CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
15 August 2007
Company News
3D CAD Downloads Drive Purchases and Supplier Selection
Catalog Data Solutions ( CDS ) announced the results of a user survey conducted for J.W. Winco, Inc . CAD download customers.
J.W. Winco Inc. provides a comprehensive selection of quality metal and plastic, metric and inch size standard machine components and assembly hardware. These modernly designed, ergonomically shaped standard components bring a 21st century look, function and feel to customer equipment.
As one survey responder, Daniel M Smith of the Goodrich Corporation said, "I am a designer, and I dictate where the parts are purchased from. If you have the CAD model I want, you get the sale. It is just that simple."
"Since implementing the CDS CAD solution in February of 2006, we are already seeing an average of over 850 downloads/month from our 18,000 CAD model library," said John Winkler, J.W. Winco CEO, Office of the President. "We and CDS wanted to find out what those CAD download customers thought - our survey revealed many terrific insights and we're delighted to share some of these:"
• 96% rated the usability of the JW Winco E-Store and 3D-CAD acceptable or better.
• On average designers said that nearly half of downloaded 3D-CAD models result in at least one order for that part.
• 3D-CAD models save design time for 95% of designers (on average over ¾ hour per model and 9% of their total annual design time).
• For 94% 3D-CAD model downloads help ensure design accuracy and minimize CAD errors.
• For 82% downloadable 3D-CAD models get their designs to market faster.
• 75% thought that 3D-CAD model downloads are important, very or extremely important in their selection of a supplier.
• If a vendor doesn't offer 3D-CAD downloads - at least 40% of designers will search for an equivalent part from another vendor that does offer CAD downloads.
"This very positive customer feedback is gratifying for J.W. Winco and CDS," said John Major, CEO Catalog Data Solutions. "87% agree or strongly agree that 'offering downloadable CAD models online will become essential' for the manufacturing industry. This is more irrefutable evidence that online 3D-CAD models are a vital sales and marketing tool for all industrial suppliers and distributors. By providing downloadable 3D CAD models of products, industrial suppliers save design engineers valuable time and make it easier for their products to be selected over competitors' products. In return their parts are 'locked and loaded' into new designs, and enjoy sales in proportion to the sales success of those designs. The first step is to get downloadable part models online in multiple CAD formats, the second to ensure they are easily found - both by specification/attribute-based catalog search on your web site and in design engineering portals. This is the best business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce lead generation available for industrial suppliers - the process reaches the true decision maker, the design engineer, ahead of the traditional buying process - and buyers rarely change what the engineer has spec'd."
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