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.
|
