Software solutions provider PTC runs its business around providing the best Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions. But how exactly does PLM serve your business better than any other software solution? PTC's Tom Shoemaker explains how PLM capabilities are vital to an operation's success.
What sets PLM apart from other software solutions?
Every day at work, engineers spend the majority of their time engaged in issues related to the products their company produces. They may take the form of doing detailed design in a CAD system, dealing with a supplier or interfacing with the purchasing department. The common ground is that the product is at the core of much of this work. Do engineers get jazzed up about their new ERP system's inventory sampling capability? Probably not. That's because their livelihood is in the product. And, it is these matters surrounding the product that really serve to unlock financial benefit for the company. While other software tools are necessary, their domain is generally limited to transactions or record-keeping events (e.g. ordering inventory, or processing a customer invoice). PLM takes care of the “heavy lifting.”
How does PLM benefit engineers?
Product development involves the exchange of complex information within a complex process. PLM seeks to manage these activities across the entire life of the product. For a quick example of how PLM can help, consider the activities that affect the engineering department. Engineers are critically involved in most key product development processes, and they are continually exchanging data with suppliers, design partners, manufacturing, purchasing, vendors and sales. For the company to be effective, the engineering team must be able to gather certain types of information from all of these groups and also deliver certain (different) types of information back to them. PLM can help by providing a central repository, allowing everyone to contribute their intellectual offering while also allowing them to extract the needed information in the proper format. While engineering needs the fully detailed CAD model of a cell phone, sales might only need a lightweight viewable and some cool images. Having one easily accessible area for housing this content and orchestrating key process activities like dealing with change management is the domain of PLM.
How do PTC's Windchill and Pro/ENGINEER stand out among PLM systems?
Pro/ENGINEER is the world's most commercially deployed 3D CAD system. It's easy to use when creating detailed designs, performing simulations and developing tooling and NC toolpaths. Pro/ENGINEER also offers an integral connection to Windchill to facilitate data management and process improvement (e.g. configuration management, or new product introduction). Windchill, in addition to offering this special connectivity with Pro/ENGINEER and the ability to optimize key business processes, also allows management of the complete product definition. This may include data from other MCAD solutions, ECAD solutions, software source code systems and even documents.
PTC offers an integral solution, which translates to a singular database and a consistent user experience. Other systems have disparate solutions with dubious connectivity to one another. This causes inefficiencies and introduces risk through data duplication, lack of access control and a reliance on manual processes and methods to transfer information across departmental and technological boundaries.
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