I have an uneasy relationship with CAD sales. At a tradeshow in the early 90’s I was on my then company’s stand and a salesman from the OEM whose CAD products we sold introduced himself and asked what I did. Before I’d finished explaining that I worked with finite element code he started walking off, muttering “point solution...” under his breath. If we ignore the stupendous rudeness, which still rankles, the idea of “point solution” as an insult tells a lot about how the PLM world views us, even 30 years later.

This article appeared in the October 2024 issue of BENCHMARK.