If you happen to be a subscriber to CADCAMNET you can read the article below in its entirety for free...or if you are not a subscriber (like me!) you can either pay $5.00 to read the article on their website or settle for the short but sweet summary below.
Autodesk Reports $105 Million Loss in Fourth Quarter: Inventor Sales Fall Off a Cliff
Autodesk closed its fiscal year 2009 on a sour note. Quarterly revenue fell 18%; operating revenue fell 32%. Fiscal year net income dropped 48%. Units of AutoCAD and Inventor dropped dramatically. As a retail-driven vendor with a large presence in construction, Autodesk is closer to the heartbeat of the global economy than its large competitors, whose fortunes are more closely tied to the spending plans of the largest manufacturing firms. In the battle between Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks there is a clear sales leader now, and it isn’t Inventor.
SolidWorks has introduced software that details, in real time, the environmental impact of parts, assemblies, and the design decisions that go into them.
The software, code-named "Sage", will be available in this fall's release of 2010; an Xpress version will be included with every license of SolidWorks and a Professional version will be available. A dashboard at the bottom of the SolidWorks GUI will display information about the product's prospective carbon footprint, air impact, water impact, and energy consumed in manufacturing.
"Sage" will enable designers to create a baseline design from which to compare all subsequent designs to with an eye on reducing environmental impact.
Read the Press Release
Sustainable design is a comprehensive, holistic approach to creating products and systems that are environmentally benign, socially equitable, and economically viable.
We invite you to see how SolidWorks 3D CAD software empowers companies worldwide to design better, more sustainable products. For more in-depth information, download the free Whitepaper and Podcast. 
The video below shows the Fortus 400mc FDM machine from Stratasys printing a dental part.
The 400mc can use a variety of print materials, such as ABS-M30, PC, PPSF and PC-ABS blend. For more information on these materials, please visit our website.
We offer these free Rapid Technology White Papers available for you to download:
FISHER/UNITECH has two dedicated FDM Account Managers covering the Midwest. For more information, please contact:
Paul Hollowaty at 800-816-8314, ext. 7128 or email to: phollowaty@funtech.com (MI, OH, IN, KY)
Rodger Reaume, 800-816-8314, ext. 7401 or email: rreaume@funtech.com (IL, WI, MO, KS)
More great comments coming in from our No Engineer Left Behind (NELB) program. I received two emails this morning; one from an NELB graduate and the other from a FISHER/UNITECH customer offering him an internship. Here is what they have to say about our program:
As an update, [to No Engineer Left Behind] I have received 6 requests for my resume, and I had an interview yesterday. The company is The Alloy Engineering Company located in Berea, OH. I begin my internship this Thursday and they are hopeful to hire me on full-time afterward. They use SolidWorks 90% of the time and AutoCad 10%.
I want to thank you and everyone from FISHER/UNITECH involved in the "No Engineer Left Behind" program. This has been a once in a life time experience, like a dream come true.
Scott Mordaunt
I just wanted to give you some positive feedback. We have Scott Mordaunt starting with us tomorrow for an internship! We brought him in for an interview and everything went great.
This is an outstanding program and if all goes well it could eventually lead to a permanent position.
Thanks,
Josh Krumheuer
CAD Manager, CSWP
The Alloy Engineering Company
Berea, OH
I have to say, this is one of the most fulfilling programs I've been involved with in my professional career. I hope to hear about more success stories in the coming months. Keep them coming!
We still have openings for our No Engineer Left Behind program in Indianapolis, IN and Kansas City, MO. Please visit our website for more information and to register.
Lisa Van Giesen
I got another great email from one of our No Engineer Left Behind participants in our Indianapolis, IN location.
Lisa:
Thank-you for the note. I cannot thank FISHER/UNITECH enough for the free training, providing an opportunity to many fellow unemployed designers & engineers. The "No Engineer Left Behind Program" is a great example of grass-roots economic stimulus. You have my vote for company of the year.
Matt Herald was a great instructor who tirelessly answered our questions for 3 days.
Regards,
Lester Lakey
We still have openings in our Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, Dayton and Milwaukee locations in March and April. If you are a displaced engineer within the past 12 months and used 2D or 3D CAD in your previous position, you qualify for our program.
Please visit our website for more details on the program and to register.
Matt Herald, our Application Engineer in our Indianapolis, IN, location, just finished teaching our first No Engineer Left Behind course to a full classroom last week.
I wanted to share an email Matt received from one of the attendees. Thank you Tom for your comments, and we wish you the best of luck in your job search!
Matt,
[at No Engineer Left Behind training] I had a great time. You made the subject interesting and informative. I would highly recommend the class, the software and you. I can't remember the last time learning CAD software was as enjoyable. Thank you and FISHER/UNITECH for providing this for those of us that have been laid off. It shows a real commitment to the community.
Thanks Again,
Tom Standish
solidThinking, a SolidWorks Solution Partner and developer of 3D industrial design software, will be at Booth #1012 at SolidWorks World in Orlando, Florida, coming up next week.
At the booth, solidThinking industrial designers will offer onsite demos, in particular its compatibility with SolidWorks, after the recent introduction of a free plug-in that allows SolidWorks users to exchange data to and from solidThinking. You can download the free plug-in at www.solidthinking.com under the Free Downloads tab.
Also at the booth will be live sketching, the transformation of sketches into 3D designs using solidThinking, and demos of solidThinking 7.6, which includes an updated rendering engine.
SolidWorks World 2009
Swan & Dolphin Hotel — Orlando, Fla.
Feb. 8-11, 2009
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