Collaboration goes live at Chinese aircraft maker

Development of the ARJ21 regional jet at Chinese aircraft manufacturer AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Co (ACAC) is now fully live on a PTC Windchill PDM (product data management) system. The system is being used to integrate information and processes shared between various R&D departments and manufacturing partners located in provinces across China, as well as overseas system suppliers. The ARJ21 development team has adopted global purchasing and sub-contracting involving several domestic aircraft manufacturers, R&D partners and overseas system suppliers. Hence the need for a highly integrated product development system for team collaboration. ACAC says it is enabling faster time-to-market, increased product quality and reduced overall total development costs. It is maximising productivity in R&D, ensuring good current product information sharing and reducing project risk.