Study Lifecycle

In May and June 2014, Lifecycle Insights surveyed 575 respondents to understand their practices and adoption of technology with respect to engineering documentation. The survey for this study collected responses between May 26th and June 30th 2014 on SurveyMonkey.

Survey respondents originated from three research partners, including Lifecycle Insights, Cadalyst and Design World as well as two software providers, including Geometric Limited and Siemens PLM. Survey respondents were compensated for their time with a complimentary copy of the Engineering Manager’s Survival Guide, an eBook published by Lifecycle Insights in July 2012.

Study Demographics

The number of respondents to the survey totaled 575. The findings of this report, however, are based on a subset of these respondents, totaling 366, who directly participate in the product development supply chain. Responses from engineering service providers, software providers, service providers, and system integrators were excluded.

Respondents to the study’s survey serve a wide variety of industries. The industries served at the highest rates by the survey respondents include:

  • 34% Industrial Equipment and Machinery,
  • 24% Aerospace and Defense, 20% Automotive,
  • 18% Consumer Products and High Tech / Electronics each
  • with the remainder split between Agricultural Machinery, Architecture and Construction, Medical and other industries.

Survey responses for this study were gathered from fifty-one different countries. The contribution by geographic area is as follows:

  • 72% from North America,
  • 12% Asia,
  • 8% Europe with the remaining
  • 8% split between Australia and New Zealand, South America, Africa and the Middle East.

Respondents to the survey hold a number of roles, including:

  • 48% staff (workers, individual contributors),
  • 45% managerial (manager, director), and
  • 7% executive (vice president) or leadership (president, CEO, CFO).

These respondents are employed at companies with a wide range of revenues, including:

  • 55% from companies with less than $100 million in revenues,
  • 25% from companies with revenues between $100 million and $1.25 billion, and
  • 2% from companies with revenues more than $1.25 billion.