At this year's Autodesk University (AU), which was attended by 10,000 people, Autodesk made several announcements that make its software quite attractive for manufacturing firms of all sizes. The company and its partners showcased several applications that address latest trendssuch as generative design, augmented virtual (AR) and virtual reality (VR), additive manufacturing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. As CEO Carl Bass said, “Unless your team is collaborating well, you can’t even compete, much less win.”
Autodesk's core strategy has been to democratize design software so that smaller companies with limited resources can use them to design and deliver the latest high-quality products. Subscription-based cloud delivery fits the core strategy of making its software affordable and enables collaboration in and among teams. The company is on a trend away from desktop applications, with an emphasis on delivering applications in the cloud.
Autodesk is building a cloud portfolio for each industry that it says is complete, connected and on-demand. Its cloud-based Fusion 360 and BIM 360 are built on the Forge developer platform that will now be available through a browser in addition to native mobile applications.