PC|SCHEMATIC : Global cognizance for Electrical CAD technology excellence

Mr Ove Larsen, International Sales Director, PC|SCHEMATIC A/s, Denmark

Q. PC|SCHEMATIC is one of the leading global brand in electrical software, how did your company manage this bounteous growth?
The two most important factors contributing so vastly to our success, has been our vision and our attitude towards our customers. The PC|SCHEMATIC vision is very clear: We want to keep PC|SCHEMATIC Automation in the position as the most powerful and intuitive electrical CAD software on the market, at a still reasonable price. Therefore, we continuously make our software more powerful, while always focusing on presenting these new advanced functionalities as intuitively as possible to our many international users.

The single most important of the factors behind our success, is our attitude towards our customers, namely the engineers and electrical professionals in the industry. We have always focused specifically on helping our customers to achieve success.
Because when our customers succeed, we succeed as well. This is the very foundation of how we run our business. In India as well as internationally. What this actually means, is that our software since the very start has been developed in close dialogue with engineers and other electrical professionals in the industry. We have been in the very privileged position of having a very advanced home marked packed with skilled and highly educated professionals.

Over the last quarter century, they have been making harder and harder demands on what they required from their preferred electrical CAD software, PC|SCHEMATIC Automation. Instead of hiding in our ivory tower, our attitude has always been to face the professionals repeatedly in intense series of dialogues, until we were absolutely sure that we had implemented exactly what they needed, in order to perform their tasks as effectively and professionally. All the time focussing on the general guidelines for Danish design of keeping the solutions as simple and elegant as possible, without unnecessary complications.
This way, our customers had success with their customers, because they could handle their assignments quickly and effectively, and we all had success.

Q. What is the overall outlook of PC|SCHEMATIC; also brief us about company’s global & domestic presence?
Today, you can buy PC|SCHEMATIC Automation practically anywhere in the world. Much of this is due to our worldwide network of dedicated distributors, who has been selling our electrical CAD software for so many years now, and we have been carefully nurturing this network of distributors since the foundation of the company in Denmark in 1978. Beyond selling our software, these distributors also provide high quality training and technical support to our many international customers, which has also contributed very much to our success.

Q. How about PC|SCHEMATIC’s initiatives in electrical software segment? Which are your focus areas?
The three most important segments in the industry for the PC|SCHEMATIC Automation software are Machine builders, Electrical panel builders and Electrical professionals for operation and maintenance. Machine builders construct, assemble, or rebuild machines, for the industry. The Panel builders design and construct electrical control panels for the machines and production lines produced by the Machine builders, and the last segment performs operation and maintenance on these machines. We design the Automation software in a continuous dialogue with professionals in all these three segments, and Automation has therefore become an integral part of all phases of the lifecycle of production equipment: In the design phase, in the production phase and in maintenance. We are therefore in the privileged position that we can focus on all of these three very important segments, and therefore cover the full picture, so to speak.

Q. What are the market opportunities for your products in India? How do you plan to position these products?
Though we also develop other software, our primary focus in India is on our Automation software. Generally speaking, the need for electrical CAD software develops naturally with the maturation of markets worldwide. When the need for effectivity and precision in the industry increases, when long lasting production stops are no longer an option, and when the industry no longer can solve their problems by just hiring still more expensive labour, our software is the natural solution.

Today, in the maturing Indian market, there are just so many skilled professionals in need of high-end tools for easily handling their professional assignments as effectively and competently as possible. And this is exactly where we fit in. As the market also becomes more mature and open to following international standards, for instance for export purposes, professionals will find that PC|SCHEMATIC Automation is the best product for following these standards easily – as it is also the best product for easily setting up individual company standards, in order to work as competently and effectively as possible. In other words, we have very positive prospects on the Indian market.

Q. What is your marketing strategy for the Indian market?
In India, our very competent market consultant Mr Annamalai Venkatakrishnan is in charge of constantly expanding our network of distributors, which guarantees us that we can always provide high quality training and technical support to our many Indian customers. In these times, the internet is a major player in any marketing strategy. In India, we have a huge amount of professionals downloading and using our free version, PC|SCHEMATIC Automation 40, from our website. Actually, India is one of the countries in the world with most downloaders. This results in a huge amount of professionals that are very familiar with our software.

