Catia Pros and Cons

I thought Catia was marketed, and sold, exclusivly by IBM ??

As far as the question, if you have to ask it, your in the wrong line of work. Of course, this is just my opinion. It seems most CAD marketing is done by people who don't know anything about it. So you might do OK.

Mark

For me ... simply dont know much about it ... except its high end used by automotive and aircraft makers who normally employ full time 'catia operators' . V5 has a better UI, but many stalwarts stick to V4.

As a small product design business (who does not use full time cad operators - we all do everything, so Cading is only about 40% of our time). We have not seriously considered Catia. Like other high end systems (eg UG, even ProE) the base module may be affordable but everything else, costs even IGES translators cost $$$$$.

We tried UG some years ago and found it was orientated for full time operators - leave it for a month and much re-learning was needed, power and complexity has its overheads.

my 0.01$

Catia Pros:

very powerfull surfacing and sheet metal functions developed for automotive and aerospace.

Catia Cons:

very expensive when getting more than just the basic package, the software is sold in modules that cost as much each as other CAD packages. Operators are commanding very high pay rates, hourly charge rates to customers are typically 40% higher than other CAD packages. Boeing is currently having major problems getting Catia to work efficiently within the Enovia PDM system, very slow.

Pardon the digression, but it does look like there are glitches with all the CAD systems, and SolidWorks isn't alone in its list of things on its "To Do List".

In general, when someone has asked me what CAD package to use, I first ask the person to find out what CAD packages his key suppliers use, and if selling parts or CAD output work to a manufacturer/s, what CAD package those customers use.

Go with the flow and make life easier if possible.

I work mostly with small plastic parts, and for me, I want to be able to hand off SolidWorks files to a mold shop who uses SolidWorks on a daily basis. Very simple really.

Bo

Phil Evans wrote:

efficiently

I would agree, but the poster isnt selling Solidworks or anything else apart from Catia, he didnt ask what software package was 'best' for his customers as I am sure he will be saying Catia is the 'best' Seems he is looking for arguments to state his case, not sure he has one though :-)