Alibre Blog

Uncle Sam NEEDS You!

Ask not what your country can do for you;

ask what you can do for your country.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

In February, another 168,000 manufacturing jobs were eliminated, bringing losses over the last year to 1.2 million. In Michigan, where the troubles of the auto industry have been particularly traumatic, the unemployment rate is at 10.6 percent, the highest of any state.

President Obama responded to the figures by declaring that “this country has never responded to a crisis by sitting on the sidelines and hoping for the best”.

Folks, we have gone awry in our haste to embrace a service economy and outsource manufacturing.

According to Doug Noland, the Portfolio Manager for Federated Prudent Bear, “the U.S. is doomed unless it rebuilds its manufacturing base. To really turn things around, we need to build an economy where we can produce things, and there is very little being done today that addresses this fundamental requirement. Unfortunately, over many years we had gotten to the point that all we were trading for imports were financial claims."

The expectation for people to be disciplined, focused and responsible has become increasingly rare in this world. We have to seriously look at fundamentally rebuilding the economy. We’ve got to use this moment to shift our mindset in a direction that breeds success.

Product Design Entrepreneurs
You have probably heard how web-based and iPhone software development companies can now be formed and launched with little or no capital investment due to the proliferation of software component technology and open source software. Many software companies are now starting without venture capital, and are financing themselves from savings or small investments from friends and family.

You may not be aware that the sames trends that are benefiting web and iPhone developers are now paying off for engineers, inventors and product innovators. They now have the ability to assemble a low-cost design platform for as little as $500 - $1000. Making it is now possible for engineers and designers to satisfy their entrepreneurial yearnings with very little out-of-pocket expense. An earlier blog post titled "Netbooks + Freemium Software = Low Cost Design Platform" explains how.

Successful Alibre Design Entrepreneurs
Alibre just finished exhibiting at the 2009 Pacific Design and Manufacturing Show. We were pleased to see that the exhibitors and attendees were upbeat in spite of the down economy. Show floor traffic was not quite as high as last year, but it was pretty good nonetheless. Rapid Prototyping vendors and service bureaus had a lot of traffic, as did the Medical Design and Manufacturing exhibit area.

We were also gratified that many Alibre customers stopped by the booth to talk to us about how they are using our product. Our customers have a lot in common with each other. Many of them are small business owners that are also the primary product innovator and designer for their company. They have literally taken their product ideas and turned them into successful companies.

Another common theme is customers that use ExpensiveCAD at work who have discovered that Alibre Design is the perfect CAD choice for their own consulting business or for creating that breakthrough product they have always dreamed of.

One Alibre customer, Jon Henderson, President of Sienco, Inc. (www.sienco.com) even brought a recently designed and manufactured medical measurement device by our booth to show us. Stephen Luse President of Ortho Kinetics, JoeCardoza President of EZ Connector Inc., and John Sylora President of Universal Multimedia Inc. all came by, as did many others. All in all, many great examples of entrepreneurial engineers living the dream of creating and manufacturing products that form the backbone of their successful businesses.

Customer to SolidWorks - Alibre is Better!

We received an unsolicited email from a customer today and he gave us permission to publish it. The identity of the SolidWorks VAR was removed.

From: Ralph Hilton
Date: March 11, 2009 2:16:12 PM MDT
To: XXXXX XXXXX
Subject: Re: SolidWorks 2009

Dear XXXXX,

After receiving a quote on your overpriced software last spring, I purchased Alibre for about $1,400.00 (includes maintenance and a load of plugins).

I have about 2,500 hours experience on SolidWorks and I've got to tell you, I much prefer Alibre (about 600 hrs experience).

It is much easier to use, and I have been very pleased at the 3D models and drawings I have been able to generate!  The Bill of Materials generator is MUCH better and manually flexible.

ALGOR FEA, which is included in the above price is very powerful and runs as good if not better than COSMOS Express.

The built in help system is much better written and actually helps a user like myself.

Their phone support (rarely needed) has been immediately available and accurate.

I'm so happy that you have some real competition, if only more people knew about Alibre, I think you guys would be in a run for your lives.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Ralph Hilton PSE
Hilton Engineering Inc.

> On Mar 11, 2009, at 11:32 AM, XXXXX XXXXX wrote:

> Good morning Ralph,

> This is XXXXXX from XXXXXXX, your local vendor for
> SolidWorks. 

> Because companies are looking to be aggressive right now,
> XXXXXX and SolidWorks are offering some monumental savings
> and great financing promotions on new software. This makes
> right now an excellent time to look at SolidWorks, add
> additional seats, or just get more information.

> If there is anything I can help you with please let me know.

> Best regards,
> XXXXX XXXXX | XXXXXXXX

Conspicuous Frugality

A secular change in attitude is sweeping the country, replacing conspicuous consumption with conspicuous frugality. From big business to mom and pop, it's smart and trendy now to save money, ask for discounts, and shop for bargains. As the stock market sinks and unemployment rises, today's status symbol is the hot deal.

It seems like only yesterday that conversations in the office and the mall centered on new houses, new cars, private schools, and planned summer vacations. Now folks openly admit stock market losses while proudly boasting of self-reliant lifestyles and making do with less.

The thrifty mood of the country, prompted by a deepening recession, is helping Alibre take advantage of our penny-pinching ways. We were frugal before it was cool, and now we can see a growing appreciation for our approach among customers.

During the boom years, Alibre was sort of like the Rodney Dangerfield of 3D CAD, we couldn’t get any respect. Companies would learn about Alibre, check out our product, learn that we could do the job and then buy SolidWorks or Inventor anyway. When asked why they would say “my boss doesn’t understand how Alibre can be so inexpensive” or that they “wanted to make the popular choice to use what others were using” or that “cost was not a factor.”

During the last few months the conversations have changed, now we are much more likely to hear, “we were looking at Solidworks, but there is no way we will spend that kind of money.” This is especially true of companies that need to buy multiple design seats. With our recent 2 for 1 seat sale, companies could by 5 seats of Alibre Design for ~$3,000 including maintenance, whereas 5 seats of Solidworks with maintenance would have cost $30,000.

And with recent addition of Alibre Translate, companies can be successful with their older CAD files and take advantage of Alibre’s Professional, Affordable 3D CAD.

A factor of 10 in a down economy is pretty compelling.