From: Mark Bliek (mbliek@materialise.com)
Date: Fri Mar 01 2002 - 18:20:03 EET
Brad,
I will start with your last questions first as they seem to attract the
most response:
- If everyone has online quoting, what will happen to
the market? Will there be a price war? How will that
affect things?
- What is the future of e-commerce within prototyping?
Seems most of what I hear is that making models is a
very skilled art and it's impossible to determine how
much it will cost without first seeing the project
specs? Is this true?
[Mark Bliek] -->As far pricing and skill level is concerned: a price-war
in Prototyping has been on-going since 1998. The EPOS system allows a
service bureau which is caught in these price battles, to handle the parts
with the lowest added value on-line, therefore indeed reducing cost because
there is a minimal sales effort and a clear mind set of expectations about
the parts which are shipped. The parts and projects with high added value
are still handled through a dedicated salesperson. The online service at
the Materialise service bureau required education of its existing customer
base. After the introduction of the EPOS system by the Materialise sales
people it was clear to these companies what to expect and the service has
been running on its own, with amazing results indeed, as indicated before:
7600 parts in 2001. Special requirements were handled off-line, but a
request for quotation could still come in through the EPOS system.
With its hands free, the sales force could now concentrate on the projects
with higher added value.
.
- How does the software handle the unique costs
associated with various shops?
[Mark Bliek] --> The system is customizable on 2 levels. First we can
adapt it on a programming level to specific needs of a service bureau.
Secondly, the service bureau has always, direct control over pricing and
delivery at any moment: cost of machines/hours, labor rates, materialise
cost, how many machines are available at that moment, etc, etc.
- Does the quoting handle all rapid prototyping and
rubber tooling/castings?
[Mark Bliek] --> In principle yes, if the machines have a predictable
build time. It is obvious more complicated with rubber tooling/castings,
but it is a topic we are working on.
- Is it web-based or require special software to
download and run?
[Mark Bliek] --> Both, the system consists out of 2 components: a web
server which handles the requests for quotations and a client which
communicates with this server. The client is a special version of our
Magics Communicator software which can be downloaded from the server.
- Why would a service bureau sell software that
provides an advantage to their direct competitors?
This does not seem to make sense to my engineering
mind.
[Mark Bliek] --> Materialise is not only a service bureau. Since its
inception in 1990 it has always been the goal to act both as a service
bureau for Rapid Prototyping and develop and sell software applications for
this field of technology. The service bureau side is therefore acting as a
test-bed for the software developments. This has been true for all the
applications we develop, from Magics, Mimics to all kinds of custom
projects where Rapid Prototyping is involved, but the STL file format in
particular. Keep in mind that with a team of more then 40 software
developers, we are a significant force in Rapid Prototyping Software. The
fact that we know offer the EPOS system for sale makes sense: if we are not
going to do it, somebody else will. If anyone, we are likely in the best
position to make an offering like this.
- Who, in the US, is using EPOS now and how is it
working for them? Same as for you?
[Mark Bliek] -->The EPOS system has been sold in Europe and in the US to
both internal service as well as external service bureaus. The names I
cannot reveal as we are in an implementing stage with these companies. As
soon they are on-line I am confident they will make themselves known.
M. Bliek
Materialise
Phone (860) 646 3948
Fax (860) 646 9006
Mobile (860) 995 3087
http://www.materialise.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Johnson [SMTP:bradjp@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 5:23 PM
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: RE: Online quoting - some statistics from Materialise
Mark,
Interesting information provided so, I have a few
questions about this online quoting thing. I
appreciate any feedback to help me better understand.
- How does the software handle the unique costs
associated with various shops?
- Does the quoting handle all rapid prototyping and
rubber tooling/castings?
- Is it web-based or require special software to
download and run?
- Why would a service bureau sell software that
provides an advantage to their direct competitors?
This does not seem to make sense to my engineering
mind.
- Who, in the US, is using EPOS now and how is it
working for them? Same as for you?
AND to anyone else with an opinion
- This thread seemed to suggest only 3 or 4 companies
that provide online quoting....why is that? does it
not work, or has the industry been too slow to adapt
to change?
- If everyone has online quoting, what will happen to
the market? Will there be a price war? How will that
affect things?
- What is the future of e-commerce within prototyping?
Seems most of what I hear is that making models is a
very skilled art and it's impossible to determine how
much it will cost without first seeing the project
specs? Is this true?
Thank you to anyone who helps.
Brad Johnson
Design Engineer
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
[mailto:owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi]On
> Behalf Of Mark Bliek
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 2:14 PM
> To: 'rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi'
> Subject: Online quoting - some statistics from
Materialise
>
>
> Since the beginning of 1998, Materialise has been
running an online Rapid
> Prototyping service through its EPOS system
(Electronic Parts Ordering
> System). It is and has been a significant
contributor to the growth of
> Materialise, which now is one of the biggest Rapid
Prototyping
> and Tooling
> service bureaus in Europe.
>
> Materialise is currently selling this on-line
quoting solution
> worldwide to
> other Rapid Prototyping service bureaus. As
different companies will have
> different needs to run an on-line quoting system, it
can be
> customized, for
> which a separate division within Materialise
Software has been
> established.
>
> Some numbers how online quoting effected the service
bureau side of
> Materialise from 1998 till the end of 2000:
>
> 830 registered companies
> 1.100 registered users
> 5.110 orders
> 8.738 parts
> 23.030 quotes (!)
>
> In 2001, Materialise supplied more than 7600 parts
which were ordered
> on-line.
>
> The quotes were all issued through the EPOS system,
this in addition to
> quotes which could not be handled by the system
automatically because of
> specific project requirements. The latter were
handled off-line.
>
> The numbers speak for themselves. The biggest
benefit for Materialise was
> the opportunity to grow, while limiting sales cost.
Also, the quotes are
> based on the STL files, which means that relevant
parameters can
> be used to
> calculate the quote accurately, instead of working
on just the
> bounding box
> dimensions. Because of accurate build time
calculation, capacity planning
> could be automated.
>
> Benefits for the customer were an instantaneous,
binding quote
> without the
> need of being in contact with a person (the system
works 24-hours-7
> days/week). Also, as soon as a customer was online
with the EPOS
> server, he
> was notified about special offers, new materials,
new machines and other
> developments at Materialise. The client software is
a free STL viewer,
> through which he communicates with the EPOS server.
The viewer
> can also be
> used off-line.
>
> As said at the beginning of this email, we now sell
the solution and
> interested parties can learn more at
> http://www.materialise.com/mt.asp?mp=ep_main
> Test driving a demo system can be done by
downloading the client software
> (7.25Mb) at
http://www.materialise.com/mt.asp?mp=ep_download
>
> If you want to be contacted about an EPOS
installation for your own
> company, please look at
http://www.materialise.com/mt.asp?mp=hp_contact for
a Materialise office close to you.
Mark Bliek
Materialise
(860) 646-3948
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