Scapa sees the company growing and moving to smaller customers with products like Inspire, which is more user-friendly than its massive HyperWorks offering. "And today, I think the way we're managed, we're at a level where we could certainly be a public company if we wanted."
#ALTAIR INSPIRE 2015 PROFESSIONAL#
"We've started with a startup and have gone through the stages," said Scapa, whose professional career started at Ford Motor Co., an Altair client since 1989. An initial public offering is an option, but not a necessity for the company, which expects to generate more than $300 million in revenue this year. The privately held company has acquired a dozen other companies since 1996, and more acquisitions are on the way, according to Scapa, a co-founder of Altair. Along the way, the company has grown from one office in Metro Detroit to 45 offices in 24 countries. Besides automakers, NASA, Coca-Cola and thousands of other companies are customers for Altair. HyperWorks, now in its 13th version, can run in-depth analysis and tests on almost anything. "There's a very traditional approach that people take to doing these things, and we're really trying to turn it on its head," Scapa said. It's used for in-depth analysis and optimization (the kind automakers and NASA do) that can not only simulate and produce designs, but also can mathematically optimize a structure. What has allowed Altair to thrive and expand into different industries is its HyperWorks computer-aided product engineering suite, which in laymen's terms is Inspire on steroids.
#ALTAIR INSPIRE 2015 SOFTWARE#
Altair now works or supplies software for every major carmaker, with automotive applications representing roughly 40 percent of its business, according to Scapa. In quickly expanded to the Detroit-based automaker's crosstown rivals. The company started as an engineering supplier to support the design of a vehicle platform for General Motors in 1987. It also does simulations of functionality of the part. Inspire is essentially an engineering playground that reduces product design time and reduces weight by calculating the most efficient use of material. Scapa said during a recent interview in Dearborn. "It's really re-imagining how you conceptualize products," Altair CEO and chairman James R.
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