D3 builds niche in manufacturing software

“It used to be that AutoCAD was just about the only product, and now there are different verticals,” Schlack said.

Vertical markets include architectural, mechanical and even geographic information systems (GIS) mapping uses, he added.

Recognizing a specific need, Schlack began using his mechanical design degree to focus on manufacturing. Soon after, D3 was born.

Outside the manufacturing industry, it may be difficult to understand exactly what D3 is all about.

“People ask me what I do, it’s hard enough to say, ‘Well, I sell engineering software, and I implement it,’ Schlack said. “We run the whole gamut, but it’s all focused on manufacturing software.”

What manufacturing companies need in a competitive global market, Schlack said, is the ability to design their products better, faster, stronger and cheaper.

The software D3 sells allows manufacturers to design products in a 3-D program that creates virtual prototypes. Manufacturers are getting their products to market in half the time they did five years ago, he said.

D3’s client list reads like a “who’s who” in Springfield’s manufacturing industry – Paul Mueller Co., Hutchens Industries, Stainless Technologies, Custom Metalcraft, Efco, Ridewell, Bass Pro Fabrication, Loren Cook Co., Central States Industrial, SLS International Inc., Webco and Stainless Fabrication Inc.

Russ Brazeal, vice president of engineering for Hutchens Industries, has been a D3 client since its beginnings.

“It’s an ongoing program. They’re selling software that is continually changing. You have to constantly be on the front edge,” Brazeal said.

Growth and expansion

D3 has jumped from 1998’s $100,000 in revenues to last year’s $1.4 million. “And we’re on target to reach $2 million this year,” Schlack said.

The office and training center in Springfield, which started with two employees, now has seven. Another office and training center in Kansas City, which opened in September 2003, adds another two staffers to D3’s roster.

And D3 isn’t finished expanding.

By September 2005, a Tulsa office and training center will open. The company already employs a regional salesperson that works out of the Springfield office to cover the Tulsa territory, and another staff member will be added this fall. Also by September, another employee will be added to the Kansas City office.

D3 is a value-added reseller for Autodesk and recently earned the title of Premier Solutions Provider from the California-based software company.

“That’s a very prestigious rating for a company. They have to meet revenue requirements, also training requirements and personnel requirements,” said Patrick McClanahan, Autodesk territory manager. “In my territory, which is Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma, D3 is the only one.”

In addition to Autodesk products, D3 also sells or consults on several others, including GibbsCAM, Windows, Visual Basic and AutoLisp.

Growing pains

Growth did not come without challenges, however. Beyond the expected startup costs, D3 realized that it needed a highly skilled work force to attract customers – which meant it also needed to maintain a steady client base in order to sustain the payroll for that work force.

Add the cost of high-tech equipment and state-of-the-art software to the mix, and D3 officials found their new company’s credit lines often less than the cost of the software they sold. A single seat of Autodesk software can be about $3,700 for 2-D, and as much as $8,000 for the full-blown 3-D, Schlack said.

“After we proved our technical expertise to Autodesk, they supplied us with the software at no charge. But we had to provide our own computer and presentation hardware, and that was pretty expensive at the time – about $3,000 per workstation. CAD software demands the most advanced hardware available,” he added.

Evolution of an industry

Five years ago, approximately 70 percent of the manufacturers used 2-D software. Today, 3-D software has become the standard, Schlack said.

“The technology, as far as software goes, gets better and better. 3-D becomes a lot more marketable to smaller and midsized companies,” said Keith Nannerman, senior applications engineer for D3.

Schlack expects the industry to continue to evolve.

“The biggest initiative in the last year is, now that we’re creating all this 3-D data, we need better, quicker ways to manage that data. Not only that, when we bring these new designs in, and we’re revising the old ones, we need to … push that workload through,” Schlack said. “Instead of relying on the memory of the person that created an initial design, new product data management software will enable a company to immediately call up a design and do the revision.”

Schlack said that new software, designed by Autodesk, is in its first release phase.

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