SOLIDWORKS seeks to boost presence in Korea
SOLIDWORKS Chief Executive Officer Gian Paolo Bassi speaks during an interview at SOLIDWORKS World 2016 at the Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, last week. / Korea Times photo by Yoon Sung-won
By Yoon Sung-won
DALLAS ― SOLIDWORKS Chief Executive Officer Gian Paolo Bassi has pledged to record double-digit growth this year in the Korean market.
In an interview during the international three-dimensional (3D) design and engineering fair SOLIDWORKS World 2015, the CEO said SOLIDWORKS believes that Korea still has greater market potential in this sector.
“Korea as a market is growing very fast for us,” Bassi said on Feb. 3. “Our market share in Korea has been around 10 to 15 percent. But this is still below our potential. I expect we can boost growth next year.”
SOLIDWORKS’ parent company Dassault Systemes has led Korea’s 3D design market with its software named CATIA, which is designed for larger and more sophisticated designs such as automobiles and aircraft parts. Despite the recent recession in the manufacturing industry in Korea, the 3D design software business of Dassault Systemes has continued to grow.
The CEO also aims at recording $1 billion revenue globally with the SOLIDWORKS software by 2018. SOLIDWORKS posted $597.3 million in sales in 2014 with over 5 million users who operate the SOLIDWORKS software everyday for work.
Bassi said the global 3D design market will grow faster in the future thanks to the penetration of 3D printing technologies for ordinary consumers.
“Compared to the 2D sector, the 3D design market is growing twice as fast,” he said. “The size of global 3D design market is currently around $7 billion. I expect it will grow to $10 to $14 billion in scale in the next decade and SOLIDWORKS can be like Microsoft Office in 3D design.”
Bassi, who has worked for SOLIDWORKS since 2011, was named new CEO during last year’s SOLIDWORKS World event.
The CEO said his goal is to lead SOLIDWORKS as a platform operator in the 3D design industry.
“My No. 1 goal is to go beyond a computer-aided design (CAD) business and become a platform operator based on business maturity with a diverse product portfolio,” he said. “We will provide a platform that helps our clients cooperate with each other in the process of building diverse devices.”
To this end, Bassi said SOLIDWORKS will diversify its product portfolio while pushing for a wider range of applications such as cloud-based services and 3D printing.
During this year’s event, the company unveiled a new 3D design rendering application SOLIDWORKS Visualize and the printed circuit board (PCB) design application SOLIDWORKS PCB. It also announced cloud-based updates that will make the 3D design software accessible from all web browsers.
“Users will be access to our design applications from tablet computers and smartphones,” he said. “This innovation will enable customers to design wherever they are.”
The CEO said it will also provide migration tools for the companies which used to operate obsolete 3D design software to encourage them to change to SOLIDWORKS.