CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
15 November 2005
Product News
PTC® Product Development System Expands Electronics Support with New Windchill 8.0 Capabilities
PTC announced the general availability of new Windchill capabilities, including two new Windchill modules, specifically designed to optimize the development of products that mix mechanical, electrical and software components.
The major capability enhancements include:
• New component and supplier management capabilities
• The extension of Product Lifecycle Management to include software development
• Automated ECAD change identification and management
Anticipated benefits of the new capabilities are improved quality and shortened time-to-market, enhanced regulatory compliance and greater capacity to manage increasingly complex supply chain requirements.
Component Supplier Management
Optimizing vendor selection and manufacturer part sources across multiple product lines and geographies is a major challenge facing product companies today, with huge implications on product cost and time-to-market. With the introduction of Windchill Supplier Management, an optional module of Windchill PDMLinkT, PTC customers can now manage, analyze and communicate critical supply chain-related information. This includes approved manufacturer and vendor lists (AML, AVL), environmental regulatory compliance, lifecycle status and end-of-life risk and component and supplier preferences (approved, do not use, etc.).
Windchill Supplier Management delivers a key linkage between design and manufacturing functions, providing designers with access to supply chain information during design. This allows them to make better decisions from the beginning of the development process. In addition, earlier collaboration with suppliers can help to reduce re-designs and delays during release to manufacturing. Customers can also reduce operating costs by identifying and eliminating ineffective and redundant suppliers.
These supplier management capabilities also significantly extend Windchill PartsLinkT Classification and Reuse-another optional, integral module of Windchill PDMLink. Released earlier this year, it enables companies to achieve greater design reuse of preferred parts by combining comprehensive enterprise component management with high-speed parametric search. In combination with Windchill PDMLink, these modules comprise a comprehensive enterprise component and supplier management solution.
PLM for Software Development
Many companies that develop products with embedded software are struggling to ensure that the right version of source code is delivered with the right version of the product. The latest release of Windchill 8.0 introduces a solution for interfacing with Software Configuration Management (SCM) systems that manage software source code and related software artifacts.
The Windchill Integration for Rational® ClearCase® integrates IBM Rational ClearCase, the software configuration management system, with Windchill. This new module enables the data developed by software developers to be synchronized with the appropriate versions of the corresponding mechanical and electrical designs, all within a single, secure system. This solution facilitates greater collaboration and innovation among globally distributed product development teams resulting in improved efficiency and higher quality.
Automated ECAD change identification and management through InterCommT
The ability to quickly identify PCB design changes has been a difficult challenge for electronics manufacturers. This release of Windchill delivers the integration between Windchill PDMLink and InterComm EDAcompareT, PTC's solution for comparing different versions of an ECAD or PCB design. Now, when changes occur, Windchill automatically identifies the disparity between the two ECAD designs based on attribute, netlist, bill of materials (BOM) and graphical series of comparisons. When combined with the change management processes supported by Windchill PDMLink, this solution provides early PCB change identification and management-a vital capability for products containing PCBs and a key missing piece in most PLM solutions.
"PTC is committed to helping our customers in the electronics industry remove obstacles that impede product development success," said Chad Hawkinson, director of electronics and high tech marketing and strategy, PTC. "By addressing key problems in the product development process, these new Windchill enhancements provide powerful solutions to help improve customers' ability to get high quality products to market faster, and at lower costs."
PTC solutions for electronics & high tech are designed to meet the product lifecycle management requirements of electronics manufacturers. These solutions include product development process and data management, electronic verification and collaboration, environmental regulatory compliance (RoHS, WEEE, etc.) and 3D mechanical design. PTC has over 3,000 high tech customers, including the top 30 electronics manufacturers across the globe.
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