CORPORATE HISTORY
CADVANCE
has never been as aggressively marketed as products like
AutoCAD, yet it still maintains a very extensive and loyal
international user following that extends back to 1982 when the
product was first introduced. It was actually released
before AutoCAD in San Jose by a company called P-CAD (it was
called CADplan back then) and was
subsequently purchased, enhanced and renamed by CalComp
as a superior CAD design system . CalComp sold their software system division
holdings off (preferring the hardware arena) in 1987, and ISICAD
purchased CADVANCE and developed it into the FIRST
successful Windows-based CAD application on the market. In 1995, F
I T, Inc. purchased the product and the business to improve its
functionality and distribution worldwide, as the principals in the
company saw its great capacity and user-friendliness.

OPERATING PHILOSOPHY
The
essence of F I T's attitude toward its business is expressed in their
motto that the "Customer is King", and F I T would like
their role to be as an advisor (not a servant). As founder Takashi
Furukawa explains, business success results from good personal
relationships with customers, distributors, dealers, and company
staff. Technology deserves (and gets) critical attention but the fact
remains that, without positive interaction with good people,
advanced technology alone will not assure company success. Thus, human
relationships are the overriding consideration at F I T.
Lines of communication with distributors, dealers and customers are
diligently maintained. Requests for information or product support
are encouraged and, in the spirit of fostering personal
relationships, are treated with respect and prompt attention.
The entire F I T staff is geared to accomplishing these
objectives.
Realistically though, in the high technology arena even the best of
relationships require the foundation of product excellence to
really blossom. Toward that end, F I T maintains comprehensive
development and product improvement programs, such as in vertical
markets that require an integration of graphics design, database
information and report writing.
MISSION
The
main mission of F I T is to provide users with problem solution tools,
to help with their productivity, performance, future growth, etc.
It is also an objective to develop "Custom Tailored Solutions",
and provide support and services to meet and satisfy users continually
growing needs.
Another
mission is to contribute to society. Once a corporation is
established, a "social responsibility" is naturally attached
to it, and F I T interprets a part of those responsibilities as being
to their users and to society. A few examples of such
contributions being: Contributed CADVANCE products to high schools and
universities world wide; Contributed CADVANCE
products to several charitable organizations; Started a scholarship
program in 1997 for high schools and technical colleges; Made CADVANCE
6.5 (an older version) available free by download to everyone; Made
CADVANCE 7.2 free to users in Yugoslavia by download.
CORPORATE ACTIVITIES
CADVANCE
is basically a distribution business through US domestic dealers and
international distributors. To provide support and help foster
growth, F I T has organized and conducted dealer and distributor
meetings on a yearly basis, on average. F I T has also organized
and conducted, and participated in dealer and distributor organized
Users Group meetings.
Since
it's establishment,
F I T, Inc. has participated in many industry exhibit shows, such as
A/E/C Systems, AIA Expo, Networld+Interop,
Facility Forum, and IFMA's WorldWorkplace.
In
order to help maintain good business relations and contacts within the
community, F I T Inc. is a proud member of the Anaheim Chamber of
Commerce, Southern California Software Council, and the World Trade
Center Association.
Not
only in keeping their business edge, F I T, Inc. also belongs to key
groups in order to keep up with technical trends. They are
members of Microsoft MSDN, which provides them with the latest
Microsoft development tools in several languages (C, C++, VB, as well Windows
updates).
Membership with the Open DWG Alliance facilitates F I T in updating the
translator to/from DWG/DXF, and being members of the IBM developer
partner program helps F I T keep their technical edge.
Future business directions for F I T
include plans to implement a new division to provide consulting
services, custom development, and database implementation. Other
areas of focus will be to offer software products that compliment the
CADVANCE product-line which will help dealers and distributors to
provide their customers with a wider variety of products.

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