The company has the wind at its back with its software products, which improve the quality of design and information management and reduce delivery times.
According to Cadmatic’s CEO, Jukka Rantala, large data models and enormous volumes of data has long been the norm at shipyards. Digitalization is moving forward in the marine industry, just as it is in other sectors. Automation is reducing the number of routine tasks that ship designers need to do.
“Thanks to digitalization, ships will be designed and built without any paper being involved. Data is transferred from the designer’s desk directly to manufacturing and production. Our software solutions make us very competitive in the areas of design for ship structures and handling large data models and data volumes on major projects. We also have good support for modern networked operating models, where dozens or even hundreds of networked companies and suppliers are responsible for designing and building a ship,” says Rantala.
Cadmatic’s position as the market-leading provider of 3D design software and information management solutions in the marine industry is reflected in its customer base: the company has around 1,000 customers in 58 countries. Around the world, there are approximately 450 shipyards in active operation, and around 200 of them use Cadmatic’s software.
“Our customers are shipyards and the design and engineering offices that serve them, as well as some ship owners. We have approximately 150 employees, around 50 of whom work in Turku, Finland, and 40 of whom are in the Netherlands. All software development work is done in these two countries,” Rantala says.
The rest are in ten countries.
From Finland’s perspective – and elsewhere in Europe for that matter – the construction of cruise ships has been booming for some time now and it shows no sign of abating. Somewhat surprisingly, Cadmatic’s future is not dependent on the cruise business.
“Ultimately, cruise vessels account for just a fraction of the global shipyard industry,” Rantala said. “Shipbuilding has suffered quite a downturn over the last few years. Now there are signs of a recovery in orders for cargo ships, which is good for Cadmatic because our soft- ware products and tools are intended for designing all vessel types.
The same can be said of Cadmatic’s customers. The Finnish company is able to help shipyards to solve their problems all over the world.
“Recently, we have acquired good new customers in Europe, as well as in Asia. For example in Japan the shipyards are locked in tough competition with their Chinese counterparts. Labour costs are low in China, whereas they are not in Japan. That is why Japanese customers need more automation, and that is where Cadmatic steps in,” Rantala says.
Cadmatic belongs to the Finland-based Elomatic Group. Elomatic owns 53% of the company. In 2018, Cadmatic’s net sales increased by 30% to approximately EUR 20 million. More than 90% of the company’s products are exported.
