’s vision for improving Rwandan design and manufacturing education from a friend (and SolidWorks customer) in 2005.

It's official—DraftSight is out of beta

Big news today from the DraftSight team. After an initial launch last June and over 400,000 downloads, DraftSight is now all grown up and out of beta. So if you're already a DraftSight user, go ahead to the website and download the official release.

If you're not familiar with DraftSight already, here's a little background. DraftSight is a professional-grade, open 2D CAD product for users who want a better way to create, edit and view DWG files. DraftSight is easy to use and is available for professional CAD users, students and educators to download and activate for free.*

DraftSight allows users to create, edit and view DWG files. It generally takes just a few minutes to download and runs on multiple operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS (in beta).  In conjunction with DraftSight, Dassault Systèmes launched an open, online community, where users can access support and training resources, along with an environment to interact, ask questions and share their opinions.  

If you want to find out more and download DraftSight, visit the website at http://www.draftsight.com.

*Standalone license. Activation required.