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VX closing the gap between design and manufacturing

by Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

Bob Fischer, VX Vice President of Sales and Marketing, displays one of the products designed using VX software. Photo by Craig Rubadoux, © 2002.

Shopping for cooking oil or liquid laundry detergent, you think about price and your past experience with the product. You probably don't consider how well your hand fits the handle, whether the contents will pour smoothly or the condition of the label.

At least, you think you don't. More likely, those considerations are registering somewhere in your decision-making process. And they certainly were the focus of hours of design efforts by the packaging manufacturer.

Enter VX Corp., a 70-employee firm in Palm Bay. VX designs the CAD/CAM software companies use to make countless products - from that bottle of cooking oil to NASA ground support equipment.

After years of toiling quietly, VX is in the midst of a marketing push to make itself a well-recognized brand name in the CAD/CAM market. The company, founded in 1985 as Varimetrix, focused primarily on research and development and served a few major companies. Last year, the company shortened its name to VX, designed a new logo and launched an aggressive marketing campaign.

"You can have the greatest mousetrap in the world," said Bob Fischer, vice president of sales and marketing. "You have to let people know you have it."

In the past 12 months, the company has opened four sales offices in the United States. Business in Asia, and particularly Europe, is strong. Traffic on the VX web site has tripled.

"They decided they've been a well-kept secret long enough," said Bruce Jenkins, executive vice president of industry consultant Daratech Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.

Jenkins ranks the company sixth in size among the top 10 software developers in the value-priced 3D mechanical design market. The company doesn't disclose financial results; Jenkins estimates VX annual sales at about $10 million a year.

As a whole, spending on computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering is expected to hit $6.3 billion this year, according to Daratech estimates. Though the industry is dominated by companies selling high-priced systems, VX has developed a niche as a value-priced, premium performance player.

The company markets itself as being distinct from its competition on two counts: price and scope.

Well-entrenched CAD/CAM companies price their products at $18,000 and up and offer technical support and other follow-up services to their customers, generally large companies with demanding needs. VX systems start at less than $5,000 and yet can handle very complicated designs, Jenkins said.

VX software also takes a product through all stages from concept to manufacturing. It allows the user to design the product and mold, and communicates technical requirements to equipment used to machine the mold, eliminating the need for an additional program to take over during the process. VX refers to the feature as "closing the gap" between computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing.

"It's all about being able to create ergonomic or aesthetic shapes and getting the product to market faster," said Fischer, who last month completed a one-week sales trip that encompassed Japan, Germany and England.

Jenkins recommends that kind of aggressive marketing continue and not fall off after the company sees initial successes. It has been a good investment, he said: "As soon as they tell people about it, they say, 'I'll take some.'"

VX has seen improvement in its name-recognition, as well. "Before, dealers and distributors used to ask who we were. Now they approach us and ask to resell our product," Fischer said.

A string of recent customer wins has expanded the VX connection to a variety of products, including:

• Swiss ski binding maker Fritschi used VX software to develop binding for its all-mountain freeride skiing product.

• British lawnmower maker Layter Ltd. used VX's system to redesign a model for the residential market.

• Another English customer developed soccer whistles with the software.

• California engineering firm PML used the product to develop valve and transmission covers that can camouflage a new engine, making it look more at home in a vintage car.

"They've just begun. I think it's too early to say how big an impact they'll have on the market," Jenkins said. Judging by their sales success in the past year, he said, "It's pretty promising."