Automotive industry to get PLM software centre

Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO of PTC, says key issues for the industry remain: handling globalisation; building an open PLM platform; optimising service operations; and tightening integration between CAD, BoMs and digital mock-ups for rapidly changing vehicle configurations. Nothing new there, so why the push now? Heppelmann comments that, over the last 12 months, PTC has worked with several car and truck OEMs, including Hyundai, Kia and Volvo, as well as major automotive suppliers such as Continental, Schaeffler, Harman Automotive and Cummins. "Each of these companies intends to leverage our Windchill PLM [product lifecycle management] software as the backbone of their product development technology platform," comments Heppelmann. And he continues: "These partnerships have contributed greatly to our momentum in the automotive [sector], characterised by more than 70% Windchill revenue growth and four 'domino' wins in the last year." There's the answer: the automotive sector remains one of the richest hunting grounds for PLM software and services companies, with their huge scale, cost-down pressures and overriding requirement to innovate fast and effectively. Peter Bilello, president of PM analyst and consulting firm CIMdata, agrees. "Automotive OEMs and supply chain participants are facing an expanding set of business and technical complexities that include: evolving supply chain relationships; increasingly complex vehicles with more electronics and software; rapidly developing regulatory compliance-related requirements; and increasing consumer quality, functional and time-to-market demands," he says. "The good news is that PLM-enabling solutions are seen by many in the global automotive industry as critical to addressing these issues," he adds. "We believe that automotive companies who are selecting Windchill are choosing to leapfrog their competition in terms of PLM technology and product development process sophistication," insists Heppelmann. "Windchill is the fastest growing PLM product in the market, and equally important, PTC has the professional services scale and expertise to help companies implement and extract the most value from their PLM technology… "We believe our new Automotive PLM R&D Centre of Excellence will continue to enhance our presence and momentum in the automotive vertical."