Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO of SOLIDWORKS, announced a bold vision for parent company Dassault Systèmes at SOLIDWORKS World 2018: “We want to become the Amazon for engineers."
That’s Amazon as in the online retail giant, not the rainforest—but even still, it’s a lofty goal. So, how exactly are SOLIDWORKS and Dassault Systèmes attempting to realize it? With an online platform of their own, the 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace.
The 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace is a cloud-based trading platform connecting engineers, designers, and manufacturers. There are two main parts of the Marketplace: Make and PartSupply, offering on-demand manufacturing and intelligent part sourcing, respectively.
3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace Make harkens back to one of the forecasts from our CAD Predictions for 2018 article: that on-demand manufacturing will become more and more prominent. The 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace currently boasts 50 digital manufacturers with over 500 machines, and provides an interface to easily connect designers and manufacturers.
3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace PartSupply allows users to search and download over 30 million mechanical components from 600 suppliers. Once a suitable component is found, it can be inserted directly into SOLIDWORKS and CATIA from the integrated Marketplace interface.
The 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace also manages all aspects of buyer/seller transactions, keeping a record of payments and billing to facilitate the exchange for both parties.
“The 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace transforms the supply chain into a value chain: a single, virtual, social enterprise, pioneering a new way to do business, innovate, and create value in industry,” said Dassault Systèmes CEO Bernard Charlès. “Online platforms and marketplaces have already transformed retail, transportation and hospitality services. Get ready—the industrial world is next.”