Delcam "uniquely placed" to thrive

The statement was made at a recent Delcam sales partner meeting which attracted more than 190 delegates to the Belfry Hotel, close to Delcam’s headquarters. Clive Martell, Delcam operations director, made the claim during his welcoming address to the delegates, highlighting four reasons for his confidence: the company’s financial stability; its global presence; its range of industry-leading software; and the diversity of the industries it serves. On the financial side, Mr Martell emphasised the consistent history of growing sales over 20 years, with the company’s strong balance sheet having been reinforced by an investment of over £6 million by Renishaw during 2007. He also stressed the importance of the geographic distribution of Delcam’s software sales, with around one third of the total coming from each of Europe, Asia and the Americas. “Delcam is now represented by over 350 sales offices in more than 60 countries,” he explained. “This global presence means that we are able to take advantage of opportunities around the world and that we are affected less by problems in any one country or region.” On range of software, he said: “With PowerMILL, FeatureCAM, PartMaker and ArtCAM, we offer the most comprehensive family of CAM systems from any supplier. However, we can also provide software for product design, tooling design, reverse engineering and inspection so we can supply a complete product development solution to our customers.” Finally, Mr Martell highlighted the success of the company’s diversification strategy over recent years. “Traditionally, Delcam was known as a supplier to small- and medium-sized companies in the mouldmaking and other toolmaking industries. In the last five years, we have increased our sales into many other areas of manufacturing, including aerospace, autosport, footwear and marine, and have also developed dedicated products for the dental and medical industries. At the same time, we have increased greatly the number of larger, international companies that are using our software. “It would be naive to claim that Delcam will not be affected by the current slowdown, but I believe that our considerable strengths, both financial and technical, mean that we are much better placed to thrive than our competitors. Indeed, I am convinced that we are in a uniquely strong position, at a time when other companies in our industry will struggle to survive.”