Marine CAD customers want service from shipbuilding experts
Written by Matti Juntunen
Posted on December 16, 2022
Some marine software service providers are experiencing an exodus of staff that have shipbuilding knowledge. One can only speculate about the reasons. It could be related to the high demand for shipbuilding experts or point to a longer-term strategy of downscaling involvement in the shipbuilding business, or worse, leaving the sector completely.
Surely it cannot be that shipbuilding knowledge is no longer considered by some to be critical in marine software development and support services! I would find this highly perplexing as shipbuilding knowledge has always been a cornerstone upon which Cadmatic Marine software has been built and I don’t see this changing either.
It matters that your business is understood
I believe that our customers really do appreciate the fact that we understand their business and its processes. But it’s not just some fantastical claim, our customer feedback confirms it! We’ve got a long history rooted in the shipbuilding sector. In some respects, it even holds us back from easily expanding in other sectors as we are considered by many to be “a ship design software company”.
This is not our ship design and shipyard customers’ problem, though. For them, it means that we understand where they are coming from and can provide solutions that take their shipbuilding operations forward. Our in-depth knowledge of shipbuilding also allows us to come up with customized solutions much faster.
I recall the case of Balenciaga shipyard in Spain, where during software implementation on site, it became apparent that a profile-cutting robot that had been in service for many years, no longer have documentation available. Our implementation team launched an investigation and was able to identify the required input for the CNC machine on the spot to create the customized Cadmatic output accordingly.
Alberto Vall from Balenciaga told us at the time that “the Cadmatic team’s cooperation in developing the software was very good and they developed it fast.”
For me this is an example where we combined shipbuilding knowledge and software development to quickly identify and implement a working solution for our client. Read the full customer success story here.
Another example of how our shipbuilding knowledge and focus are appreciated is our customer Damen Naval. In a reference case just recently published, Peter Geschiere, CAD Application Administrator at Damen Naval told us that they really appreciate the fact that Cadmatic is specifically developed for shipbuilding. He gave the example of the containment management of 3D volumes, which he said, “is dedicated to managing the shipbuilding process, which is done in sections, batches, and spaces.” Read the Damen Naval case here.
Only by having a thorough understanding of our customers' operations, are we able to develop software for their specific needs and come up with solutions that not only work but help them to improve their operations. Our customers appreciate that we have thorough shipbuilding knowledge and a clear shipbuilding focus. I can’t think of any logical reason to change that.
