The value-priced 3D mechanical CAD market continues to flourish. In 2004, Daratech projects the market for value-priced solids modellers to top $401 million in the US, up 9% from 2003. Analysts expect the market to gain momentum through 2008, rising 11% annually in that time frame. Growth is expected to come from a rising number of manufacturers who have received too little return on their high-end investment and are seeking lower cost alternatives. Additionally, growth will come from the vast number of 2D users who need a more efficient and cost effective way to create products due to increased global competition and a finicky public still unwilling to open their wallets.

Improved 2D-to-3D compatibility has made it difficult for many small to medium sized manufacturers to ignore the productivity gains attainable with 3D, and as these organisations continue to come around, the value-priced market should thrive. Of course, not all 2D users will go to 3D. For many, 2D provides all the functionality needed to get the job done, and the added cost and training expenses associated with a 3D migration do not add up. Still, scores of potential 3D users exist, and they will eventually either convert willingly or be forced by competition or customer pressure.

The value-priced class is slowly encroaching into the higher end solutions territory. Manufacturers looking for robust 3D modelling tools, but not requiring all the advanced functionality available in the high-end products, now have more choices. Previously billed as 80% of the functionality at 20% of the price, today's value-priced modellers offer closer to 90% of the functionality and in most instances still only cost up to half the price of the high-end products. Of course, the 10% functionality gap is by no means an insignificant one. The automotive and aerospace industries, for instance, require the very high level of sophistication only offered in the high-end products. The distinction between the two classes is clear, and will remain so into the foreseeable future as each product set develops new and innovative improvements.

This narrowing of the functionality gap appears to be a boon for manufacturers seeking high-functionality products that remain affordable and moderately easy to use. But the value-priced providers walk a fine line and run the risk of over-complicating their products - satisfying the experienced 3D users with additional functionality - but alienating the legions of would-be 2D converts seeking a measured transition to 3D. Also, the market has seen a rise in the average seat price (ASP) of the software, as more functionality and add-on products are bolted on top.

The impetus for this category of modellers was to make 3D accessible to a broader range of people by both simplifying it, and making the price more palatable to engineering departments and individual designers. Now after a decade or more, many providers have a large stable of customers that have long since made the transition and are now demanding more functionality. And providers are delivering it in the form of built-in PDM, CAE, in some instances surfacing capabilities, and in many, many other ways.

In fact, today's value-priced modellers are in themselves mini-PLM systems. While many would cringe at the notion, there is no denying that a solution that offers CAD, built-in PDM and integration with CAE, as well as offering hooks to multiple periphery solutions, is a scaled-down PLM solution. In its simplest form, PLM promises a way to create, manage, share and store data in an integrated environment. By broadening their offering beyond design, today's value-priced solution providers are offering many small and medium sized manufacturers - intrigued by the PLM vision, but scared off by its price tag - a stake in the game.

For more information contact Tim Hickey, Daratech, tim@daratech.com