Windchill Is Critical to PTC’s Digital Thread Vision

On February 13, PTC hosted an Analyst Day in London with the theme of the day being the company’s strategy of enabling customers to create a digital thread of product-related information across their value chains.

Presentations provided updates on Creo, Codebeamer, ThingWorx, Windchill, and ServiceMax, but also outlined each solution’s potential contribution to a customer’s digital thread. PTC’s Produce Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution, Windchill, acts as the orchestrator with the engineering data that can be augmented with additional applicable product data through the lifecycle of a product; in other words, the digital thread.

In terms of enabling technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) (e.g., for solving problems and optimizing designs) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for delivering the most up-to-date solutions will be incorporated into the solutions in line with customer need.

The key takeaways from the day are not just that PTC has a vision for helping customers create a digital thread, but that the digital thread can be a source of competitive advantage by supporting manufacturers’ efforts to reduce time to market and optimize service levels.

Helping customers to create products and enable different stakeholders to ensure a successful launch and deliver post-sales support is the cornerstone of PTC’s strategy. Enabling customers to establish a digital thread across their functions is the key deliverable and by encompassing the entire product lifecycle, Windchill can be the conduit for manufacturers.

Creo enables designers to encompass electrical and mechanical considerations, and also simulate the performance of their designs (rather than just simulation engineers later on in the process). In addition, the generative design capabilities coupled with the ability to produce Three-Dimensional (3D) models enables designers to evaluate a wide range of options in a short space of time, as well the ability to incorporate the capabilities of the manufacturing operations. The design teams commence the digital thread and contribute to efforts to reduce the time required to launch products.

Using Codebeamer, PTC’s Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solution, end users can author and retrieve the product requirements (performance, regulatory compliance, safety considerations) for managing whole product requirements, tests, and software code that needs to be embedded in the final product. And Windchill can facilitate data sharing between the applications.

The digital thread isn’t necessarily a simple linear process. Windchill Navigate enables wider stakeholder groups to provide feedback on designs and for designers to accept or reject them. Also, manufacturing teams can report issues via Windchill Navigate to designers and engineers; often having identified production issues via ThingWorx. Other use cases for Windchill to improve operations on the shop floor include providing integrations to third-party Manufacturing Execution Systems (MESs) and 3D digital work instructions via Windchill Navigate View Work Instructions.

Once the product is manufactured, Windchill feeds data to the teams responsible for sales, customer delivery, quality, and field service. The ThingWorx Internet of Things (IoT) platform can be deployed to monitor asset performance in the field and notify the vendor of impeding issues proactively, rather than being too late or wasting time performing maintenance tasks adhering to a schedule instead of the higher priority. The ServiceMax solution can contain all the data concerning the asset/piece of equipment, its service history, and known service resolutions, while enabling service teams to augment that data via mobile applications. The digital thread is bidirectional, providing both information for the service technician and feedback to product management and product design teams about performance/quality-related issues identified—again the digital thread can be underpinned by Windchill.

Across the digital thread, PTC is introducing AI agents into applications to support specific domain workflows. For example, technicians can utilize ServiceMax AI to solve problems related to a specific job or AI agents in ThingWorx to help production technicians solve an issue concerning a piece of equipment on the production line.

Increasing costs of raw materials and components, as well as attracting and retaining talented staff, continue to be major challenges for manufacturers. If that weren’t enough, manufacturers need to stay ahead of the competition when it comes to innovative product designs, getting the product to market, and providing effective after-sales service.

Effective data sharing to accelerate decision-making and improving processes can be a source of competitive advantage. A well designed digital thread, utilizing PLM software, can be one way to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Allying PLM software with ALM provides additional confidence that all considerations won’t be overlooked in the design and production processes. To be successful, customers will need to digitize their data and no longer rely on data collected via paper.

The digital thread vision will enable PTC to move away from positioning the merits of individual solutions toward showing how a digital thread, backed up by individual solutions, can support the entire value chain. However, the company will need to reinforce that Windchill is not just a conduit for data from PTC solutions, but also other software applications that customers have already invested in.

Many competitors would consider the digital thread vision as a solution for creating digital twins of assets/equipment, rather than being a digital thread. For PTC, a digital twin is a component of a broader digital thread enablement strategy. Focusing on Windchill as the critical solution for achieving a digital thread will help to differentiate PTC. However, clear messaging by PTC around supporting workflows for creating products, data transfer between teams, and product data management being the key benefits of the digital thread will be important to avoid confusion in the marketplace.