INNEO customers benefit from a common use of direct and parametric modeling techniques
I recently had the opportunity to talk to Peter Raubach, who runs sales of Creo Elements/Direct at INNEO Solutions, one of the largest PTC resellers in the world. Since the announcement of Creo on October 28, 2010, we have spent a lot of time talking to users and getting their expectations and feedback on paper – or video. I am sure you have seen many of the videos on the Creo blog, or in the PTC Studio channel on YouTube, for example.
However, what is certainly as much interesting to learn about, is how PTC staff and resellers are getting prepared for the release of Creo. Actually, I think many of their experiences could turn out to be valuable best practices for you guys. So I started investigating and asking a couple of questions.
Here’s my little interview with Peter, who has 20 years of experience in selling Creo Elements/Direct and thus has worked with numerous leading manufacturers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Bettina Giemsa: INNEO has been selling both products Creo Elements/Pro and Creo Elements/Direct – even long before CoCreate was acquired by PTC. So historically, the customer did not only make the choice for a modeling paradigm, but also for a vendor. In general, what have been the main reasons of your customers for choosing direct modeling?
Peter Raubach: Our Creo Elements/Direct (formerly CoCreate) customers have decided to run a direct modeling strategy because they had identified clear advantages for their specific companies and products. This hasn’t changed over time.
However, we do have customers on the parametric side to whom direct modeling could have provided many benefits, but at the time they had made their choice, they were not really aware there was another approach. In most universities, only parametric modeling is taught and parametric systems have a much higher market share.
Bettina Giemsa: So I assume those customers are excited about the Creo strategy and look forward to getting access to direct modeling functionality soon? What is your take on this?
Peter Raubach: Yes, the Creo strategy is truly exciting and we at INNEO are getting very good feedback from our customers. Not being tied to one paradigm, but getting the tools for both approaches within one CAD environment means a big opportunity for many users. They can select the appropriate tool to get their tasks done in the most efficient way without having to extend their installations to third party vendors.
However, already now we are having Creo Elements/Pro customers that use Creo Elements/Direct for specific tasks and vice versa.
Bettina Giemsa: Who are these customers?
Peter Raubach: There are several scenarios where the combination of both paradigms have proved to be successful with our customers.
We have some Creo Elements/Direct customers, where the use of a parametric system is efficient for certain tasks. A typical example is a machine manufacturer, who, for example, produces his own tools or jigs and fixtures for their machines. For designing their machines, the direct modeling approach has advantages, as the machines are mainly one-time prototypes designs, whereas the tools for these machines are needed in a large number of variations and you need to be able to exchange them.
Bettina Giemsa: What about the opposite case: Do you have Creo Elements/Pro customers that are using Creo Elements/Direct for specific tasks, too?
Peter Raubach: Absolutely! We have customers where the design department works parametrically, which is rather complex. Other departments, such as their sales engineers, are taking the models to customer visits where they may want to make immediate, customer-specific changes on some models. Thus, they need an easy-to-use tool so they can make these changes without having to take a week of training first. For this purpose, some customers have purchased Creo Elements/Direct. The sales engineer then returns the updated models to the design engineers for finalizing & optimizing the project. Of course, data exchange hiccups can be avoided if both tools are using the same kernel or native format!
In short, several of our customers have identified use cases where using the two paradigms provides them an advantage and these are more than excited about Creo.
Bettina Giemsa: Thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us!