These professionals have already realised, that PC|SCHEMATIC Automation is a very advanced electrical CAD software that is extremely easy to work with. And the PC|SCHEMATIC YouTube channel, where they get hours of free training, has made it even easier for them to get started working with motor control circuits, house installations and plc’s. So it has become even easier getting started creating professional electrical documentation. You could say that our strategy is to make it easy for professionals to get started with our software, and easy for them to realise how effectively they can complete their tasks with it. When they realise this, why should they pick any other software than ours?

Q. Can you please elucidate the contribution of R&D in the success of the company?
One of the corner stones of our philosophy is that no one knows more about what they need, than the professionals facing the challenges in the industry on a daily basis. Therefore, our research is the continuous dialogue with the professionals in the industry. You could say that our software itself is a never-ending dialogue with the industry. We listen to the needs of the industry, we develop and release a new version, they give us feedback and we discuss how to take it to the next level. We then develop and release a new version – and the dialogue starts over again. Maybe this comes from a special Danish mentality. We don’t want to be putting ourselves in the role as inapproachable “experts”, we prefer the hands-on approach, and focus on enabling our customers in the industry to perform their tasks as effectively and professionally as possible.
This is how we develop our software, and with huge success.

Q. Brief us about the quality policy for the business?
Maintaining the high quality of our product is a matter of utmost importance for us. Therefore, we have frequent meetings between our support team and development team. In fact, we find it so important, that we have these meetings every single day. This way, the developers get instant feedback from our customers, and our support team can report back quickly to the customers when necessary. This both ensures the quality of our software and the quality of our support. We also keep track of all registered issues and suggestions, in order to handle them as effectively as possible, and to give feedback to all involved parties.

Q. Can you brief us more about PC|SCHEMATIC’s latest versions & its applications?
Based on the close dialogue with the industry, we release a new version of Automation every year. Among many new features, the coming version includes an improved net navigator for extremely easy navigation in the documentation. This reduces the duration of downtime in production lines, which easily saves the industry millions of Rupees. We also introduce a new Panelrouter, which dramatically reduces the production time on panels. It automatically calculates wire lengths, handles wire labelling, and exports this to automatic wire cutting equipment.

Q. What do you think are the strengths of electrical CAD software solutions industry & How it is positioning itself against the global market? Also, please highlight the global perspective of the electrical CAD software solution industry, and what is the differentiating factor?
Basically, it’s all about using the right tool for the job: Yes, you can use mechanical CAD software for electrical documentation, or even use software designed for drawing only, but it just takes so much longer time, and it is so much harder to maintain the overview. It is like using a screwdriver to hammer a nail in the wall. Electrical CAD software gives electrical professionals all the tools they need, and enables them to work effectively and competently. All necessary lists are updated automatically, and the software has an intelligent understanding of the electrical connections, which just makes it so much easier to navigate, to maintain the overview and to check for design errors. This is the very purpose that electrical CAD software is developed for, and therefore it is the right tool for the job.

Q. What are the key technological trends that are driving electrical CAD software industry?
The key technological trend is automating the full process from the very start of the design phase and all the way to the produced product. In order to fulfil this, interfaces to increasingly advanced machines are constantly being developed – such as the new options we are introducing in our new Panelrouter that I mentioned earlier. Intelligent interfacing to all relevant third party software, so that you only need to create your documentation in your electrical CAD software, and then export information from here to all other relevant tools. Because you only need to enter the information once – in the electrical CAD software – you save lots of time, and reduce the risk of making costly errors.

Q. According to you what is the forecast for the electrical CAD software industry?
The forecast is definitely very positive. More and more advanced solutions needs to be developed, and more and more customer segments needs to purchase electrical CAD software, just to stay in business. Wages increase, production time in the industry constantly needs to be reduced in order to keep up with competitors, and more and more markets matures in such a way that hiring more and more employees is no longer the solution. High-end electrical CAD software, such as PC|SCHEMATIC Automation, is crucial to stay in business in the global economy, so, yes, we are extremely optimistic!