Architosh Talks to solidThinking about the Mac and industrial design

Back in July of this year brothers Alessandro and Mario Mazzardo, co-founders of solidThinking, a global leader in the market for industrial design software, were acquired by Altair Engineering, Inc, a privately-held US corporation with 1400 employees in four continents. Robert Little, previous president of Altair Engineering Canada, Ltd., has since become president of solidThinking, Inc., an Altair Company, while the original founders Alessandro and Mario Mazzardo, will serve as Vice Presidents of Product Strategy and Marketing and Product Strategy and Management, respectively. 

Continued product development will be based out of offices now in both Troy, Michigan and Vicenza, Italy. 

Altair Engineering, Inc., is a global leader in engineering software solutions with a particularly strong position in CAE (computer-aided engineering). Its Altair HyperWorks product is an industry leading CAE solution and the company offers products and consulting services in product innovation and development. The company is particularly well suited to serve engineering and product development companies and their design studios with a product like solidThinking in its portfolio. We start this talk with some background behind the acquisition. 

The Interview

Anthony Frausto-Robledo (AFR): What was Altair’s decision to purchase solidThinking? What was the motivation behind doing that and where does the company plan on taking this unique product?

Bob Little (BL): We studied the market and saw that design studios were a special type of place in the product development world, where a lot of C-level type executives spent a lot of time. You know, you always see a place in the parking lot for the C-level executive outside the design studio but you don’t see a similar spot for them outside engineering.

AFR: So why solidThinking?

Bob: We developed a special design group to help us serve our customers. We became very familiar with the conceptual design process. And in solidThinking we discovered some impressive software technology, impressive innovation in the product, and also a similar fanatical culture about serving the customer. 

AFR: What did your industrial designers think? What products did they use in the studio?

Bob: Our industrial designers used the tools they had been using, like AliasStudio and Rhino. But Alex and his brother came in and did full presentations and showed them what solidThinking can do and can’t do and they became very convinced that this was a tool that enabled them to excel at industrial design. 

AFR: What would you say are the key strengths of solidThinking compared to Alias Studio and Rhino? 

Alessandro Mazzardo (Alex): solidThinking is unique in its class. We have a matchless feature in our “construction tree” that allows the designer to be more fluid in the design process than anything out there. Designers also love our built-in rendering capabilities which are quite strong. And lastly — and this is becoming more important — designers who want to work on the Mac love that solidThinking not just runs on the Mac but shines on it.

The thing is, solidThinking is not just a modeling tool. It is 3D environment made specifically for industrial designers. It allows them to be free and creative in a way they can’t be with other software solutions. This fluidity is key where we have tested it within the Italian design market. Italian [design] firms are renowned for their attention to style and detail. Many Italian products have made or make their designs as key market differentiators from their competition. Serving this market with solidThinking challenged us to develop a software product whose goal was not just about building 3D models but about exploiting the user’s creativity. solidThinking is a constant source of inspiration for designers. 

AFR: Do you find that industrial designers are looking at the Mac now, more than before?

Bob: We strongly believe there is a trend going on that is very favorable to Apple. We see a stronger positioning of the Mac within the product development and industrial design community. 

AFR: Are there specific sectors or industries you see this more?

Alex: We see it at the top, at the top level of industrial design institutions where there is a very strong propensity toward Apple and the Mac. We have been doing a lot of visiting of top design schools and universities and you can see it…students in colleges are very much aligned with Mac, they identify with the brand and its emphasis on innovation and design. 

Bob: We get into a lot of mixed environments where Macs are about one third of the mix. These tend to be areas like furniture design, packaging, jewelry design and electronics. In these environments the Mac is already strong among many professionals, so seeing solidThinking on the Mac is a selling point for the product. It gives product and industrial designers a chance to do their main work on the platform they prefer. 

AFR: So you would say that supporting the Mac, in addition to Windows gives solidThinking a competitive advantage?

Bob: Yes. It is key to understand that this is one demographic where Apple is seen very strongly. Apple is an remarkably innovative company…and so industrial designers hold that company in extremely high regard.

AFR: The location and proximity to Detroit…How does that factor into solidThinking’s success in the United States?

Bob: Detroit has no real importance to solidThinking’s success in the US market. It is more a historical thing, it happens to be near where Altair’s headquarters are. The location of solidThinking software engineers are now in two places: Troy, Michigan and Vicenza, Italy. Going forward the location of future software engineers will likely reflect the marketplace for solidThinking globally. 

AFR: My feeling is that when one thinks of industrial design software in the US one thinks of products like SolidWorks and AliasStudio…and in regards to the Mac Ashlar Vellum’s Cobalt. What will you guys do to help spread the word about solidThinking in the United States?

Bob: Firstly, we are talking to publications like yours in the US so we can tell our story. Secondly, we are going around the US and meeting with the top industrial design schools where we are finding good reception by students and professors. In the colleges students are very interested in Apple and its products and see the company as the design leader or trend setter, so they get excited about our product because it works on their favorite computer, the Mac. 

AFR: But who would you say are your competitors?

Alex: Without naming names our competitors are all those products which are using NURBS for modeling. Often today we find users still using tools that are best suited for doing animation or general 3D tools…and of course 2D tools. solidThinking was created specifically for the industrial designer. 

AFR: You guys seem to have a good relationship with SolidWorks. Can you talk about that? Is that a strategic alliance of some sort? 

Bob: No, we do not have an alliance but we are part of the SolidWorks Solutions Partners program. This is a company we admire, who has a culture similar to our own in respect to innovation and serving the customer and we have a lot of respect for them. 

What we find is that our top resellers and partners are also SolidWorks folks serving a lot of the same customers. 

Alex: We do not compete with the CAD vendors, we cooperate with them through file exchange formats and the sharing of data. solidThinking is a perfect solution for product designers who need to create effectively and work with product engineers as part of the product development process. 

AFR: Let’s switch to Macworld. Why Macworld and what are your expectations for the show? 

Bob: Macworld is the largest show for reaching Mac users and it is also a designers show. We are very excited to show the Mac community solidThinking. We also plan to reach out to the product design and academic community in the Bay area during that time. 

AFR: Speaking of community, what are some of the things solidThinking is doing to address community building on the Internet specifically. For example, Google has its own channel on YouTube with SketchUp movies for instruction. 

Alex: We are always paying attention to our user community and they are big part of us and how we think and move the product forward. We believe movies are very useful and believe this is an important part of product education. We have a product channel on YouTube as well with movies of solidThinking in action. 

AFR: Alex and Bob, thanks for speaking with Architosh about solidThinking and I wish you the best for your first Macworld Expo coming up next month. Will see you there. Thanks.

Bob and Alex: Thank you.