Workstations in the CAD/CAM Sector

From the Autumn 2003 issue of

In this issue of CAD Spaghetti we look at how Workstations are deployed in the CAD sector. Data is taken from our database of just under 20,000 UK CAD/CAM sites. Respondents are asked whether they use a PC, Apple Macintosh or Workstation. The first chart shows the propensity for workstation usage among CAD-using sites.

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Ten percent of UK CAD sites use workstations. This figure has steadily dropped over recent years as the power performance ratio of PC's has advanced.

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Respondents are asked what brand of workstation they use and the following chart shows the brands that have one percent penetration or more.

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Although DEC and Compaq now fall under the HP stable, they are shown separately in the above chart. When their figures are combined, HP comes to within four points of Sun as the workstation with the highest penetration in the CAD sector.

Three quarters of workstation-using CAD sites are involved in mechanical engineering applications, whilst only 8% are using their workstations for an AEC application.

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When it comes to workstation usage amongst businesses, we looked at the nine business activities where CAD is most prevalent and then at the proportion of those sites that use workstations. The chart below shows the total number of CAD sites, the number of workstation-using sites and the percentage, for each of the nine business activities. As can be seen, the mechanical engineering/manufacturing business activity is the one where workstation usage proliferates.

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CAD Spaghetti is a free monthly newsletter published by the Business Advantage Group Plc

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