One record chases the next: 46mn CAD downloads (=sales leads) in April send a clear signal of the great importance of digitalization

Digitalization has been in full swing for several years now and is being accelerated even further by the current exceptional global situation. More than ever before, companies must invest in digital change and thus in digital product transformation in order to generate sales leads and thus secure their competitiveness in the future. The fact that this strategy is right is shown by the new record of 3D CAD downloads in April. For the first time, engineers, architects, planners and designers worldwide have downloaded 46,530,454 CAD engineering & BIM data. This increase also pleases the component manufacturers represented on the CADENAS portals, because every 3D CAD download of a product represents a valuable sales lead.

The current situation in particular shows that companies that rely on digital sales strategies are currently in a better position and will be able to further improve their competitiveness in the future. Especially due to the cancellation of already more than 2,600 worldwide exhibitions (source: Expodatabase, status: 08.05.2020), companies lack numerous opportunities to present themselves and their products to customers and interested parties in an ideal way. Digital marketing opportunities with the resulting sales leads can now cleverly compensate for this. When choosing the right digitization strategy for companies, the question of who will have a decisive influence on the choice of their product should be at the forefront. Especially in the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, this will be the engineer or planner. He or she is the key driver for the procurement of technical components. It is therefore important to tailor the digital offer to their needs as best as possible.

In addition to the possibility of digital 3D CAD model downloads, extensive search and research functions are essential for choosing the right product or product variant. Digital platforms such as www.3Dfindit.com or www.PARTcommunity.com with their millions of users from the fields of mechanical engineering, plant construction, electrical engineering and architecture make their daily work easier for engineers & architects with their technology.

The fact that numerous well-known manufacturers are already relying on the provision of digital twins and engineering data for their products, and have thus made a future-oriented decision, is also shown by the increasing number of 3D CAD model downloads that have been available for years. In 2019, the platforms 3Dfindit and PARTcommunity were able to generate 405 million 3D CAD model downloads for the manufacturers represented with their products there. The number of current records already suggests that a new record will be set in 2020.