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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