Product category:
3D CAD software
News Release from: Business Advantage Group
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 23 March 2001
Pen plotters hang on amongst some
CAD/CAM users
One in ten CAD/CAM user sites in the UK are still using pen plotters and nearly two thirds use large format printers/plotters, according to a recent report
One in ten CAD/CAM user sites in the UK are still using pen plotters, according to recent research conducted by The Business Advantage Group Plc CAD/CAM users were interviewed about their use of large format (A1+) devices during the update of Business Advantage's UK CAD/CAM User Site Database earlier this month
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 16 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The research also found that: nearly two thirds (63%) of CAD/CAM users use large format printers/plotters, changing little from the 1999 figure of 61%.
Pen plotters are used by the second greatest number of CAD/CAM user sites (one in ten) in the UK after inkjet machines.
However, inkjet machines continue to dominate the large format plotter/printer market, with 84% of CAD/CAM users who use large format devices using inkjet plotters/printers in 2001, compared to 79% in 1999.
Sue Hannay, Research Services Director of The Business Advantage Group Plc, observes: "Although the proportion of CAD/CAM user sites that use pen plotters has nearly halved over the last couple of years, the fact that one in ten are still using pens will surprise suppliers who have tended to assume that this plotting method had all but vanished." "The underlying change from analogue to digital technologies is hard to pick up in these surveys as users are often unable to name the technology they are using.
Overall, our interviews with users of large format devices indicate that the market is moving more slowly than suppliers tend to think it is." The findings came from interviews conducted in January 2001 with 2,635 UK CAD/CAM user sites (selected to provide a representative sample of the total UK CAD/CAM market).
This was part of a continual programme to update Business Advantage's 20,000 strong database of UK CAD/CAM user sites.
A full analysis of trends in the market for large format devices over the past 3-4 years is available for ?199.
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