Hi CR:
The best advice I can give you is not to do this job yourself - especially since you're
not a programmer, and probably would be very happy if you didn't have to become one. My
guess is that if you attempt this yourself, you'll spend enormous amounts of time and
probably have a buggy result. I certainly would if I tried to do it myself.
You should spend your time doing what you do best and let others do this kind of thing
for you, if at all possible. There are at least a couple of complete off-the-shelf SW
packages available for on-line ordering, but only one is listed on our site, from
Materialise. At least one provider is not listed because I've found the individuals
involved to not be completely straightforward.
Materialise might be willing to provide a "light" version of their program if you don't
need full functionality. You might also be able to "rent" the SW on an on-going basis, as
well. Then if it doesn't give you the boost you need, you can drop it.
http://www.materialise.com
(Look for Electronic Parts Ordering System EPOS)
I'd also throw out the question of available SW on the RPML. Certainly the other
providers will blow their horns, and if you're lucky maybe some of the other users will
say they like something - or don't like it.
Incidentally, I'm not sure that the answer to the question of competition is
necessarily to provide on-line ordering. Might be some help, but I've always been
surprised by how low the traffic is on that section of the WWGRP web-site. It may be that
to make a big dent in the on-line world you'd have to follow the lead of Quickparts or
XPress3D, but that might be quite a shift in your business model. They either provide a
wide gamut of services and/or cutthroat pricing. You may find it more profitable to become
more vertically integrated, or increase your industry profile by advertising or some other
strategy.
Ed
Ed Grenda
Castle Island Co.
The Worldwide Guide to Rapid Prototyping
