CAD/CAM User Market Statistics

From the February 2002 issue of

Each month CAD SPAGHETTI provides market intelligence from our database of nearly 20,000 UK CAD/CAM user sites. This database contains in-depth information for each record, covering some 150 separate data items. This month we begin a two-part analysis of the use of large format devices, starting with A1 plotters and printers. (See also part 2: Market Intelligence on Large Format Copiers/Scanners.)

We have analyzed current data from 19,000 CAD/CAM user sites, and compared it with January 2001 data (2,635 sites) and January 1999 data (2,200 sites). For all three years the samples were selected to provide a representative sample of the total UK CAD/CAM market.

Analysis By Business Activity

Looking at the CAD/CAM market as a whole, there are currently 65% of sites that are using large format plotters/printers (large format is defined throughout this article as A1 or larger). There has been little significant change since 1999, when 61% of sites were using these devices.

Of the industrial sectors, civil/structural engineering has the highest proportion of sites using these devices (86%), while electronic engineering has the lowest (47%). Looking across all sectors, the 93% of central and local government sites with large format plotters/printers represent the highest penetration levels.

Analysis By Site Size As you'd expect, there are significant differences in the proportion of sites using these devices according to site size. Only 55% of sites with fifty staff or less use them, compared to 88% of sites with over 5,000 staff.

There does appear to have been a slight increase in the proportion of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) using these devices in the last three years; 55% of sites with less then 250 staff were using them in 1999, compared to 60% currently. Analysis By Number Of CAD Seats Again, there is the expected direct relationship between the proportion of sites with large format printers/plotters and the number of CAD seats at those sites. Four out of ten sites with only 1 CAD seat have these devices, compared to eight out of ten sites with more than 100 CAD seats. Plotting Changes The usage of different types of plotter has remained fairly consistent over the last three years; overall 85% of sites using plotters are now using inkjet machines, a 6% increase to 1999. The proportion of sites using pen plotters has halved in this period down to 9%, but this technology clings on stubbornly beyond expectations.

Breaking these overall market figures down by business activity, we see that architecture has the highest proportion of sites using inkjet machines (93%). Educational establishments and electronic engineering sites have the highest proportions of pen users, at 18% and 15% respectively. Levels of use of the other plotter technologies are consistent across the sectors.

Unsurprisingly, larger companies are more likely to have adopted laser technology; 13% of sites with more than 5,000 employees have done so, twice the proportion of those in the 50-250 employees band.

HP Rules The Inkjet World In terms of inkjet brands, 87% of users have a Hewlett-Packard plotter/printer. All other brands are used at less than 5% of those sites using these devices.

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

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