CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

4 June 2007

Product News

PTC® Launches Industry's First Integral Solution for Manufacturing Process Management

PTC launched Windchill MPMLink, an integral module of Windchill 9.0, for manufacturing process management (MPM). The development of the new solution began with PTC's acquisition of Polyplan in June 2005. Since then, PTC has redeveloped the solution as a fully integral module of Windchill that is being launched as part of Windchill 9.0, the latest release of PTC's content and process management software. Being able to manage and optimize MPM in the same system that is used to develop the products is essential to enabling concurrent product and manufacturing process definition. With a concurrent and optimized MPM system, manufacturers can significantly reduce manufacturing costs and time-to-market.

Transforming engineering designs into bills of materials (BOMs) and manufacturing processes has typically been a cumbersome process that only begins late in the product design lifecycle. Windchill MPMLink is different from other manufacturing process management solutions because it focuses on the daily core issue of managing process plans and resources without requiring complex, expensive, simulation-focused tools. Windchill MPMLink allows manufacturing engineers to develop manufacturing processes from the same product information that's being defined by engineering, eliminating the problems inherent in creating and maintaining duplicate product information. By easily transforming engineering BOMs (eBOMs) into manufacturing BOMs (mBOMs) and defining and managing the manufacturing processes in the same system, companies can ensure that the product will be accurately manufactured according to design specifications. With an integral system, manufacturers can have a single end-to-end change management process across engineering and manufacturing.

With the digital manufacturing capabilities of Windchill MPMLink, manufacturers can reduce manufacturing costs, improve product and data quality, reduce scrap and rework, improve accuracy of manufacturing deliverables, and shorten development cycle time by concurrently developing the product designs and the manufacturing processes. This is especially important to manufacturing industries that must continually deliver new, innovative products with extreme cost and time-to-market pressures.

PTC worked with customers in key vertical markets to define the capabilities of Windchill MPMLink and ensure it would meet the needs of manufacturing companies around the world. "Windchill MPMLink is an example of PTC's commitment to delivering product development solutions that enable its customers to optimize our engineering and manufacturing processes," said Ron Watson, global product data manager, ITT. "Because Windchill MPMLink is an integral part of Windchill, I don't have to worry about integration issues or problems with incompatible versions. Product development solutions like these enable us to remain competitive in our market."

Highlights of the Windchill MPMLink release include:

•  Create and manage associative BOMs. Easily transform an eBOM into multiple mBOMs using traceability links.

•  Create and manage digital process plans. Define plant-specific sequences and operations that describe how a part is manufactured, assembled, reworked, repaired, or inspected.

•  Integral change management. Share a common change management process between design and manufacturing.

•  Integral configuration management. Fully manage manufacturing data configurations with revision control, lifecycle management, effectivity, access control.

•  Dynamically generate on-demand, visual shop floor work instructions according to a given process plan configuration.

•  Manage libraries of manufacturing resources and standards.

•  Integration with ERP and MES systems. Electronically deliver routings and mBOMs to ERP when process plans are approved using transaction secure, enterprise system integration technology.

"Digital manufacturing is a key component of PLM and is essential for any manufacturing company that wishes to pursue a comprehensive product development strategy," said James Heppelmann, executive vice president software products and chief product officer, PTC. "Windchill MPMLink is the only digital manufacturing solution that delivers an integrated approach to engineering and manufacturing processes. Based on the unique Windchill architecture which enables seamless connection to product design, process planning, resource management, configuration management and dynamic publishing, Windchill MPMLink is a flexible solution for organizations that want to extend their PLM initiatives."

Windchill MPMLink Availability

Windchill MPMLink is part of the Windchill product family and will be available as part of Windchill 9.0, currently planned for September 2007. The timing of any product release, including any features or functionality, is subject to change at PTC's discretion. For more information about Windchill 9.0 and Windchill MPMLink, please visit the Windchill product pages on http://www.ptc.com/ .

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